Hello!
I just was wondering how other people managed a gluten free diet when others in the house eat gluten?
I (finally!) went gluten free about 3 weeks ago but I'm really struggling with cross contamination so I don't think I've actually been properly gluten-free at all. 🤔
I was just looking for some practical advice as to how to manage it please!
Thank you. 
You need separate area in kitchen for your food and preparation. Also separate boards and cooking utensils, use top of oven and fridge freezer for your things, separate butter jams etc and, and it goes on
You should generally have a separate prep area for your food. Keep your GF things in a clearly labelled container in the fridge to avoid anyone double dipping and use different baking trays (or use tinfoil on an existing one if you need to) and different utensils/chopping boards/mixing bowls.
Some things are ok to share, like properly cleaned saucepans/plates.
The rule we were given is that if it's easily scratched or has a complex surface, then gluten can get caught up in the scratches (think chopping boards). Apparently wooden spoons are ok to use as long as you wash between dishes.
In that case, I think I might treat myself to some new baking trays and a seperate chopping board!
Everything else goes through the dishwasher so should be fine then! I have definitely not been gluten-free at all! there's been lots of unintentional cross-contamination. D'oh!
Coeliac UK should have lots of info my partner was diagnosed coeliac and after reading all the rules of avoiding cross-contamination, I just ended up giving up gluten too 
it was easier!
After everyone's initial horror at me going gluten free and eating separate food. Everyone eats gf food now as they decided they like it. The only thing is bread, that we keep separate, and have different breadboards for making sandwiches and different butter dispensers. The family eats mostly fresh food but the occasional gluten free fish fingers and pasta. I make a few loaves of gf bread in a batch and cut into slices and store in packs of 2 or 4 in freezer for easy use. It seems easier on the whole to switch and mainly eat the same thing.
I would insist the whole famiy go gluten free but husband is refusing to give up bread since I've already made him give up meat and most dairy already! 
and of the tiny two, One is mega fussy so cutting gluten from her diet would just make it too restricted, so for now, I plod on and will carve out a cupboard just for me!
We eat meat and dairy so It wasn't so hard for us. Sounds like you'll have to do your own thing.
I would think unless you actually have an allergy as opposed to intolerance and you clean chopping boards , etc it’s not a problem . I make stuff with gluten for others without a problem wash hands well.
I’m sure everyone does these days !!!!!!
I'd like to trial strict gluten free and see if it makes a difference. I figure if I have a leaky gut that's irritated by gluten then I should give it the best chance I can to recover.
If there's no improvement in my symptoms then I shall just introduce it back in!
If you reintroduce, just watch out for weird ways intolerance shows itself. If I eat gluten, I get dermatitis on my shins 2 days later, no other symptoms. I also know a coeliac whose only symptom is crippling back pain.
Good plan. And hope you do notice difference.
I’m like Nanaedake, apart from bread and anything that the family buy outside we all eat the same GF food.
I cook from scratch so I know exactly what’s in my food. So much ‘normal’ food is naturally gluten free that I find it easy to manage. I read labels and wouldn't buy anything that includes gluten. You do have to be sure to check ingredients as things like gravy granules etc can have gluten sneaked in. I even bought a little tub of M&S mixed nuts for a snack and found they contained gluten - in nuts! I thought that was nuts.
If we ate out - thing of the past these days - I always ate at restaurants that took being gluten free carefully. I’d go online and check out there menus beforehand. Saying that our local chip shop sells beautiful gluten free fish and chips on a Monday and Tuesday and I sometimes have that.
I’d say snacking was what I found most difficult as most snacks - fast foods available tend to contain gluten. So plan ahead and you w9nt be caught out.
It’s very easy to eat gluten free once you get your head round it. I’m not coeliac though I just went gluten free when I was diagnosed with yet another autoimmune condition and I found that it made a huge difference to my IBS.
I joined Coeliac.org.UK and they send you a ‘bible’ which lists pretty much every gluten free food and ingredient you can get as well as a magazine that is full of advice, a website with recipes etc and a helpline. Well worth the money.
Thank you - I try to cook from scratch as often as I can but i'm still struggling with fatigue and with two small children I find it really challenging as by dinner time I'm ready to sleep, not cook! I'm hopeful that with a levo increase my fatigue will start to dissappate a bit more and cooking will become less arduous.
I joined coeliac and got the app which is super helpful!
it's a bit like when I tried to ditch dairy - i found myself in the supermarket aisles reading ingredients list wailing 'whyyyy is there milk in this?!' Salt and vinegar crisps, for example!
You may be interested to know that there's a legal definition of gluten free that 'Only foods that contain 20 parts per million (ppm) or less of gluten can be labelled gluten free'.
See this link
coeliac.org.uk/information-...
For some of us it's not the gluten, it's the wheat, oats etc which are the problem. I'm also sensitive to potato and that's in plenty of gluten free products, so I have to read labels carefully. I also find it frustrating when they sell products with 'gluten free oats' when I can't eat oats - whether gluten free or not.
Have you been diagnosed as coeliac?
Keep doing it as best you can. It's worth it.
Not coeliac, thankfully but trialling gluten free to see if it relives some of the hypo symptoms.
I have been eating 'gluten free' oats for breakfast but I have questioned whether I should just ditch them. It's tricky.
It's very hard tracking down what is OK for us. I'm def OK with ordinary oats.
Like Fruitandnutcase and Nanaedake everything in kitchen is gluten free. Apart from bread, which is kept in bottom draw of freezer well away from my GF bread in top drawer
I have separate gluten free toaster. Separate butter, mayonnaise and chopping boards
We don’t keep any “normal” flour. All baking is GF
Everyone loves my home made gluten free cakes, florentine’s and puddings and gluten free muesli
Ooh, hijacking this thread, but where have you found good GF recipes for cakes etc? I love baking but my attempts to make GF cakes have been shockingly bad!
I frequently just substitute GF flour for regular flour in a standard recipe
I use Dove Farm flour
Usually requires a bit longer cooking ...but that might be my oven
A basic sponge recipe works well ....
Or
This is the current favourite....makes a large cake
Drain rhubarb first (tinned at moment)
gorgeous with real rhubarb out the garden
bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/rhu...
Thank you so much. I’ll give that a try - I have Dove’s.
And that rhubarb cake looks amazing. I love rhubarb!!
Doves farm have a recipe section with a lot of gluten free recipes. Gluten free flour mixes vary for how thirsty they are, so it can be hard to follow a recipe book. The doves farm recipes all work perfectly with doves farm flour mix though
Naomi Devlin does brilliant gluten free recipes. She wrote the River Cottage gluten free handbook and she also has a website. She tests her recipes really well and I've found they work much better than anyone elses. Good luck
Try Becky Excell she has social media pages and she has a book out on Amazon another out shortly.Hope you’re doing well now.
😮 That’s so kind of you. Just found her website. That chocolate orange Swiss roll looks amazing.
I’m doing okay, thanks. I hope you are too 🌸
I think I will find myself a cupboard to claim tomorrow and a shelf in the fridge!
Thank you everyone, very much appreciated. It's been really useful to hear what others are doing.
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