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Gluten Free Kitchen Or Not

dws

By dws
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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dws Contributor
dws
Posted

I don't want to beat this gluten free kitchen thing to death, but I was wondering about other people's experiences. My gut has not been terrible lately, but I am still feeling a little off. I have done a lot of the elimnation stuff and am currently avoiding all processed food. I was curious about whether or not any of you have struggled with nagging problems until you took the step of eliminating gluten from your household? Was it definitely the silver bullet that made you feel better after taking other precautions?

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Roda Rising Star
Roda
Posted

I do alright in a shared kitchen. That said, I am very strict about it. For the first two years post diagnosis I was the only one gluten free in the house. Since I did most of the cooking/baking I made all meals gluten free and refused to allow any baking with regular flour/baking mixes. Hubby and kids had a shelf in the pantry that was for gluten foods. They had a dedicated section of the counter. I got rid of any shared items (or let them finish them up) and bought new. I also got rid of any herbs/spices/baking ingredients that may have been cross contaminated. I also replace or bought an extra of bake ware, wafle iron, pasta strainer, toaster, etc. Now our house is even more gluten free. My youngest son went gluten free last Nov. and my oldest son just went gluten free Aug. 29th. So it's now just hubby that eats gluten and I must say it is a lot less. He is very careful and hasn't cross contaminated us yet.

moose07 Apprentice
moose07
Posted

I know that when I can get my own place I will definitely have a gluten free kitchen. I can, for the most part, trace all but two of my glutenings in the past year and a half to CC from other people in the kitchen.

eatmeat4good Enthusiast
eatmeat4good
Posted

I have a gluten free kitchen because it is just me and my son and he has to be gluten free too. But I shake and tremble at the thought of a shared kitchen. My sister wants me to come for Thanksgiving but I tremble at the thought of trying to eat gluten free in someone else's kitchen...even though she says she will cook gluten free...I don't think I could eat it, knowing that she bakes when I'm not there...it's like radioactive waste in my mind...I just wish it glowed neon green or something so we could see where it is....

Having said that...there are people on here who have a shared kitchen and do alright with it. I make my sister take her kids outside if they are order pizza when they visit. I just can't risk it.

Takala Enthusiast
Takala
Posted

We have a gluten free kitchen after my husband volunteered to go gluten free at home, to avoid cross contamination issues, after he saw how 1 reaction could wipe me out and ruin a weekend. Much easier this way. He's still gotten me a few times that we have not figured out how, other times we do figure it out, but it is a lot less.

thleensd Enthusiast
thleensd
Posted

Gluten Free kitchen. It's worth my health and sanity.

beebs Enthusiast
beebs
Posted

Yes gluten free kitchen, its just not worth the risk.

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glutentheintolerant Rookie
glutentheintolerant
Posted

I think I got contaminated yesterday. Not sure how. The person I leave with leaves crumbs everywhere and they get into everything. Sometimes I place something on the counter and then later on realize it hasn't been properly cleaned.

I think having a gluten-free home will cure you of any doubts and let you diagnose real problems.

Oh, if you have a dog: Dog food is often full of wheat as well. Wash your hands after handling it.

Gemini Experienced
Gemini
Posted

I do alright in a shared kitchen. That said, I am very strict about it. For the first two years post diagnosis I was the only one gluten free in the house. Since I did most of the cooking/baking I made all meals gluten free and refused to allow any baking with regular flour/baking mixes. Hubby and kids had a shelf in the pantry that was for gluten foods. They had a dedicated section of the counter. I got rid of any shared items (or let them finish them up) and bought new. I also got rid of any herbs/spices/baking ingredients that may have been cross contaminated. I also replace or bought an extra of bake ware, wafle iron, pasta strainer, toaster, etc. Now our house is even more gluten free. My youngest son went gluten free last Nov. and my oldest son just went gluten free Aug. 29th. So it's now just hubby that eats gluten and I must say it is a lot less. He is very careful and hasn't cross contaminated us yet.

I do the same thing and, as it's just my husband and myself, there have been no problems in 6 years of me being gluten-free. If your husband or wife understands CC issues well, there should be no problem having a shared kitchen. I am an extremely sensitive Celiac also and it still hasn't posed any problems but it all depends on how "on board" the others are willing to be. I don't allow cooking with gluten-free flours in my house and that's the biggest worry you are going to have....air born gluten.

Reba32 Rookie
Reba32
Posted

My own kitchen is gluten free. I share a house with my Mum and we share cooking. She has the occasional gluteny bread in her kitchen, but not very often as she's on a carb restricted diet anyway ;)

My niece and nephew come to visit once per week and if they're eating pizza they eat it downstairs in my Mum's place, rather than upstairs in my place. When they eat McDonald's they sometimes eat at my dining table, but that's easy enough to clean up (and no, I'm not the one feeding them junk, it's their own parents when they drop them off here they bring the junk food with them :P )

My dogs are even on gluten free food as well. They get Blue Wilderness grain free food. It's expensive, but worth it to not get CC'd from either the food or their kisses :D

dws Contributor
dws
Posted
  • Author

I do the same thing and, as it's just my husband and myself, there have been no problems in 6 years of me being gluten-free. If your husband or wife understands CC issues well, there should be no problem having a shared kitchen. I am an extremely sensitive Celiac also and it still hasn't posed any problems but it all depends on how "on board" the others are willing to be. I don't allow cooking with gluten-free flours in my house and that's the biggest worry you are going to have....air born gluten.

Thanks to everyone for all of the advice. I was considering making a small area gluten free, but I think the other way around would work better. We'll try a dedicated gluten cabinet and counter and have the rest of the kitchen gluten free. I have been known to send family members outside to pour and mix flours. I'll continue that practice. Thanks again.

Katrala Contributor
Katrala
Posted

I have a shared kitchen (both my husband and kids eat gluten.)

95% of the time our (shared) dinners are gluten-free. In the event they aren't, we take precautions to make sure there aren't problems.

I can say that we've had "roller coaster" problems. Things will be great for awhile and then we'll become slightly more relaxed (for example, not washing down handle doors, etc. as well just before cooking) and BAM - I'll get it.

While my kids and husband do have a dedicated area of the kitchen for gluten, we have banned all gluten flour from the house. I followed the advice from others here when they said it gets on EVERYTHING (it really does!)

cap6 Enthusiast
cap6
Posted

Our kitchen is 98% gluten free. One refrig drawer and on bottom shelf of the pantry can have gluten stuff. One small counter for eating anything gluten. I am the only one out of three of us but I cook so it works. The other two are very good and careful. Also, do look for a gluten free (or grain free) dog food. There are several brands that are out there. Just makes life easier - and healthier for the dogs.

cait Apprentice
cait
Posted

Our kids are still pretty young (3 and 5), and while they are definitely learning about being careful, it was just too hard to have a shared kitchen. We're gluten-free with small, very careful exceptions in our house now. The rest of the family eats gluten when they're out, but we try not to bring it into the house. I really didn't want to impose it on everyone else, but I just kept getting hit by CC, and the paranoia about it (not to mention having me flattened by it) wasn't good for anyone.

Poppi Enthusiast
Poppi
Posted

We are lucky enough to have 2 kitchens as our house was converted into an up/down duplex by the previous owners but we converted it back and kept the second kitchen. We are a family of 7. Myself, DH and the 2 younger kids (6 & 2) live upstairs and eat gluten free, the three big kids (21, 18 & 16) live downstairs and are allowed to prepare and eat gluten in their kitchen.

There are some very strict rules about gluten in the house though. Gluten is absolutely forbidden upstairs in our house.

1. Their kitchen is off limits to me. I won't clean it, I won't cook in it and they are expected to take care of it. If it needs adult attention then DH deals with it.

2. The upstairs of the house is 100% gluten free. No gluten food comes up here. They can't make a sandwich downstairs and bring it up to the dining room.

3. If we are having something like pizza or burgers that requires the 3 big kids to have gluten buns or crusts we eat outside and hose off the table afterwards. If the weather is bad and we can't change our dinner plans then unfortunately we have to eat separately.

If we only had one kitchen then the whole house would have to be gluten free. We tried to have gluten in the upstairs kitchen but I wasn't getting all the way better. Once we made my kitchen gluten free I got much better.

  • 5 months later...
Darissa Contributor
Darissa
Posted

My own kitchen is gluten free. I share a house with my Mum and we share cooking. She has the occasional gluteny bread in her kitchen, but not very often as she's on a carb restricted diet anyway ;)

My niece and nephew come to visit once per week and if they're eating pizza they eat it downstairs in my Mum's place, rather than upstairs in my place. When they eat McDonald's they sometimes eat at my dining table, but that's easy enough to clean up (and no, I'm not the one feeding them junk, it's their own parents when they drop them off here they bring the junk food with them :P )

My dogs are even on gluten free food as well. They get Blue Wilderness grain free food. It's expensive, but worth it to not get CC'd from either the food or their kisses :D

Question for you. We just went up to PetCo and bought the Blue Wilderness Grain Free Chicken Dog Food (dry) and it has barley grass in it. We are trying to find a good quality dog food that is 100% gluten free. I am contacting the company. We bought the food, than I was looking it up online, and found a post from a Vet that said it had Barley. Sure enough, about half way down the list, it has Barley. Frustrating. Just wondering which Blue Wilderness Grain Free Dog Food you use and if it has Barley. Our house is gluten free. We have no gluten in our house, and I want our new dog to be gluten free either to prevent cc from licks, etc.

0

Googles Community Regular
Googles
Posted

I spent two years after diagnosis living by myself. So my apartment was gluten free. This year I had to have a roommate because of financial issues and so I live in a shared kitchen (a very small one). She is not here most nights (she spends the nights w/ her boyfriend) so it isn't as bad. But I have been glutened more this year than I was in the previous two years combined. I can't wait until I am able to live on my own again and have a gluten free house.

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