Anyone who lives with celiac disease, or lives with someone who has it, knows how important it is to prevent the consumption of gluten by the person with the disease. That can be easier said than done if everyone in the house does not eat a gluten-free diet. With some extra care and effort, however, you should be able to prevent cross contact with gluten within your home.
You First
If you are a celiac patient, you get first dibs on shared food before anyone has a chance to contaminate it. Teach your housemates when using utensils to apply a spread or condiment to a source of gluten, they should either use a new utensil each time they dip into the food or they can serve it onto a clean dish and spread it from there. Otherwise, a gluten-free item can become contaminated. Similarly, if you want a gluten-free chip dip or salsa to stay that way, dish out some specifically for chips or crackers with gluten. All it takes is one swipe of a cracker for that dip to no longer be gluten-free.
Keep Gluten-Free Items Separate
An even easier way to avoid cross contact with gluten-free foods is to keep them completely separate from one another. Keep gluten-free pantry items separate from other foods. Purchase separate items such as peanut butter, jam, butter and other regular foods and label them. You might even consider getting separate lidded or sealed containers for foods to further protect them from cross contact.
Clean and Buy Separate
Arguably the most important thing you can do to prevent cross contact is to carefully clean your kitchen, leaving no crumb behind. The other thing is to purchase separate items for gluten-free use. Cooking and eating utensils, pans, cutting boards, sponges and dish cloths. Yes, you even need a separate toaster! If it touches food at all, should be separate and stored separately, if possible.
Preventing cross contact takes dedication and discipline, but it is possible. Not sure if symptoms you’re having may point to Celiac disease? Learning more about the symptoms of Celiac disease can help.