Gluten-free Groceries: How I Keep my Pantry Stocked!

It hasn’t always been this easy to keep my pantry stocked with delicious food my family loves. As someone with a gluten allergy, I’m always reading labels and multi-sourcing where I can shop for gluten-free groceries. Besides looking for Celiac safe labels and assurances, I also care about unnecessary fillers, added sugars, organic when possible, and dyes. Regardless of your filters, I’m guessing most of us are probably searching for affordable food that is good for us and delicious. Thrive Market has made my search for organic and gluten-free groceries doable and easy.

Depending on where you live, finding what you need can be tricky. This is changing because of companies like Thrive Market and people like you and me. We are asking for and, quite frankly, demanding something better regarding food quality and accessibility.

Although I’m dedicating this post to my pantry favorite, Thrive Market, I am not getting paid to write this post. All viewpoints and feelings are my own! Recently, I’ve become an affiliate because I love and trust this brand. Some of the links here are affiliate links. I get a small commission if anyone purchases a month or monthly membership through a link. I share because I love to share good things. And I’m grateful this is part of my job too!  

What is Thrive Market?

Thrive Market is an online membership-based grocery store that gives access to delicious, healthy, and sustainable products at guaranteed prices. Their standards are high, with 2000+ organic products, 500+ never ingredients, and 100% non-GMO, but their prices can’t be beaten. Members can shop for trusted organic and non-GMO brands with an annual membership and deliver them to their doorstep. I’ve been a member for over five years and counting!

How to organize kitchen pantry:

I call Thrive my pantry assistant.❤️ Their online list makers, autoship process, and delivery tools are a time saver and organizer for me. Here are the steps I take to make them work for me and my grocery list every month:

STEP ONE: Use Autoship – I add almost all my gluten-free groceries to the autoship feature. It’s so easy. Just shop, and as you put an item in the cart or before you checkout, add it to autoship and get 5% more off the already low cost. 

STEP TWO: Set up email and text notifications – A week or so before my box or boxes of gluten-free groceries are sent, I get an email and text from Thrive to check over my autoship list, which is my pantry checklist!

STEP THREE: Check the pantry – When the above👆email or text arrives, I customize it by cross-checking the current shipping list with my pantry. If I don’t need an item this month, I’ll skip it. I could change the quantity if I ran out too soon last month. A new feature to autoship so the FREE gift, which is exactly how we’ve found some of our favorite products. Travel pour-over or fruit fly punch, anyone? Yes, please, and I didn’t know to ask. 👍👍

STEP FOUR: Finalize shipping – Lastly, you can ship early or let it send on the designated autoship date.

How I get the best price on groceries:

Last year I saved more money than ever on groceries, and it’s a good thing since prices have sky-rocketed. Yearly membership with Thrive Market costs $59.95, and my total savings in 2022 was over $1800! Say what??

Also, how do I know this number? I emailed member services, and they wrote back with my yearly total. Additionally, each order form shows your order’s savings.

This is how I save money on my gluten-free groceries with Thrive:

• Again, I repeat, use autoship. Additionally, you’ll save 5% more each time. I can remove an item from my list anytime or a thing I don’t need until next month’s autoship date, a.k.a. the appointment I make with my pantry assistant. Summary: I’m in control of what I buy and when, which saves me money.
• When I have gluten-free staples like my favorite pasta, pizza crust, flour, oats, olive oil, all kinds of vinegar, tuna, condiments, etc., on hand, I’m not having to add them to grocery orders locally, where the prices are constantly changing and almost always much higher. Sometimes I’ll send myself an extra box of groceries mid-month to stock up on whatever I’m missing. Summary: Keeping my pantry stocked helps me from additional shopping or eating out, and both save me time and money. 

Here are Thrive’s everyday guarantees and how they save me even more:

• Comparatively, if you find an identical product listed cheaper elsewhere, Thrive will guarantee the lowest price by giving you the difference in the form of Thrive Cash for next time. Just snap a picture and contact member services.
• You can order anytime and as often as you want. Every time you reach $49, you will have free shipping. When I know I will need extra snacks or pantry items in a week, like sending kids back to college or college kids coming home, I ship more if needed.

Valuing food accessibility

While I love picking out my own fresh food for quality assurance, especially for clients, somewhere in the middle of the pandemic, having groceries delivered became my norm over the exception. Being bound to home in new ways, I started seeing how grocery delivery wasn’t just a convenience or a necessity; it could match my values too. 

Thrive Market aims to make healthy living affordable and accessible to all by providing nutritious food to those in need and reversing climate change’s effects. Look at what thrive is doing.

1. Thrive gives back. At the end of 2022, Thrive had raised 9.4 million of their 10 million by 2025 goal to provide healthy groceries to those in need. For every annual membership purchased, Thrive gives a one-year membership to a teacher, student, veteran, healthcare worker, first responder, or family in financial need. Is this you or someone you know? Apply here!
2. Thrive uses 100% recyclable materials for its boxes, has reduced its use of plastics in shipping, and in 2022, Thrive reached TRUE Certification for Zero Waste across all its fulfillment centers. 

To read more about Thrive’s end-of-year recap, check out all their full missional efforts here! 

My gluten-free grocery list + Thrive favorites!

Whenever I talk about Thrive, I get asked what’s on my list. Well, here you go. If you click on the picture below, you can see the individual product and sign into Thrive to see more. Once inside the store (or if you’re already have an account), click the list under the picture below to see my saved grocery lists. I’ve shared them here, so you know the complete list of what I love and use. 

Specialized foods have come a long way in the last ten years. Hello, GF pizza crust circa 2012, anyone? (If so, you are possibly still chewing or digesting it!) I’ve tried a lot of gluten-free experiments, from homemade to store-bought, but my favorite gluten-free groceries are often the ones discovered from Thrive Market. With 90+ filters, customers can search by preferences and diets to find food to fit personal needs and wants. But how do you know if Thrive is right for you?

Is Thrive Market the best place to buy your groceries?

Depending on your needs and values and no matter where you shop, there are pros and cons. To see if Thrive is right for you, let’s start by taking stock of your pantry and making some lists!

Take these steps and see if Thrive is right for you!

1. Take inventory of what’s in your pantry or on your grocery list that you buy consistently every week or when you run out, from ketchup to the 3 p.m. snack grabs. Don’t forget vinegar, oils, baking essentials, breakfast and lunch items, snack bars, movie snacks, pet needs, baby, supplements, household products, and everything but the fresh stuff.   
2. Next, comb through your memory about the easy dinners you make from memory and add to your list the items you’d grab off the grocery shelf if you were shopping right now.
3. Third, jot down any ingredient you sometimes have to go out of your way to find, even if it’s fresh or frozen. Think about what you love that is organic, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, natural, non-GMO, sustainable, and earth-friendly for you or someone you love.
4. Finish this sentence, if I had _______________ in my cupboards consistently, I would go to the grocery store less. Identify the handful of food or pantry supplies you can’t live without. And while they might change, they are more influential than you might realize.

My 3-5 foods I can’t-live-without are often matcha or coffee, oat milk, oats, nut butter, and gluten-free bread, possibly in that order.😆 If we have these things, we can at least get to the afternoon on a Monday, am I right?

I’ve since changed my oat milk obsession with almond milk in my morning matcha, and Thrive has shelf-stable Elmhurst almond and oat milk without additives, which I love for smoothies and latte back-up. Whatever your most important things are will change, but you don’t have to jump through hoops and travel to three stores to get them.

Is there anything I don’t recommend from Thrive Market?

In the spirit of my occasional newsletter, I’ll tell you my very short list of products I either won’t repeat or are a strong maybe when it comes to Thrive Market.

• We tried the Peek N Paws Himalayan Yak Chews, and while Birdie loved them, we’ve learned she doesn’t do well with cheese chews. (Maybe all dogs don’t?)
• Good Crisp 12 pack – too many crumbles after shipping these cute little containers. I’m a sucker for cute and mini things! But honestly, I value less food packaging, which is possible as Thrive sells all kinds of The Good Crisp Chips in full-size containers.
• Teas – I have tried a few Thrive brand teas, but none of them I have repeated. Is it just me, or is it hard to find teas you love? (This does not include how much I love Thrive’s matcha!)

• While I’ve tried two frozen boxes from Thrive, I’m not ready to recommend it yet based on a higher minimum for free shipping and my available freezer space. I’m still looking to see if I’ll use it beyond my waffles and chocolate chip cookies. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’ll report back!
• And as for the wine, I currently love my wine source with Dry Farm Wines, but when I try Thrive’s wine and compare, and I’m sure I will, I’ll let you know.

Have more questions about Thrive, the gluten-free grocery list in this post, the food I source elsewhere, and what I’m making right this minute? Get on my email list, and reach out. I answer all my emails, and I’d love to answer yours!

Last Updated on February 8, 2023 by Heather Bursch