How to make your kitchen gluten free

A guide to what things have gluten, what to replace it with, and what is safe

Starting your gluten free journey is hard enough with learning what is and isn't safe to eat. So trying to learn what things in your kitchen are gluten free is just another thing to add to the list.

I mean, you'd hate to be doing really good on your diet and then all of a sudden you figure out you've been poisoned by something you have in your pantry!

So the goal of this blog is to help you figure out how to make your kitchen gluten free.

The first area we'll start with is of course: the pantry.

Pantry

Bread, cereal, soups, broths, sauces, canned foods, and so many more things are common staples in an everyday pantry. So what do you do when a lot of these things actually have gluten in them? And how do you figure that out?

Well, I'm here to help!

The very first thing you want to do is try and go through your pantry and organize in piles that you know have gluten, what you're unsure about, and what you know is for sure gluten free.

Once you do that, you decide if you are going to keep food that has gluten for the rest of your family. If you are, take those things and put them in a separate place so they don't get mixed in with what you're getting rid of.

Now, you want to check your maybe pile and your safe pile to be sure that you don't have any hidden gluten ingredients. I talked about how to do this in another blog, but I'll talk about it here too.

There are a few things that are usually hidden in ingredients that don't necessarily "contain gluten" but they are not gluten free. So here is a list of common things you'll need to look for:

• Malt

• Barley

• Oatmeal

• Wheat Bran

• Matzo

• Bulgur

• Couscous

• Farina

• Seitan

• Wheat Germ

• Semolina

• Kamut

• Spelt

Now that you've checked all of your food in your pantry for hidden gluten ingredients, you can separate a few more things for non-gluten free people and know what things in your pantry are for sure gluten free.

This process may take you a while, but it is definitely worth it so you can be sure what is safe to eat!

Once you've finished in the pantry, you can move on to the next obstacle: the fridge.

Fridge

The fridge is a great place. You can store fresh ingredients, keep left overs good, and pretty much figure out a majority of meals from what you have inside of it. However, there are a lot more things that have gluten in them in the fridge than you think.

When I go through a list in my head of what kinds of things I realized I needed to check for gluten in my fridge, the list tends to be simple things we use on a normal basis.

For starters, you have to check all of your condiments, sauces, your snacks, dressings, yogurts, and more.

Thankfully, the way you figure out what is gluten free is exactly the same as with pantry items.

Something to keep in mind too, and I'll talk about this a little more in depth in the last section, is you also have to be sure to label your foods if you are leaving things that are not gluten free (for example a mayonnaise bottle that is for normal sandwiches vs gluten free sandwiches).

Once you finish your fridge, you can move on to the next section: the freezer.

Freezer

The freezer has probably some of my favorite foods that I have in my house. And that would be mainly ice cream and quick and easy freezer lunch meals (I know, I know. Guilty as charged).

But, the freezer is another you have to be really careful about.

Things that go in the freezer are usually really easy to tell what is and isn't gluten free. And the sad thing is that there usually aren't a lot of gluten free freezer options.

That's besides the point though.

You will repeat the same process with the freezer as you did with the fridge and pantry. Take out what you think is good, what might be, and what is for sure safe (and for extra advice, if you are a huge ice cream lover like myself, you'll want to double and triple check that your favorite flavors are gluten free just in case).

Once that's done, make sure you what is and isn't safe and then decide what you will be keeping and what is getting thrown away.

As soon as you go through all of your main food sources, you can go through some that are a little bit harder than the rest: seasonings and spices.

Seasonings/spices

Seasonings and spices are in absolutely everything. In fact, if there aren't seasonings and spices in your food I think you might be doing something a bit wrong.

The great thing about them is that usually they are so straight forward with what is in them. Thyme has thyme. Rosemary has rosemary. Pretty simple right? Well the simplicity ends about there.

Pretty much all spices are safe to eat, but when it comes to seasonings it gets a little hazy.

I have learned through the years, and through the hard way, that these are super important to check the labels on.

A lot of times, companies will make seasonings and there will be traces of gluten in other ingredients that are included. Usually when this happens, it can be really tricky to figure it out.

But, if you go off the list from above, you can usually spot them pretty quick.

A few things that I've noticed that had gluten were soup mixes, packets of Italian seasoning, and some McCormick seasonings as well. So be on the look out for that.

The last thing that you need to decide after going through your kitchen is another crucial step: gluten areas for the family.

Gluten areas for the family

It's hard to have a completely gluten free household when not everyone in your family is gluten free. Besides, it can be cheaper if you still buy some normal foods for your family while you get the more expensive gluten free things.

But how do you keep your gluten and gluten free things separate? Here's how I do it.

I have a pretty small pantry and kitchen, so there isn't a ton of space for me to designate for solely gluten free or glutenous. So I have separate spaces for them to coexist.

In my pantry, there is a specific shelf where I keep my husbands normal foods. I know that everything on that shelf is off limits for me. The rest of the pantry is stocked with gluten free replacements.

I also make sure that we have two separate toasters so one is my gluten free one to avoid any cross contamination. I also make sure that I thoroughly wash any pans that were used for normal food.

So keeping your gluten away from everything doesn't have to be super hard. Just make sure you are thinking things through and doing your best!

Is there anything that has helped you make your kitchen gluten free that I missed? If so, let me know in the comments!