Gluten Free Transition
Now that Luke has Celiac disease, we need to make multiple changes when it comes to food. We need to change the way we shop, cook, and eat. We are still deciding if we are going to try and have the entire family go gluten free. This would make things a lot simpler in many ways, but it would also add some cost and may not be enjoyable for the rest of the kids. Another option is to segregate the kitchen into gluten free and non-gluten free. This obviously has quite a few challenges as well.
If we decide to make our kitchen gluten free, there are multiple steps we will have to take.
Get rid of all gluten containing products. This list includes obvious things like flour and baking mixes, cereals, crackers, breads, etc., but also includes condiments and anything else that may have been spread on a gluten containing item in the past. We also need to consider disposing of open items like sugar and baking soda if we think there may have been some cross contamination there.
Purchase a new toaster.
Replace plastic utensils, plastic bowls, wooden utensils, and nonstick pans. These are easily scratched and can harbor minute amounts of gluten, no matter how well they are cleaned. This is not true for stainless steel pans and stainless or glass bowls.
Purchase a new colander, cutting boards, rolling pin, baking sheets, muffin tins, sifter.
Thoroughly clean the oven, stove top, and microwave. Also make sure the counters and fridge and pantry are meticulously cleaned to get rid of residual gluten.
Don’t purchase any more gluten containing products.
Be careful with what we allow in the kitchen when friends bring food over - and clean up carefully afterwards.
If we decide to try and segregate the kitchen, these are the steps we need to take.
Everyone who uses the kitchen needs to be well trained about the strict rules that need to be followed to keep Luke safe.
Segregate the gluten-free foods into a completely separate part of the kitchen. We also need to segregate the gluten-free cooking tools into this separate part of the kitchen as well.
As I have researched some more about this, the consensus is that it is actually easier to segregate the gluten-containing foods and cooking tools into a separate part of the kitchen and make the majority of the kitchen gluten free. As I think about this, this actually makes more sense despite my initial thoughts.
This segregated area for gluten-containing foods needs to be relatively removed from the rest of the work areas, needs to have cabinet space, and needs to have counter space. There will also need to be a separate toaster if we allow gluten-containing breads into the kitchen. We have a good counter space for this. The butlers pantry is small but is definitely segregated. Right now, it is our family’s charging station for all our devices so we would need to find a new location for the devices and we would also need to clean out the cabinet area to serve as the gluten-containing location.
After eating gluten foods in shared areas, the whole family needs to make sure and clean up the area so no crumbs or other residue remain to contaminate any of Luke’s food.
We cannot allow gluten flours in the kitchen, even if restricted to the gluten area because the airborne gluten particles can be just as damaging to Luke.
The foods we put in the refrigerator need to be gluten free. If we do put any items containing gluten in the fridge, they need to be in a separated location at the bottom of the fridge. And they need to be properly labeled so there is no accidental cross contamination.
There needs to be a separate sponge and dish washing tool and probably separate towels for Luke to use.
The family needs to be committed to this. There are many instances of the gluten-free diet not being effective until the entire family goes gluten free. There are just so many opportunities for cross contamination.
We also need to be aware of non-kitchen items that could contain gluten including shampoo and toothpaste and medications.
While Mom was in Germany, we cleaned out the entire fridge, pantry, and shelves. All of the gluten containing items ended up downstairs in the storage room for now.
