I have a question? Since I am Celiac and my family not

nancw · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 777 Location: Denver, CO

The best thing about having all of your own condiments/jars 'o' stuff is that you can eat peanut butter directly out of the jar with a spoon with no worries!
Seriously, you should have your own stuff unless you want to get cc'd all the time. It is totally worth it and necessary.
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Nance

gluten, dairy, soy, rice, yeast and 99% grain-free

Kathie · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Posts: 712 Location: Florida

It also depends on the age of people in your home and their willingness to help out. We don't have separate butter, mayo etc. as the rest of the family has learned to use a separate knife for plopping the stuff on their bread or plate and then using a different knife to spread with. Peanut butter is the exception, I have my own with my name on the lid. When we used to make two types of spaghetti they were taught to not let the sauce spoon touch the spag when they put it on. My boys are 16 now and we've been doing it that way for 8 years. (Now if I could just get them to wipe off the counter when they are done eating breakfast Twisted Evil

) We do use a lot of squeezable stuff to avoid the issue.
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CD by Biopsy 3/25/88

GFPolarBear · Joined: 07 Mar 2007 Posts: 279 Location: WI

DH and I got separate toasters as soon as I found out - we got a labeler and slapped a nice GLUTEN FREE label in bright yellow right on it, and Wheat OK on his. He's also mastered the ability to "gob drop" out of jars of peanut butter and jam so he doesn't CC it. Since it's just me and DH, this works pretty well. He and I do keep separate butter tubs, but that's about it.

I do buy squeeze bottles of ketchup, Miracle Whip, mustard, etc. especially when we are going to have company, since they seem to eliminate the "crumbs in my stuff" issue and we aren't dealing with small children who might "spread" the toppings with the tip of the squeeze bottle thingy. Smile

voix · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 145 Location: Colorado

What about the toaster that I already own? Is it possible to clean it out and still use it gf?

GFPolarBear · Joined: 07 Mar 2007 Posts: 279 Location: WI

ostrich · Joined: 30 Mar 2006 Posts: 4040 Location: Nebraska

Not sure if this has been suggested or not, but instead of plunking money down for a toaster that somebody might CC later, you could always spend it on a toaster oven. This has several benefits:

1. You can make much more than toast. DH and I use ours at least once per week.
2. It's easier to regulate what goes in it. For example, the top rack of our toaster oven has been designated GF. The bottom rack is for everything else. Not sure if somebody put NGF stuff on the GF rack? Slide the rack out, give it a good wash, slide it back in. Or use aluminum foil. No more CC. Smile

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Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

celiacmaine-iac · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 627 Location: Maine

voix
I bumped the Cross-Contamination thread up for you in case you hadn't seen it. There are a lot of things brought up on there besides toasters that you might not have thought of. Here's the link
http://forums.glutenfree.com/topic494.html

I too own a toaster oven and love it, the only difference from Os is that mine is dedicated GF.
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Steph

voix · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 145 Location: Colorado

Thanks for that. Woah! I really have to toss my wooden spoons and plastic cutting boards even though I put them in the washer?

I was thinking of getting a bottle scrubber and clean out the toaster and wash the tray. Wouldn't that be thorough enough?

I'm not talking back, lol, I am just asking. Some of this is really hard to conceptualize. However, I don't know how sensitive I am yet, just that meals or snacks will cause a reaction. Although, my lip balm had wheat in it and it did cause a problem with peeling lips.

celiacmaine-iac · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 627 Location: Maine

voix · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 145 Location: Colorado

no. lol. I didn't mean wash the toaster with water, just the removable tray. The inside I was going to use a dry clean bottle scrubber to get any crumbs loose. But you are saying that it is not worth the risk, so I'll look around.

I can't use toasters with plastic on them, because I can't stand the fumes, so in today's age that is harder to find. I just bought this one a few months ago. Alas.

jsb · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 14 Location: Florida

We have only a toaster oven, no toasters. We love it. Unfortunately, it is a convection one that I bought before I went GF. Ha ha - I thought it was a good idea at the time! Luckily, the toast function does not use convection, so I figured out how to use toasting rather than the oven to warm up taco shells, etc. I also use a separate tray for my stuff.
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Jen
GF since 10/07