Q's For Those With gluten-free Kitchens/homes

[SGWhiskers]

For those of you who have entirely gluten free kitchens/homes, I'm curious what factors helped you make that decision?

Did your kitchen go gluten-free, right away, or did you have a mixed kitchen for a while?

Did your kitchen go gluten-free because you were cross contaminated?

Did children's access to gluten in a mixed kitchen affect your decision?

Did you make your kitchen gluten-free to reduce your anxiety and hand washing?

If you had a mixed kitchen for a while, did your health improve after switching to a gluten-free kitchen?

Thanks for sharing

SGWhiskers

[ShayFL]

I discovered my gluten intolerance at the same exact time we were having our kitchen remodeled. It was completely gutted...even new drywall. Nothing left but an empty room. So I decided that the new kitchen would NEVER know gluten.

I feel there should be at least one safe place in this world for us and it should be our own homes.

DH and DD can eat gluten outside on the porch if they want. All gluten stays in the fridge in the garage. I dont go in there EVER.....LOL I also never eat at the table on the porch.

It has worked well.

Actually my 12 y.o. daughter has bee so amazing with this. She realized one of our herbal teas had "barley malt" in it. So she took it out to the garage. I had not drank any. It was her tea. She went to make a cup and realized it had gluten. She is so careful for me.

[missy'smom]

For those of you who have entirely gluten free kitchens/homes, I'm curious what factors helped you make that decision?

Did your kitchen go gluten-free, right away, or did you have a mixed kitchen for a while?

Did your kitchen go gluten-free because you were cross contaminated?

Did children's access to gluten in a mixed kitchen affect your decision?

Did you make your kitchen gluten-free to reduce your anxiety and hand washing?

If you had a mixed kitchen for a while, did your health improve after switching to a gluten-free kitchen?

Thanks for sharing

SGWhiskers

We have a 90% or more gluten-free kitchen and home. The only gluten now is pasta and occasional bread for hubby. We switched over to simple fresh gluten-free family meals right away with the exception of occasional gluten containing bread and pasta for kiddo and hubby. We have one separate pan for gluten now, otherwise all the pans and appliances are gluten-free. Kiddo had some gluten at first for breakfast and lunches but eventually I switched over to all gluten-free breakfast lunches for him because that was easier and no CC for me. Now it looks as if he may need to be gluten-free anyway. I got glutened a few times preparing foods for him when I was trying to prepare the same meal gluten-free for me. We found plenty of gluten-free snacks that he likes and I don't bake much anymore-lots of healthy prepared or easy prep. options out there that I would encourage anyone that their kids can have plenty of gluten-free snacks at home and not be deprived even if they don't need to be gluten-free. My husband, who cooks and uses the kitchen alot, got on board fairly quickly and started to cook gluten-free because it was a pain in the you know what trying to avoid CC and having separate ingredients. He still prepares sandwiches for his own lunch but he sets out all the cheese, meat etc. on a plate and then puts them away and then gets out the bread. His toaster is relegated to it's lonely place on a small counter that is separate from the others.

[WW340]

We emptied out the ktchen and the cupboards right away. My husband does keep one loaf of bread, the old toaster, and his own cereal and crackers, which he keeps away from my food in one corner of the kitchen. Other than that the kitchen is gluten free. All cooking is gluten free. My son has to keep his snacks in his room, because he is not careful enough with them. They both will occasionally have a regular TV dinner cooked in the microwave if I am not home to cook, but that is it.

My doctor told my husband how serious cross contamination is, so the decision was easy for us. The rest of the family can eat gluten out, but home is sacred for me.

My family loves the gluten free meals I cook. They just don't care for the bread. (me either for that matter) That has really been the main problem here. They actually love my crackers, but buy regular due to the price.

There was a time we allowed our son a little more leeway with gluten, but I started getting sick again due to cross contamination, so it was banned again. He is not young either, I think it would be even worse with contamination with young kids.

I think it has to be much easier to keep the kitchen safe and the whole family eat the same gluten free food. The majority of day to day food is NOT more expensive. I do not use any specialty foods, other than gluten free pasta and noodles, which are not expensive, especially the oriental noodles. I use corn starch or potato starch for thickeners and when I need flour, I sub a gluten free mix. I rarely need this and a bag of flour lasts a long time.

Special occaisions do require the use of the more expensive mixes, cakes, pie crust etc, but we don't do those that often.

[Chrissyb]

All the meals we eat together are gluten free. My DH and DS have their own bread and snacks but they are kept in the same pantry as mine are. Not sure if that could be a problem with CC. They eat in the same are I do so there is no restriction as to were gluten is allowed as far as on the same counters as my stuff and at the table. After reading a lot of post I wonder if I could be getting CC since my stuff and there's are stored together and prepared in the same area.

[LuvMoosic4life]

when I build a house someday its going to be 100% gluten-free....no gluten allowed!!!

I went home for thanksgiving, excited to have food, only to get glutened even though I made it clear to my mom what to do to avoid CC....its nearly impossible!! I took food back to school with me.....only to realize I have been continuously glutening myself Luckily my roomate is never here, so my apt is fairly clean of gluten, i have no problems here. but definitly choosing wherever I live after this to be completley gluten-free!

[CeliacMom2008]

Our son is the only Celiac in our family. We chose a gluten-free household for a couple of reasons.

1) A safe haven. We think it's important for our son to have one place he can relax a little about food.

2) I'd be a basket case in a mixed house. I would be cleaning every other minute. I'd be paranoid my son would accidently grab something he couldn't have.

We truly do not mind gluten free food. Actually, we've eaten better tasting food with more variety in the last year than ever before. It takes much more time (as you all know), but I've decided to turn cooking into a hobby. I used to hate cooking. Now I actually enjoy it.

Back to your questions:

Did your kitchen go gluten-free, right away, or did you have a mixed kitchen for a while? - We threw out or gave away almost everything right away, but we did use up some things - like the tons of cereal I had stocked up on, boxed pasta salad that I ate while my son was at school. We moved the bad items to the bottom shelf in the pantry and just used them until they were gone and then replaced with gluten-free varieties.

Did your kitchen go gluten-free because you were cross contaminated? Yes

Did children's access to gluten in a mixed kitchen affect your decision? Sort of - the kid is the Celiac

Did you make your kitchen gluten-free to reduce your anxiety and hand washing? We still wash hands like crazy. It's just a good habit and we're germ-a-phobes! Oh, and the dogs still have gluten food, so hand washing is how we deal with that. And my son doesn't feed them any more. Lucky me!

[SGWhiskers]

Thank you for the information about your kitchens. We have a shared kitchen, and I would like to keep it that way if it is not going to affect my health. We don't have kids, so I only have to worry about what DH prepares for himself. He does not have baking mixes or flour, but he has bread, crackers, and cereal a few times a day. We have separate cooking items and condiments but shared counters and household surfaces. Right now, Gluten is allowed everywhere except the bedroom.

I don't want to give my hubby unnecessary restrictions, and I don't want to hurt my health. So far, I think I have a decent balance, but if I'm getting low level exposure, I wonder if I wouldn't know. I'm feeling much better than before I was diagnosed. I have had a few accidental glutenings, but I think I'm the one doing it to myself vs. CC. My concern right now is wondering if my good days between glutenings could be even better. (hopefully, there will be no more glutenings). My hands are chapped from washing so much, so I might be looking for an excuse to ban the gluten.

Thanks you for sharing your experiences. It is so nice to have all of you to learn from.

SGWhiskers

[Hummingbird4]

When I discovered I had Celiac, and started reading up on it and learning all about cross-contamination, I had a talk with my husband. He said he would do whatever it takes to support me, and that included going gluten-free with me. I figure there's no reason he needs to stay gluten-free when he is out of the house (he works from home), but we decided that we will have a gluten-free kitchen. My son was soon leaving for college anyway, and my 15 y.o. daughter was fine with the idea.

So I went through my kitchen and completely de-glutened it. I threw out or gave away everything from my pantry, fridge, freezer and spice rack that contained gluten. I scrubbed down every single surface, including cabinet shelves, drawers, doors and knobs. The kitchen absolutely sparkled! I bought some new things to replace items that might contain gluten (wooden spoons, cutting boards, scratched teflon, etc.) and I bought myself a rice cooker.

There have been a few times that my MIL has given us cookies or a big tub of licorice. I insist that they be kept in the garage fridge, or in my kids' rooms or in husband's office. Not in the kitchen, period. Same with leftovers from restaurants - they go in the garage fridge. My daughter has a stash of hot pockets out there in the freezer too, which she can take to school to microwave.

Like Shay's daughter, my daughter has been so great about looking out for me! Wow, she has been my biggest champion! I sure hope she never comes down with it, but if she does, she's well-equipped to deal with it. My son, on the other hand, is another story. He lives for sourdough bread.

P.S. I also got rid of dog food & biscuits containing gluten and replaced them with non-gluten varieties.

[ThatlldoGyp]

Did your kitchen go gluten-free, right away, or did you have a mixed kitchen for a while?

We eliminated all things gluten immed. and replaced utensils/ pans/ appliances as we needed it. Freecycle and Craig's list is an easy option for getting rid of your stuff.

Did your kitchen go gluten-free because you were cross contaminated?

We moved any gluten stuff that my husband/kiddo wanted out into the laundry room. We are lucky, it has a counter and a sink and cabinets. He prepares anything gluteny out there, and uses paper plates. The plates are disposed of (crumbs included) in the woodstove afterwards. He eats his sandwich or cereal in the livingroom, or on the deck. The dogs or the vac. get the crumbs, lol!

Even the dog and cat food is gluten-free, so we don't have to worry about that as well. I give them frozen pumpkin slices for "milkbones" and dry out gluten-free hotdogs or use cheese as training treats.

Did children's access to gluten in a mixed kitchen affect your decision? no. My son is not a celiac.

Did you make your kitchen gluten-free to reduce your anxiety and hand washing?

Yes for anxiety. I need one place in the world that is safe and gluten free. My hubby and son eat out once a week to get their gluten fix, other than that they eat gluten-free (I cook the meals 90% of the time anyway). I haven't heard any complaints, and a few times they have questioned the gluten-free status of some things!

If you had a mixed kitchen for a while, did your health improve after switching to a gluten-free kitchen?

I was def. more relaxed after all gluten was moved to the laundry room, so I felt more relaxed and at ease about eating safely, so yes, at least my mental health improved quite a bit!