Teflon Pans

[LuckyJackP]

My wife was telling me that we need to go out and purchase new pots and pans becasue she has a gluten intolerance.  I find this ludacrious since out pans are new and teflon.  I made some blueberry muffins in a muffin pan and even put paper cups in them and washed it, put it back and she will not use it claiming she an get contaminated....someone please shed some light on this subject

 

Thanks

[cyclinglady]

I tossed the few Teflon pans that I had because they had a few scratches. I kept my stainless and baked my cast iron pans in the clean cycle of the oven and then re-seasoned them. I also tossed all my old cake, tart and cupcake pans because they had tiny crevices and I was not confident about cleaning them. Same goes for my wooden spoons, silicone pancake turners, and plastic serving spoons.

I admit I was pretty freaked out. But, try dealing with things like fractures, severe anemia and anxiety, and you would be worried about cross contamination. It is a small price to pay.

I still freak out about cross contamination. I am finally well and I do not have time to be sick for a couple of weeks nor impede my ability to build bone.

Your wife needs a safe place to live. Gluten is Not allowed in our house. Try going gluten-free at home and bake your muffins at a friend's house or bake gluten-free. My kid requested a gluten-free cake that I made over gluten bakery cake for her birthday. Eat bread out of the house. It will be the most loving thing you can do for her! At least until she makes a full recovery or you when you fully grasp the ins and outs of going gluten-free.

Welcome! Check out the newbie section under coping to learn more about cross contamination.

[Adalaide]

I agree with everything cyclinglady said. Even for those who share kitchens, things like teflon pans, cast iron, wooden and plastic utensils, cutting boards, colanders and much more simply can not be shared. And having a gluten free kitchen is much more simple and provide peace of mind that can't be achieved any other way. I can say this because I am in a situation where I am forced to have a shared kitchen. While some can do this successfully without issues (I do myself), some can't. And some will forever live with constant fear and anxiety because of it. That is an unfair situation to put anyone in when they are suffering from a medical condition.

[Jmg]

My wife was telling me that we need to go out and purchase new pots and pans becasue she has a gluten intolerance.  I find this ludacrious since out pans are new and teflon.  I made some blueberry muffins in a muffin pan and even put paper cups in them and washed it, put it back and she will not use it claiming she an get contaminated....someone please shed some light on this subject

 

Thanks

 

I'm currently eating within a gluten packed household and whilst I understand your frustration, I know completely where your wife is coming from. It's only once you've eliminated gluten from your diet that you realise quite what an impact it has on you and what's more, it seems like the less you consume the more sensitive you are to smaller and smaller amounts. I've already had a couple of mystery contamination's which could be down to pans or cooking utensils. It's a horrible feeling, because you know that whatever physical symptoms are manifest, there's hidden damage going on as well. 

 

Your wife will have to live with this for the rest of her life. Going out to eat is a massive struggle, so she definitely needs at least one place where she can relax and eat safely. 

If you don't want to eliminate gluten as a family, then your wife needs some separate cupboards and pans, chopping boards etc. To reduce the risk of contamination, but as importantly, to allow her to eat without fear. This also means that if she introduces something new to her diet she'll be able to asses it without a false positive from a contaminated pan. 

 

There's some good Open Original Shared Link

[mamaw]

I too have to agree with the other posters... But  I do  live  with others  who are not  gluten-free.. I do  have  a  gluten-free  kitchen &  we  are   eat  gluten-free. But  there are times  where  I need  to make  something that  isn't  gluten-free  ( only because  of the  cost of  flours  I do this) ie: a funeral  dinner; a  bridal  shower .. I  sometimes  get  asked  by family & friends  to help  do the  cooking  /baking  for  such events.... So  I  keep  all  wheat  items  in a  separate  fridge ( garage) and  keep  utensils  /mixer  in garage  where  I  make  the  wheat  items  when I need to.... that  way  no  wheat is in my kitchen  I also  use  a   little  mask/ plastic  gloves  so I'm not breathing/handling   wheat... works  perfect.....

[LuckyJackP]

I can agree using the cast iron Or wooden utensils but someone please explain to me with backed up studies and data how a brand new Teflon coated pan can expand and allow enough perosity to open up and ANY food based product or anything for that matter get in that area. I'm not looking for " because I think or I was told to". I'm looking for raw data. As an engineer with secondary focus on metallurgy I don't understand

[kareng]

New, un scratched Teflon should be fine. The basic rule behind all this is that even a tiny bit of gluten can set off the celiac antibodies. So you want to eliminate as much of this as humanly possible. So, with kitchen things - if it has cracks, crevices, little holes that can hold gluten - don't use them. Looking at my non stick muffin pans, for example, I see that they look like an individual cup set into the tray. There is a little crevice around the top of each that collects muffin batter because, no matter how hard I try, the batter never stays completely in the paper cup. It is very hard to get it all out and the next time you make muffins, it may come out as a crumb or your gluten-free muffin batter slop into the crack and melt it out into the muffins.

This requires no advanced physics - it just the common sense of cooking. You can never be completely mess free. I hope you let her have a gluten-free colander? I can't imagine how you expect her to scrub out every little hole.

[Adalaide]

With teflon pans it takes very little time for them to get very small scratches. While mine was still relatively new, I held it up to the light and noticed it had small, but noticeable scratches. These will be a problem. It will simply be easier to have separate pans for gluten and gluten free cooking if you are using teflon than to inspect them for scratches every time. The scratches don't have to be deep. The peace of mind that will come with it will be priceless.