How Careful Do I Need To Be?

[marcia24]

How careful should I be being newly gluten free? My husband still eats it, and I cook for him a lot especially now that he has a broken leg....if I make sure to wash my hands and cooking surfaces is that okay? I don't have a lot of symptoms or get very sick from gluten so I am not sure if I would notice if I was still getting traces of it - any feedback would be much appreciated-thanks!!

[Smunkeemom]

I would suggest only feeding him gluten when you can't "gluten free" the meal, and getting your own set of gluten free cookware. My girls have their own toaster and everything.

I really haven't found anything I cook that can't be made gluten free (but then again I don't cook gourmet meals) so we all pretty much eat gluten free anyway. Chances are he wouldn't notice until he figures out you are eating it too. LOL

[Guest nini]

my husband still eats gluten... in the beginning I made 2 pots of pasta (one with gluten-free noodles one with regular noodles) and that was just too much work... if I'm doing the cooking it's darn well gonna be gluten-free. I do cook meals that are mostly naturally gluten-free though like pot roasts, baked chiken and pork, side dishes of veggies and potatoes or rice... anything else he wants glutened he can make himself. I won't touch it. I don't trust myself to not accidently sneak a taste of something to make sure it tastes ok, so I just don't even go there anymore.

You don't have to stop cooking for him, just don't go out of your way to make meals with gluten for him. If you want to fix him a sandwich, yeah it's ok if you wash your hands really good afterwards.

[marcia24]

my husband still eats gluten... in the beginning I made 2 pots of pasta (one with gluten-free noodles one with regular noodles) and that was just too much work... if I'm doing the cooking it's darn well gonna be gluten-free. I do cook meals that are mostly naturally gluten-free though like pot roasts, baked chiken and pork, side dishes of veggies and potatoes or rice... anything else he wants glutened he can make himself. I won't touch it. I don't trust myself to not accidently sneak a taste of something to make sure it tastes ok, so I just don't even go there anymore.

You don't have to stop cooking for him, just don't go out of your way to make meals with gluten for him. If you want to fix him a sandwich, yeah it's ok if you wash your hands really good afterwards.

Thanks! He broke his leg in 3 different places and will be laid up for quite awhile so I have to cook for him and since he isn't working our finances are in heaps of trouble so if I can still feed him regular bread instead of $5.00 a loaf gluten free bread we will be much better off. All of our pans are run through the dishwasher and we have a glass cutting board that I wash with soap and hot water....the toaster oven may be a problem though...this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Thanks again!

[Smunkeemom]

Thanks! He broke his leg in 3 different places and will be laid up for quite awhile so I have to cook for him and since he isn't working our finances are in heaps of trouble so if I can still feed him regular bread instead of $5.00 a loaf gluten free bread we will be much better off. All of our pans are run through the dishwasher and we have a glass cutting board that I wash with soap and hot water....the toaster oven may be a problem though...this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Thanks again!

yeah, he can eat the cheap bread, LOL.

The toaster is the big thing, those little gluten crumbs tend to stick to my lovely gluten free yummys. We got a new toaster for gluten free waffles and the like, it seems to have solved that problem.

I am always on "crumb-patrol" so I have noticed that we needed 2 sets of community food (like peanut butter and mayo) so that the crumbs don't sneek into the gluten free stuff. We just get 2 jars of PB and I mark with a sharpie on top of one gluten-free so we know that it's not for hubby to use.

[Lisa]

I have never liked bread before I was dx, so the toaster is not an issue for me. (But, I watched my husband crunch on a piece of wheat toast, and it really did smell good - I just stared at him)

Back to the point...My daughter and husband leave bread crumbs all over the kitchen. I wipe it up and go over it with a clorox wipe, or anti-bact wipe. I wash kitchen towels almost every day as well as washing my hands often. It seems to do well by me.

[Felidae]

My husband eats regular bread and deli meat for breakfast and/or lunch. But suppers are always gluten-free. It is just easier and safer to have one supper, I find.

[carriecraig]

In the beginning, my husband ate his gluten foods, but then he couldn't eat a whole loaf of bread by himself, so decided not to bother anymore. I also made the mistake a few times of licking my finger out of habit when I touched something of his with gluten in it - a hard habit to break.

We buy/make naturally gluten-free food like chicken, chili, soups, pork, veggies, etc. and actually eat much healthier now then we ever did.

Good luck to your husband in his healing process.

[Guest mvaught]

My husband and kids still eat gluten. Sometimes, I cook things that are naturally gluten free for us (lots of rice dishes). However, at other times, our meals will be half and half - like gluten pasta for them and gluten free for me but with the same sauce - my husband makes the gluten pasta and does not use our collander. we also have gotten used to having separate peanut butters, etc. my husband tries to cook anything that has gluten in it, himself - but i have found that if i am very careful, i can prepare gluten food while attending to my own gluten free stuff - i just wash wash wash my hands like crazy (and dry with paper towels which can be thrown out) - wipe everything up while i am cooking (wash again). it takes some getting used to and sort of makes me feel a little OCD, (and will power when the gluten stuff looks better), but i have been sucessful at not getting glutened at home.

good luck!

[kabowman]

My hubby still eats a lot of sandwhiches because they are cheap and it leaves the good, gluten-free leftovers for me for lunches and snacks.

I clean the counters ALL the time but he washes the dishes.

If you use teflon - you need separate pots/pans and cast iron should be dedicated too - the rest (enamel (sp???) and stainless steel) are fine sharing. You also need dedicated wooden utensils.

Hope he gets better soon!!!

[Guest cassidy]

My husband still eats gluten. Besides the cost, there is no way he would eat gluten free pasta or bread.

So, I am trying to teach him about not putting a "dirty" knife in the butter or other shared items. I always wipe down the counters before I make my gluten-free food. I also prefer to make his gluten filled food because I know where the crumbs are and what I have touched with dirty hands.

We do have separate pans and strainers, mostly because we got married a year ago and we had two sets of everything so it wasn't hard.

It would certainly be easier if there wasn't gluten in the house, but I am careful and I've never gotten myself sick because of it. although I did get myself sick in the beginning because of hidden gluten.

I did give up baking for him. I gave away all my gluten filled mixes because I was afraid of getting the gluten in the air.

[Guest nini]

if you have a toaster oven you can just put down foil under your food... periodically run the rack through the dishwasher and shake out the crumbs into the trash... if it's one of those stand up drop in normal toasters then yeah you'd need a separate one for you. But toaster ovens, you can share that carefully! Just don't set your gluten-free food directly on the rack k?