Now that you’ve decided to go gluten-free, it’s time to overhaul your kitchen and cupboards, and basically all your food habits. Scared? Don’t be! (Not too much, anyway!) It’s a lot of information to keep track of at first, but you’ll get used to it. If it ends up helping you feel better, it will all be worth it!
KITCHEN DANGER SPOTS
· counter
· stove top
· cutting boards
· table
· toaster oven
· toaster
· shelves
· blender
· mixmaster
· baking pans
· cookie/cake tins
· muffin pans
· slotted spoons
· flippers with slots
· dish cloths
· tea towels
· dish scrubbers
· oven mitts
· SOS pads
· fridge shelves
· floor
Overhauling the kitchen will be much harder if you are sharing a space with people who are not GF. If you’re the only one, you’ll have to constantly be santizing/seperating things, and double-checking with your co-habitants about what they’ve used where. It won’t be easy, and will probably take a while to get everything sorted out.
The list above is a suggestion list. Your kitchen may be different; there may be more items or fewer items to consider, depending on what you cook. Get thinking about hard-to-clean spaces and items, like the paddles on your mix master, or the grates on your toaster. No matter how hard you clean them, it’s possible that gluten particles can remain. Depending on your sensitivity, this may or may not matter – unfortunately, you won’t know unless you find out the hard way. I played it safe, and replaced all these things over the last three years. Yes, it was expensive – I cut costs elsewhere to make this happen. I enjoy the peace of mind.
Go through all the food you have. Check your fridge, counter, cupboards, pantry, snack hiding spots – make sure you check EVERYTHING you have.
Make a pile to give away to friends/ family; if you’d like, you can donate sealed, non-perishable items (for example, pasta) to your local food bank. Put these food items in bags and get them out of your kitchen. Also remove any utensils you’re planning to throw out (blender, toaster, etc).
Make another pile for food that you know is safe. Put this food in bags and put the bags aside for now. Make sure you don’t keep any safe foods that may have gluten particles in them from use. For example, your peanut butter may be safe ingredient-wise, but if you’ve been using it for your whole wheat toast, it probably has crumbs in it. Out it goes.
Make a third pile for food you’re not sure of. Don’t guess; put these in bags and put the bags by your computer, so you can sit down and search everything later.
Once your fridge, cupboards, closets (etc) are all empty, get a clean cloth, some hot, soapy water, and wash the heck out of everything. Scrub scrub scrub, and leave no corner uncleaned. Don’t forget all the fridge shelves and storage spaces! When all the surfaces have thoroughly dried, put back all your safe food.
I recommend also giving your oven a thorough clean. The chances of getting contaminated from your oven is really small, since gluten particles fall to the very bottom, where you don’t cook. However, since you’re cleaning everything else, you might as well clean the oven too. Additionally, there might be gluten particles on your racks, and you’ll definitely want to get rid of those.
Next: Your gluten-free grocery list!
With peace & joy,
Cher
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