Kitchen Make Over Help

[Bella001]

Hello all,

I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to get my kitchen gluten-free. I think I'm getting cc'd. I have Calphalon hard anodized pans/pots. Most are scratched. Should I get just start over and buy new? How about cookie sheets, cutting boards etc....I threw out my plastic measuring cup last night and replaced it with glass. My mixing bowels are metal/stainless.

Thanks!

[shopgirl]

Sorry, I must be 12 years old tonight but "mixing bowels" made me giggle.

I replaced: anything wooden, plastic, or metal. It was painful but I reasoned that it had to be done.

[Rowena]

Mostly I replaced anything wood because the gluten gets absorbed by the wood. Also, anything that is not easy to clean or has a lot of holes, like a cheese grater or a toaster, I would replace (or just get an alternate one if you are doing the shared kitchen thing). As for anything else, I would say, if its beat up, even if you didn't have a problem with gluten, its probably time to replace it. I would also replace anything old. (Since we discovered my intolerance shortly after getting married, we didn't have to replace a whole lot. All the hand-me downs are getting or have gotten replaced though...) Oh and if something is textured, (like a glass cutting board we have lieing around somewhere) I would replace it too. And I think depending on how used they are, definitely replace cutting boards. Flour can get stuck in those cracks the knives make.

Of course, you also have to kind of test out a few things and such, because there is no foolproof way to make sure you have got rid of everything until you don't feel sick anymore. Every person is different.

[SGWhiskers]

I had relatively new Calphalon non sticks when I went gluten-free. I didn't get rid of them partly from stubborness and partly from frugality. I scrubbed them with everything imaginable and soaked them in alcohol until I couldn't scrub stains out on a white cloth anymore. I was sick the first 3 months of gluten-free, but I was making all kinds of mistakes during that time.

So, if you are going for the full expense kitchen makeover, toss all tupperware and plastic cooking utensils. Toss the rolling pin, rusted metal items like the can opener. All wooden items like wooden spoons, cutting boards and salad bowls. Toss the pasta strainer. Really, toss all plastic, wood, and rusted items as well as scratched non-stick from your kitchen. Scrub the glass and metal bakeware until it looks new again. I replaced as much as possible with glass and cheap bamboo spoons because of what we are learning about the dangers of cooking with plastic. Also, the glass is easy to clean when my husband accidentally puts a gluten item in it.

OK, I said toss, but I really should have said donate to good will or transfer select items into a cupboard for family to use for gluten.

Now if you are like most of us, you won't be able to purge your kitchen entirely all at once.

Buy a large deep skillet for cooking, clean your glass bakeware, and line your nonstick bakeware with foil. Replace the can opener and cooking utensils. Buy a few of the paper thin plastic cutting boards and use the lid of a pot for straining your pasta. You can't use any of the plastics or wood, but you will probably find you can do without for a while.

appliances: no toaster or breadmaker. Others have said you can char and scrub the grill. I kept getting sick until I switched to tinfoil pouches or my own new cast iron grill pan. Also, I decided to get rid of my hand mixer because I knew it had years of flour blown into the vents and it would probably blow flour out the vents. I still have not replaced it because I've figured out that hand blending works just fine. Someday maybe.

Kitchen soaps: make sure your hand soap is gluten free. No good washing your hands then making burger patties with gluten soap.

Pet food: My bird's food got me sick on a number of occassions. Harvey's was the only gluten-free version I could find. We switched the cat to moist gluten-free right away. He was fat and dropped 20% of his bodyweight and turned into a kitten again.

The only things that my husband accidentally grabs from my gluten-free stash is the beer bottle opener and glass corning storage with the plastic lids. He drinks beer so rarely, he forgets it has gluten. We have so little plastic in the house, that he forgets that it can absorb gluten. Fortunately, I've caught him almost every time and the few times I didn't catch him, he didn't get anything on the lids.

Oh, and if you are stubborn like me and have to learn everything the hard way, learn from this one. I got a facebook post from a friend with newly diagnosed celiac who is stubborn and won't head to these boards stating she was miserably sick from eating a squash cooked in a tupperware that had once held cookies.

Keeping in mind that I'm desperately stubborn and cheap and I know this is bad advice, I would buy one skillet to use for the next few months while you get your diet under control. Scrub the calphalon to pieces and then try one plain safe meal in each pan and wait a few days to see if you have a reaction. I know how what an investment that calphalon is. Or you could play it safe and see if your sister or a friend would like a nice set. That's what I should tell you.

Good luck and have fun shopping!

[SGWhiskers]

Oh, when you replace the can opener, they are all crappy these days except the OXO brand. I went through half a dozen before I found this one. The rest all die within 6 months or leave metal fragments in my can. Granted I didn't spend more than $15 or so on any of them.

[Rowena]

SG~ I love oxo brand!!!! that's the best brand ever. I swear every other brand wears down far too quick and far too easy.

Tupperware.... is that what is getting me? Hmmmm.... I never thought about it but I guess that could be why I am often sick after eating leftovers from my parents and in-law's houses...

As for cheap way of replacing things, something I have done is replace a little bit every time I go to the store. IE one trip I replaced my wooden wares. The next trip I replaced the spatulas. It doesn't seem to drain the funds as much if you do it in bits and pieces. Though it can be frightfully annoying at first...

Oh that reminds me... a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond is in order... I need to replace pans... and get a toaster... And a stepstool... and a million and one other things... Darn it, why do I only have 30$ in gift cards?

[cap6]

I got rid of all of my plastic containers and am slowly replacing them with glass - and ziplocs!