Segregation Of Gluten And Non-gluten Kitchen Tools

[jabberwife]

I am new to the diet (3 weeks in) and am learning rapidly on where CC can lie and hidden gluten issues. Although I am still awaiting my diagnosis from Enterolab, I am already pretty sure that I am going to need to remain on a gluten-free diet, so I'm trying to plan ahead. I have a few questions for those of you with some experience.

My husband will probably be eating less gluten-products at the house in the future, but I don't think I can quite convince him to eat the gluten-replacement products (the gluten free pastas, breads, etc). So I will need to avoid CC.

The toaster--I will get a new one, but has anyone tried to get the four-slice toaster and dedicate "sides" of the toaster to gluten and non-gluten? I'm afraid this will still invite CC but it would save space if I could pull it off.

The kids--they don't live with us (they are my step-kids, so it's less likely they'd even be gluten sensitive unless it was just "luck.") And they are painfully picky about what they will eat in the first place, so I'm afraid trying to make their meals gluten-free as well will be a nightmare. (unfortunately they're so picky as to not eat something if I make it differently than "mom" does--of course, then they don't get to eat at all!!!) I figure I will try to get more convenience foods for them when they are over, and then if I'm too sensitive, make my husband prepare their meals.

Anyone have difficulty with CC on the butter, jelly, etc even with labeling? I am thinking I'll label everything and have 2 of everything for the kids, husband, etc. The kids are what I'm worried about getting into the wrong item.

I'm rambling....but any suggestions to make this easier would be most welcome. Thank you, all of my friends!

[kabowman]

I have my own condiments, completely separate from everyone else's--on my own top shelf in the 'fridge.

Naturally gluten free meals are very easy and can be enjoyed, even by step-children, trust me. It just takes a little time. My SD loves my spaghetti with rice pasta (tinkanika something - I can't spell it but they are the best).

We dealt with the not like my moms, still do on stuff. Luckily, we didn't have problems with her on food, her problem was AND is, chores and having me tell her ANYTHING. So, I just have her dad do it, if he gets too tired of it, he can fix it, otherwise, he can deal with what they have trained her to do. Your hubby can cook their meals so that you don't have the stress, if it is that bad. I don't cook too much gluten, the occasional pizza, mac & cheese, and holiday dressing is it.

If they need bread, serve it at the table, on their end. Personally, I wouldn't trust sharing a toaster, I get too sick from minute amounts. I even have my own kitchen towel and sponge for my stuff that even SD remembers. Keep those drawers closed - don't want crumbs in with your utensils.

We have 2 shared pots (enamal and stainless steel), 2 gluten pans, and all the rest are mine and mine alone.

I am the only one with this dedicated of a diet - the family is very supportive, my boys, my hubby, and his daughter. My youngest son is lactose intolerant and going through celiac disease testing now. My oldest cannot have cherios, processed meat, or cinnamon. We don't keep processed meats around much, except for hubby's sandwhiches and he doesn't eat then.

[mamaw]

For the toaster issue I use the toasta bags. I love them! I buy the gold colored ones with two in a package for $7.99 (100 uses) not the ones that are $4.99 for ten uses! I would have to buy a ton of them kind... I buy mine at Boscov's or the LeGourmet Chef Store. I can heat a sandwich up or make a grilled cheese in the toaster.............

mamaw

[hez]

We have sepearate condiments and I have my own toaster. We also have areas where gluten can be (only one counter and at their individual places at the table). Otherwise no gluten anywhere else. I am the one that cooks so dinners are naturally gluten-free. It has been fairly easy now that we have the routine. You will figure out what works best for you and your family and it will become second nature!

Hez

[BRUMI1968]

I have my own toaster, and there is a dedicated counter where gluten can be. (Beer is usually forgotten to be gluten and opened on my side.)

also, since our silverware was kept in a drawer on the gluten side, I have my own silverware drawer too. I thought keeping the demarcation really clear was better than moving all the silverware.

I don't use wooden spoons and bought all new spoons for myself. I like the color coding idea: I use bright green...well, any green.

I have my own shelf in the refrigerator where no one goes w/o asking. Also, the dishtowels it seems would be a danger. I have my own, it hangs on my side and is green.

I also keep my own sharp knives, but that is mostly to reinforce the gluten area and the nongluten area.

As to pans, we NEVER use nonstick (don't get me started on that topic!), so as long as our pans are washed well and put through the dishwasher, I don't worry. I do have my own sponge, which stays on my side of the counter. If we hand wash dishes, we first scrub things with the gluten-spong (unless we know it didn't touch gluten) - then finish it off with my sponge.

It all sounds crazy, but I think it is working. Oh yeah, the "regular" placemats and napkins are on his side too. Oh yeah, we don't have kids, but we have a nutty friend who has trouble remembering things, and he likes to cook at our house.

[Felidae]

I have my own toaster. We have a four slice one, but it is usually covered in gluten crumbs, so I bought my own to be safe. We use stainless steel pans, even though only gluten-free food is cooked in them. I have my own condiments, unless they are in squeeze bottles. I use different cutting boards designated as gluten-free. Pretty much, you get into a routine after awhile and it is not too difficult. Generally the only gluten food in the house is my husbands bread for breakfast and lunch as well as his deli meat. Other than that everything else is gluten-free.

[Nantzie]

I use PINK index cards that I write Gluten Free Only Please with a sharpie, with a smiley face, and directions in regular pen to a gluteny item of the same type if appropriate. I have one on my toaster (with directions to where the old gluten one is). I also put a lot of my condiments in one of the veggie crisper drawers (known as The Rotter in my house, because anything that goes in there I forget about until it rots), so I have a index card on that drawer.

I also put some hooks up above my sink. (I use the sticky Command adhesive ones.) One for a dishtowel and one for a dishrag. Underneath them is taped an index card saying Gluten Free Only with arrows pointing up. I have several dishtowels and several dishrags. Because I still find myself grabbing them accidentally when I'm handling gluten.

That brings me to dishrags. I've started using dishrags rather than sponges. I was finding that once I used a sponge to wash a glutened item, I never trusted them again. So I bought a bunch of dishrags (at walmart where they have all the mops and stuff). I remember my grandmother always used dishrags, or I never would have known they even existed. That way, when the dishrag gets glutened, I can just grab another one and throw the contaminated one in the laundry.

I still keep the gluteny sponge on the top of the sink, and the gluteny dishtowel next to the sink like I always did. So my husband has something to use when he cooks without worrying that he's messing something up.

I also keep a cutting board, some kitchen shears and few other cooking utensils on a top shelf in the kitchen. I use the rest of that cabinet for paperwork and craft stuff for the kids, so it's not somewhere where my husband would go looking for a cutting board.

Nancy

[BRUMI1968]

Yeah. I'm usually pretty ecologically minded, but I've gone to paper towels for cleaning the counters, since I never know where gluten might be hiding. (Actuallly, over the past couple weeks, I've gotten my husband almost entirely off gluten. Don't tell him though.)

[jabberwife]

Some great ideas! Bully4you, I can't help but interject that people forget that beer is gluten and use the no-gluten area because it's beer! Somehow people forget lots of things when they drink this stuff.

I already use paper towels for cleanup, which although more expensive and less eco-friendly, are convenient. The little dishwashing sponge with the soap filled handle will have to be modified though. I suppose the easy thing to do is just get another gluten-free one. If I have dishrags around, the kids will wipe down who knows what on the counter and put it back...and I know I'll grab it innocently and will be glutened. So...paper towels it is!

Thanks everyone!

[lpellegr]

You probably will want to have duplicates of the mayonnaise, peanut butter, margarine, mustard, etc. I bought stickers and then wrote on them: bright green with "gluten-free" means mom's, don't touch. Red with "not gluten-free" means everybody but mom should use that one. Anything not labeled I don't touch. I also label packaged and canned food so if my husband is cooking he'll know I can have the Bush beans but not the Campbell's. I took over one of the drawers in the fridge for all my condiments, cheese, lunchmeat, anything else that I want their gluten-y hands off, since none of them ever think to bend over and open a drawer to look for something they want. I have sheets of the red and green stickers clipped to the fridge so they are easy to find when I bring home groceries.

[queenofhearts]

Just to clarify, folks-- if you use a clean dishrag that has gone through a full cycle of laundry with hot water, detergent & bleach, (after being exposed to gluten) do you think it is safe for wiping the (shared) counter, or not? Likewise handtowels? I'm assuming dishtowels are okay because the dishes are clean when you use them... at least they'd better be... but then again my dh & sons are not exactly super meticulous.

I try to get my gang to prepare everything on plates or cutting boards, but some crumbs do hit the counter. I always use something so my food doesn't touch the counter, but I'm thinking those cloths might be getting gluten to me somehow... I hate using SO MANY paper towels... Plus I'm lining my bakeware with foil to make sure no gluten touches my gluten-free goodies... expensive & unecological! But if that's what it takes, I guess...

Leah

That brings me to dishrags. I've started using dishrags rather than sponges. I was finding that once I used a sponge to wash a glutened item, I never trusted them again. So I bought a bunch of dishrags (at walmart where they have all the mops and stuff). I remember my grandmother always used dishrags, or I never would have known they even existed. That way, when the dishrag gets glutened, I can just grab another one and throw the contaminated one in the laundry.

Nancy

[BRUMI1968]

Just to clarify, folks-- if you use a clean dishrag that has gone through a full cycle of laundry with hot water, detergent & bleach, (after being exposed to gluten) do you think it is safe for wiping the (shared) counter, or not? Likewise handtowels? I'm assuming dishtowels are okay because the dishes are clean when you use them... at least they'd better be... but then again my dh & sons are not exactly super meticulous.

I try to get my gang to prepare everything on plates or cutting boards, but some crumbs do hit the counter. I always use something so my food doesn't touch the counter, but I'm thinking those cloths might be getting gluten to me somehow... I hate using SO MANY paper towels... Plus I'm lining my bakeware with foil to make sure no gluten touches my gluten-free goodies... expensive & unecological! But if that's what it takes, I guess...

Leah

as to the lining of bakeware, you might try parchment paper. It is expensive and unecological, but at least it isn't also unhealthy. Aluminum is not good for you.

[queenofhearts]

as to the lining of bakeware, you might try parchment paper. It is expensive and unecological, but at least it isn't also unhealthy. Aluminum is not good for you.

I thought it was okay except for acidic food? I'm using this for breads, &c.

[jerseyangel]

Just to clarify, folks-- if you use a clean dishrag that has gone through a full cycle of laundry with hot water, detergent & bleach, (after being exposed to gluten) do you think it is safe for wiping the (shared) counter, or not? Likewise handtowels? I'm assuming dishtowels are okay because the dishes are clean when you use them... at least they'd better be... but then again my dh & sons are not exactly super meticulous.

I try to get my gang to prepare everything on plates or cutting boards, but some crumbs do hit the counter. I always use something so my food doesn't touch the counter, but I'm thinking those cloths might be getting gluten to me somehow... I hate using SO MANY paper towels... Plus I'm lining my bakeware with foil to make sure no gluten touches my gluten-free goodies... expensive & unecological! But if that's what it takes, I guess...

Leah

To answer you first question about laundered dish rags/towels--I believe that is fine. I don't use sponges--never have. If the counter has gluten crumbs on it, I use the cloth and immediately throw it in the wash. I have a drawer full of them, and just take out a clean one. I do this for all sorts of reasons--not just gluten. I don't like to give bacteria a chance to grow on them. Regardless, they are washed every morning.

[queenofhearts]

To answer you first question about laundered dish rags/towels--I believe that is fine. I don't use sponges--never have. If the counter has gluten crumbs on it, I use the cloth and immediately throw it in the wash. I have a drawer full of them, and just take out a clean one. I do this for all sorts of reasons--not just gluten. I don't like to give bacteria a chance to grow on them. Regardless, they are washed every morning.

That's my policy too. I only use the scrubby sponges for stubborn pots & pans & then I launder those too. Just wanted to make sure the laundering was doing the job!

Thanks,

Leah

[kabowman]

I do the same thing with the dishcloths, almost. I wipe everything down, rinse really really well, re-wipe, rinse really really well again, wipe it down one more time and then, if I will be using the counter, I go back over it with my special, gluten-free sponge.

I have a drawer full of washrags and they are always in the wash.

And I wonder why hubby won't clean up after himself - he knows that I will come in and go through all this anyway so might as well let me get it from the first step instead of step 2 where he did a quick wipe and dropped the rag and was done.

[BRUMI1968]

Oh...I don't know about acidic/alkaline stuff and aluminum foil. I just avoid aluminum altogether.

Not only is it not good for you, but it is so environmentally bad. It takes a TON of power to make the smallest amount of aluminum. That is why much of the aluminum in our country is made in my neck of the woods - the Pacific Northwest - where energy is "cheap".

Also, ONE of the industrial biproducts of aluminum manufacturing is fluoride, which is a very very nasty substance. Sure, many cities put it in their water (not mine, thankfully - we just defeated another attempt), but believe me, when it shows up in the tanker trucks to put in their water system, it's got a skull and crossbones on it. (They're not using pharmaceuitcal grade fluoride.) It is one of the biggest scams in American health history. Of course now I sound like a big conspiracy buff...but anyway. A good book is "The Fluoride Deception" where a guy actually documents the whole story and shares a ton of info and sources.

So, that's why I avoid aluminum foil and antipersperant and aluminum cans. (by my own logic, I'd also need to avoid airplanes - since aluminum makes them possible - and while I don't like flying, I admit I do now and again.)