Another year in the books already…can you believe it?!? And as we all know, with a new year, often comes a new round of resolutions. With nearly 1 in 2 Americans setting goals for the coming year, this is bound to be a hot topic.

But let’s shake things up a bit this time, shall we?

Here are four non traditional resolutions for those following a gluten free lifestyle in 2015. Let one of these inspire you, or tell us a resolution of your own in the comments section!

1. Buy only one prepackaged gluten free item per week, and make the rest from scratch.

Buy only one prepackaged gluten free item per week, and make the rest yourself.

If you’re like me, you get into a grocery shopping/cooking rut every now and then. And that can easily translate into relying on prepackaged goods more than usual – you know, standards like Glutino cookies, Against the Grain pizzas, and Canyon Bakehouse breads. Before you know it, the grocery budget can spiral out of control!

While these items are convenient, they can tend to cost 4-5 times more than their gluten containing counterparts and about 3 times as much as the gluten free homemade version; and some of the commercially available foods contain GMOs, additional allergen, or strange (scary sounding) ingredients like preservatives.

For 2015, try to limit yourself to only one prepackaged item per week. Make the remaining foods at home, from scratch. You can use one of our great recipes from our archive, or try out new and clone recipes from other bloggers.

Although it sounds overwhelming, you can easily hammer out several week’s worth of frozen pizzas, muffins, or breads during a weekend morning, by doubling or tripling the recipes you use, and freezing the extras.

Your grocery budget will thank you!

2. Try two new recipes each month.

Try two new recipes each month

Want to piggyback on the first resolution? Expand your culinary horizons by adding in some new recipes! This can help break up the dinnertime monotony, too.

If you found yourself relying on the same old recipes for the last year, now’s your chance to freshen up the recipe box.

Short on time to find ideas? We post three new recipes each week to our ever-expanding recipe archive – you’re sure to find something to tempt your palate!

And since Better Batter is a cup for cup substitute for all-purpose flour, the sky is the limit, you don’t have to stick to our recipes, or only those recipes labeled gluten free. Use your favorite magazine, the Food Network, allrecipes.com – try a trending ingredient or recipe, and simply swap in Better Batter products for the flour and mixes called for in the recipe.

3. Host a dinner party.

Host a Dinner Party

Sometimes when you’re dealing with food allergies, your social life can suffer. Although restaurants have come a long way in their gluten free offerings, it’s still easier to eat at home for most of us.

So this year, try out those new recipes by hosting a dinner party. It’s another opportunity to share the gf way of life with friends and family too. Even though most of them already know you’re gluten free (or dairy free, soy free, etc), they may not fully understand how that actually translates in the kitchen, so invite them in, share a couple tasty homemade dishes, and pass on some knowledge all at the same time.

Have even more fun with it by making a gluten free restaurant clone meal – you can try one from a popular site like Top Secret Recipes (swapping out gluten flour and mixes for our products, of course) or use one from our archives.

4. Donate allergy-friendly items to a food bank.

Donate Gluten Free Items to a Food Bank

It’s estimated that almost 50 million Americans – of which 16 million are children – reside in “food insecure” households. These are the individuals and families who are more likely to visit food banks to supplement their small food budgets. And since it’s estimated that 1 in 133 Americans has Celiac Disease, and another 18 million are gluten sensitive, there’s a good chance those selecting their groceries from food banks would appreciate gluten free or allergy-friendly nonperishables.

Don’t know of a local food bank that is doing this? You can let us do the work. Simply donate the cost of a gluten free product toward our Food Bank Fund, and we will donate two products to food banks that serve gluten free families! You can also donate $1 toward our Food Bank Fund.

Do you have an non traditional resolution for 2015? Please tell us in the comments below!

Steph Weber is freelance writer-for-hire hailing from the Midwest, who also happens to love food –

minus the gluten, dairy, and eggs. To see more of her work, please visit stephweber.com.