Products For A Gluten Free Kitchen?

[Guest BERNESES]

Hi- I need some help. I've been getting the diet down pretty well BUT I've figured out a few things in the last few weeks that may have been continuing to plague me so I have a bunch of questions.

1. What kind of frying pans do people recommend? I had a Calphalon that got scratched and my hubby cooked pot stickers in it, washed it and i still got some gluten in me. I bought a new Cuisinart stainless steel one. What does everyone recommend?

2. What counter top cl;eaners do you recommend? Yeah- this is a good one- I just looked at the cleaner I used for my counter and it had grain alcohol in it! Yikes!

3. Sponges ? My mom always dislike sponges because they held residue (she did not have Celiac's) and used washing cloths instead because you could launder them. What do you all do?

4. Towels or paper towels? I have been trying to be environmentally conscientious but I've realized that sometimes, it doesn't work with Celiac's. I've been using a towel to wipe the counter (yeah- with my grain alcohol cleaner- Yikes!) and reusing it (we do NOT have many gluten-containg items in the house- no flour- hubby has bread and cereal occasionally but still). Wondering if i should just give in and use paper towels. What do people do?

Thanks Everyone

[tarnalberry]

1. What kind of frying pans do people recommend? I had a Calphalon that got scratched and my hubby cooked pot stickers in it, washed it and i still got some gluten in me. I bought a new Cuisinart stainless steel one. What does everyone recommend?

I use a Calphalon hard anodized 12" skillet most of the time. I don't like using non-stick surfaces. The LA Times (our local paper) rated skillets (all not non-stick) recently and liked the stainless steel AllClad with the very large, heavy aluminum core on the bottom.

2. What counter top cl;eaners do you recommend? Yeah- this is a good one- I just looked at the cleaner I used for my counter and it had grain alcohol in it! Yikes!

Really, I usually just use soap and water. If needed, I'll use a little diluted bleach. If I need to scrub, baking soda with enough water to spread it around. Grain alcohol should be fine, but if you're not comfortable with that, the baking soda does work fine.

3. Sponges ? My mom always dislike sponges because they held residue (she did not have Celiac's) and used washing cloths instead because you could launder them. What do you all do?

I use sponges, put them up so they dry as best as possible (and the small ones will thoroughly dry out in a day), run them through the dishwasher occasionally, and replace every month or so.

4. Towels or paper towels? I have been trying to be environmentally conscientious but I've realized that sometimes, it doesn't work with Celiac's. I've been using a towel to wipe the counter (yeah- with my grain alcohol cleaner- Yikes!) and reusing it (we do NOT have many gluten-containg items in the house- no flour- hubby has bread and cereal occasionally but still). Wondering if i should just give in and use paper towels. What do people do?

I use both for different purposes, never cleaning up something that had gluten with a towel unless I toss it right into the dirty clothes.