Moving in with celiac roommate, what should I be aware of?

[Shealyn Hyde]

Hi everyone, I am a new person on this platform and I am very excited to be here! Next year I will be living in an apartment with my friend who happens to be celiac. She has grown up in a gluten-free household her whole life so she doesn't really have many answers for me concerning my gluten lifestyle. We have already established that we will be washing hands once we get into the apartment to ward away any accidental cross-contamination from meals we had outside of the building. I was just wondering what I need to be aware of to make sure it's a safe environment for her to be in with no cross-contamination inside of the apartment. We will already be getting separate countertop appliances, but I was wondering more about the fridge and the oven and the kitchen utensils and such. Is it okay for us to both use the oven with gluten and gluten-free things inside of it, at separate times? How about the fridge, is there any chance of contamination in a fridge, do we need to keep things on separate shelves or cover things? Do we need different plates, cups, bowls, and utensils? What about whisks or serving spoons, do those need to be separate too? Any other information about cross-contamination is welcome!

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, Shealyn! How refreshing it is to have a non celiac requesting information in order to protect a celiac roommate. Usually, we get a lot of posts from the one on the other side of the equation asking advice about how to deal with housemates who are inconsiderate of the celiac's needs to eat safe.

It is difficult to give a simple answer to your questions because many of them depend on how sensitive your celiac friend is to minuscule amounts of gluten. I mean, we literally have people post on this forum who are so sensitive to gluten that they become ill by smelling the aroma of fresh-baked bread. You seem to be already aware of most sources of cross contamination and have plans to avoid them. The only thing I would ad to what you have already thought of is cooking equipment that is porous, like things made of wood or cast iron (i.e., skillets). Just make sure things are thoroughly cleaned that you both use that may be used for cooking with wheat, barley or rye products.

Again, your consideration for your friend's eating safety and the trouble you have taken to educate yourself on behalf of your friend is very impressive. Commonly, celiacs are treated dismissively by many friends and family who are skeptical of the reality of celiac disease.

[RMJ]

12 hours ago, Shealyn Hyde said:

Hi everyone, I am a new person on this platform and I am very excited to be here! Next year I will be living in an apartment with my friend who happens to be celiac. She has grown up in a gluten-free household her whole life so she doesn't really have many answers for me concerning my gluten lifestyle. We have already established that we will be washing hands once we get into the apartment to ward away any accidental cross-contamination from meals we had outside of the building. I was just wondering what I need to be aware of to make sure it's a safe environment for her to be in with no cross-contamination inside of the apartment. We will already be getting separate countertop appliances, but I was wondering more about the fridge and the oven and the kitchen utensils and such. Is it okay for us to both use the oven with gluten and gluten-free things inside of it, at separate times? How about the fridge, is there any chance of contamination in a fridge, do we need to keep things on separate shelves or cover things? Do we need different plates, cups, bowls, and utensils? What about whisks or serving spoons, do those need to be separate too? Any other information about cross-contamination is welcome!

How great that you want your friend to have a healthy living environment! 

To answer your specific questions:

Oven:  I’m assuming this oven does NOT have a fan in it.  Unless there is dry wheat or rye flour loose in the oven it should not be a problem sharing at separate times. If cooking at the same time it should even be ok if the gluten free item is on the upper rack and gluten-containing on the lower.

Fridge:  Again, unless there is dry wheat or rye flour or crumbs loose in the fridge it should be ok.  I keep my gluten free items on upper shelves and my husband keeps his gluten-containing things on the lower shelves, just to be extra cautious. That way his food can’t accidentally spill into mine.

Plate/cups/bowls/utensils/serving spoons:  If they are readily cleanable (smooth, like metal or ceramic, i.e. can’t absorb things) sharing is fine, especially if you have a dishwasher.  We don’t have a dishwasher and my husband is not great at washing his dishes (I can see visible residues) so we have separate dishes.  If we had a dishwasher we’d share.  If I felt like washing all the dishes all the time we’d share. We have separate dish brushes.

Whisks: These might be a little harder to clean so I’d vote for separate.

Hope this helps, feel free to come back with more questions!