violentlyserene

I'd rather deal with a mixed kitchen than an unhappy husband. It's a bit of a pain sure, but I don't mind. He's careful to stick to our protocols so I can eat safely and that's all I need. Fortunately, a mixed kitchen works for us so we don't need to go more extreme. The exact set up depends on your home and your situation but in general a storage area for gluten is important. We don't have a dishwasher so we have two sets of visually different silverware, plates, pots, utensils, colanders, etc. The only thing we share are pans which I put foil or parchment on and glass pans because we only have two of them. There are three sets of sponges, all different colors, for gluten, gluten-free and intermediate washing for the sink and shared items. The sink gets carefully scrubbed before washing the dishes and dirty dishes each have their own separate area so nothing is confused. I can tell what's gluten or gluten-free but my husband forgets so it's helpful there. The only gluten that comes in this house is stuff that is premade and not easily replaced- pizza, pizza rolls, his weird little debbie snacks, etc. All baking stuff was tossed when I went and all of that is gluten-free now. All of that is kept in the freezer or in his own cupboard with the gluten dishes. Our counters can never be properly clean and I wouldn't trust it anyway so i have a bunch of those clear plastic cutting boards cut in quarters and some whole so there's a bunch available to grab if i need prep room. I also have vinyl shelf liner from Ikea covering one counter by the stove where my dedicated gluten-free section is. It's easily cleaned, obviously different than the rest of the counters and can be thrown away if it's too contaminated to clean. I also try to keep masking tape and a sharpie on the counter to mark everything as gluten or gluten-free. We have separate peanut butter jars since he uses it for lunch with wheat bread but the rest of the condiment squeeze bottles or things that aren't used on gluten. It does take a bit to get used to the separateness of this but it's really pretty easy to keep up. The worst thing is by far the lack of a dishwasher.

We only go once a year so i barely remember what's there but there should be fresh fruit. Thank you, I can't believe i didn't think of that! A friend suggested they may have baked potatoes as well which would be great. I'd love something substantial but i eat worse at home so a potato, ice cream and fruit is certainly good enough for me. My family knows but this is the best option for a large group and I told them to find what they could and I'd figure the rest out.

It's not my choice of places but I'm doing the best I can. I'm definitely calling ahead, just not sure what to ask them about. Asking for gluten free stuff is likely to get me blank stares but if I can be specific on things, it should be better. I won't suffer from eating there because I don't react and I'm extra careful the rest of the time so I can keep my sanity in situations like this. sitting foodless and hungry for two hours while everyone else eats and makes me the focus of attention (not unkindly) is much worse than bending over backwards finding a couple things I can eat with an acceptable margin of risk. It's not everyone's frame of mind and that's fine. I wouldn't force anyone to do this because it's a personal choice.

When I searched, i found a couple mentions of people eating at OCB which is why I asked here. It had been done by members already and I was hoping to find their advice. It is a risk and one that I accept for a once a year event. My goal at this point is to mitigate it, not find to ways around eating there at all.

I'm aware of all the potential issues and since not eating isn't an option, I'm trying to be proactive and make it as safe as possible.

We're going to Old country buffet tomorrow for a family thing. Since we'll be there for a while in a large group with everyone else eating, i'd really like to find something to eat so the attention doesn't stay on me and my lack of food. We only go once a year so I'm not even sure what they have and can call and ask about. Those of you who risk buffets, what do you eat? Any ideas on what's likely to be my best options? I have celiac so contamination is an issue but I don't react to small levels so I won't know if anything i eat actually was safe.

Food! I've been eating a whole lot of stir fries and kabobs (both actual kabobs on a stick and the stuff I'd put on the kabobs just roasted in a draining pan). Potato shepherd's pie is a favorite here as well.

There aren't any. I looked extensively when I was diagnosed because we'd already been trying but all of my drs say it's perfectly safe to get pregnant as long as you are gluten free. The only problems I know of come in with irregular cycles but that can be dealt with like problems caused by other things. I do recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility. The website is www.tcoyf.com and has info on the book, forums and charts. The book is extensive and pretty invaluable when ttc. If you don't have the patience for the whole book, check out fertility friend's tutorials. They have a lot of info as well but it's pared down a lot more and just covers the basics.

Thanks all for the recommendations. I think I will go with Cecelia's this time and see how I like it.

It does indeed! I'll go look it up. Celiac is so much more serious than I ever realized. If I hadn't gone looking for specifics, I'd have never known that eating gluten would put me at risk for so much or how much contamination really matters, esp with a gi dr that doesn't seem to understand the implications of celiac. Even trying to be careful, albeit with an inaccurate definition, I'm sure I've been over that 20 ppm every day for the last 2 months.

If they ate it, certainly! If they don't react to anything less than that, does that mean they can put themselves in the average celiac category and be careful or is that more towards non reactive celiacs who need to be super careful? I seem to have missed your point. I'm curious since that's roughly where I fall right now and can't tell whether I'm being crazy paranoid or sensible. My instinct says sensible but since it also says EAT ALL THE WHEAT...

Where do celiacs who don't react to anything but something like a piece of cake fall on that spectrum?

Thank you! This is definitely not intended to be a permanent crutch, just a help. I'm going to my mom's for thanksgiving and am hoping a quick reference would be helpful for all those iffy ingredients.

I'm looking at getting a grocery guide to make life a tad easier but I'm not sure of the difference between the available books. If you have one or the other, how do you like it? Is it accurate? I expect a few corrections since that's just the nature of food manufacturing but I'd like something I can rely on without checking the website every time I look at something.

I've been staring at frozen eggrolls for weeks. Fortunately, I'd have to actually get to the register and home and by then, rationality would take over. KFC really does a number on me too. I'd swear the boxes were talking to me. The only thing that I can't resist is Wendy's chilli. I love it and while it's technically gluten free, the variety of possible problems with that don't matter.