What's Easier... The Whole Family Or One Person

[mommalov]

I am brand new to the diagnosis and it is more like a best guess at the moment. We have a 19 month old who has had all the testing which has been negative yet symptoms persist. Our natropath is reccommending at least 6 months gluten free. I am wondering what works best... if our whole family goes gluten free or just the one with "symptoms." What has worked for other families? We are a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids ages 7, 4 and 19 mo.) Any suggestions? Also, any things to do to get started? Help is appreciated!

[gfp]

I am brand new to the diagnosis and it is more like a best guess at the moment. We have a 19 month old who has had all the testing which has been negative yet symptoms persist. Our natropath is reccommending at least 6 months gluten free. I am wondering what works best... if our whole family goes gluten free or just the one with "symptoms." What has worked for other families? We are a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids ages 7, 4 and 19 mo.) Any suggestions? Also, any things to do to get started? Help is appreciated!

In every single sense except getting the kids or hubby to go along with it its simpler and safer for the whole family to be gluten-free....

[happygirl]

Hey momma,

Welcome to the board! Happy to have you here and hope that you find some much-needed answers.

I think that it varies per family.....some are completely gluten free, others are gluten "lite," others are "normal" with some gluten-free products. I think its a trial and error for most people, to find a routine that works.

In general, many people seem to do well by finding a balance. That is...gluten in the house, but they are careful about cross contamination. Most people do one dinner, not two, unless it is necessary. For instance: I decide to make enchiladas. I get safe ingredients, and make a batch of mine in corn torts, and a batch for my husband in wheat torts (but careful of cross contamination). He eats his, I eat mine. We have "safe" lunch meats...I eat mine with "my" bread, or just in rollups, and he eats his on a sandwich. Most of our foods are naturally gluten free (making a stir fry, use gluten-free soy sauce instead of regular, add meat, rice, veggies; making a casserole, substitute a gluten-free soup, chicken, veggies; spaghetti/pasta/etc: make the sauce/topping, then we either all eat gluten-free pasta, or if he's in the mood, we make 'regular' noodles).

On nights where we don't want the same thing...I eat a gluten-free frozen food, leftovers, etc....and he'll make something gluten filled....and is careful to clean up, not leave crumbs around, not touch my food, etc.

That being said...I don't have kids yet! But, I spend holidays with family who have little ones (plus, I'm the only Celiac) and as long as I am careful, it seems to work well. I rarely make "special" recipes from a gluten-free cookbook....I tend to take all my normal recipes and convert them .

Best of luck---I hope this gives you some ideas.

[darlindeb25]

Mommalov--does any one else have symptoms too? My dad is gluten free and my mom eats gluten free most of the time with him, yet when they go out, she eats gluten. A lot of good meals can be fixed without gluten, so you could just try to make it easier for yourself by cooking this way. I never expected anyone else in my family to eat gluten free just because I had too. It's purely a personal decision within you family.

Outside of the food, you can purchase all other products without gluten for bathing, shampooing, lotions, etc.

[CarlaB]

At home we're all gluten-free. I have six kids, one is at college so not here most of the time (she's gluten-free), and two of us here all the time are gluten-free.

Most foods we tend to make for dinner are naturally gluten-free (meat, veggies, potatoes, rice). For pasta I use Tinkyada ... I think I even like it better than wheat pasta! On the occassion we have pizza, I buy one gluten-free pizza for my daughter and I to share, then we order Dominos for everyone else so I don't contaminate my oven.

The people in the house who can eat gluten, do so outside the home, but here we're all gluten-free. I do buy individually wrapped snacks for the gluten eaters to grab to take with them to school, etc. The gluten-free bars are much more expensive, so they don't get those!

[Kibbie]

I am brand new to the diagnosis and it is more like a best guess at the moment. We have a 19 month old who has had all the testing which has been negative yet symptoms persist. Our natropath is reccommending at least 6 months gluten free. I am wondering what works best... if our whole family goes gluten free or just the one with "symptoms." What has worked for other families? We are a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids ages 7, 4 and 19 mo.) Any suggestions? Also, any things to do to get started? Help is appreciated!

MY daughter was diagnosed at 18 months old. We decided to go gluten free as a family with the exception of eating out and my husbands lunches. (He always makes a sandwich for lunch and I was not about to bake that much bread or buy him $5.00 a loaf bread when he was the only one who eats it)

There are some really great cereals out there that your kids will love and not miss the gluten in them

Breakfast:

PerkyO's (my daughter loves the regular and frosted kinds) - Replacement for Cheerios

Envrokids makes a frosted flakes that is great Amazon is the name

Yogurt

Fresh Fruit

Eggs bacon and some name brand hash browns are okay

I've even found a few gluten-free pancake mixes that I like (though we don't eat those often because they can be pricey)

Lunch:

We usually just do left over dinners at our house, Like I said my husband takes full of gluten bread to work for lunch because it saves us $$

Dinner:

I make EVERYTHING I made before just using gluten free ingreedients. Instead of flour tortillas I use corn, instead of flour for a thickener I use corn starch of a gluten free all purpose flour. I occasionally make Gluten free bread and use the heels for breadcrumbs because they can be quite hard... and I also crumble up the leftover bread that has gotten too hard to eat for bread crumbs.

One of my favorite meals is Meat loaf where I just grate a potato instead of putting in bread crumbs... then I cook it for an extra 30 minutes! I like it better than with bread crumbs.

Snacks:

Raisins, Craisins, Larabars, fresh fruit, popcorn, dried fruits, potato chips, tortilla chips and salsa, fritos (there are a lot). Occasionally I buy gluten free pretzles I can't tell the difference.

Deserts:

Some ice creams are okay usually vanilla flavored is save, M&M's are safe, and Hershey chocolate kisses are safe as well. Pamelas makes a GREAT gluten-free brownie mix and so does the Gluten Free Pantry

It was a huge learning curve the first few weeks but by the end of the month I really had a handle on things. I find it so much easier to reach in the pantry and know I am not giving my daughter something she can't eat.

Side note: We buy 2 butters, 2 mayos, and 2 peanutbutters, and lable 1 of each gluten free (that way my husband does not accidentally get his gluten crumbs in her stuff!)

[FeedIndy]

I found it was much easier for the whole family to go gluten free with DD being so young (she is 16 months). She is still at the age to put things in her mouth and the other two were not great at keeping the crumbs up. She would find 1 Goldfish cracker on the floor and be sick for 2 days. It didn't take much of that for me to put them all on the same diet.

Our dinners were already gluten free so that I didn't have to cook twice so it really was not a major change.

[missy'smom]

I am the one with celiac disease and we eat simple old-fashioned gluten-free dinners, same food for the whole family. Tonight we're having augratin potatoes with ham and vegetable soup. Same goes for weekend family breakfasts but Hubby, Dad and son(8) get regular toast. Breakfast and lunch everyone has different needs and different schedules so have their own thing. Because of his busy schedule, my husband eats out everyday so he is definitely not deprived or unnecessarily limited. I sometimes share my gluten-free goodies or cereal with my son because I can't eat a whole box myself and it's easier not to buy so many separate products. He gets regular stuff too. I make pancakes and waffles with Pamela's mix for both of us and he doesn't know the difference. We don't eat alot of bread or crackers so I don't have to worry about crumbs too much. I often buy tortillas and freeze them instead of bread for my son's lunches. I cook with cast iron alot so we have two-one is gluten-free only. I toast my bread in the broiler because I don't have space for two toasters. I also buy two tubs of margarine and label one gluten-free.

I recommend the cookbook "More for Less" it's a mennonite cookbook with alot of simple, economical dishes made with fresh ingredients.

[JohnnieHamill]

I cook gluten-free at the home. When we go out to at eat my husband eats whatever he wants and now, with a lot of the restaurants starting to understand "gluten-free", I can eat what I want as long as I do my research beforehand.

Most frustrating challenge I have when eating out -- CAN'T HAVE FRENCH FRIES. Almost everyone uses one vat for all fried foods...not good for us. One day they are going to figure it out...one vat for french fries only -- as long as they are not McDonald's FF.

[gfp]

I am the one with celiac disease and we eat simple old-fashioned gluten-free dinners, same food for the whole family.

This is what we do... my girlfriend will have gluten outside but the only gluten in the house is some cornflakes which she uses a special bowl for...which is washed seperately with paper towels.

In general if you do have gluten around sooner or later there will be an accident and if not then its tremendously complicated... you need seperate utensils, pans etc. to be really safe. Not to mention as others have said butter/preserves/mustard etc. etc.

The safer you want to be the more work and more complex... and 90% of things I cook don't have any gluten to subsitute anyway..I rarely buy gluten-free bread and pasta but usually have some gluten-free pasta about ... there are literally thousands of easy recipees that don't call for any gluten at all and thousands more where its easy to use something else...

Its really simple IMHO just to choose different things to cook and then everyone eats the same and the risk is the absolute minimum.

Having said all that take each thing as it comes... for instance of on occaision my girlfreidn wants a pizza I do as CarlaB and buy one in and she eates it on a tray... we bag the box and any leftovers and throw it out immediately and wash down the tray and stainless steel knive for cutting it.

I think the best "rule" is if you do something regualrly you get slack and its easy to be distracted and stir with the wrong spoon etc. cooking is for me one of those things I do out of habit (that is I don't have to think too hard and its actually relaxing for me) but if its just a special occiasion once in a while you take greater care and so less chance of contamination...

Also if I do have to cook with anything with gluten for others I don't enjoy it, I'm continually on edge... so in my own home I just don't do it..

[mommalov]

Thank you so much for all the helpful advice. My husband and I are very encouraged and ready to move forward with the whole family going gluten free at home. We have another question though... what do you do when going over to friends' houses for dinner? Obviously when folks come to our house they would eat what is on the menu but what about when you are the guest elsewhere? And again, all of the repsonses were so helpful. Thanks.

[Ruth52]

I am lucky with my friends. They are quite happy for me to bring my own food and they are just as happy to cook something that they know I will be able to eat.

More often than not I will offer to take a gluten-free casserole and a desert that everyone can eat. That way I don't go hungry and my friends get a quick lesson in gluten-free cooking.

Hope this helps.

Ruth

[kbtoyssni]

When I lived at home everything was 99% gluten-free. Dad and brother still eat wheat crackers and cookies, but all meals were gluten-free. I get really paranoid about CC because it's too easy to mess up (especially when my brother first came home from college after mum and I were dxed - I just about had a heart attack). But I think it was almost harder on my dad because I'd always be hovering over making sure he didn't double dip in the mayo/jam/PB/etc while I double dipped all I wanted. I've read a lot of threads from parents about their kids "cheating" or feeling left out so if the whole family eats gluten-free these problems are mostly eliminated.

That said, it can be more expensive if you buy a lot of specialty gluten-free food which I don't. I prefer to stick to the cheaper rice and potatoes and corn tortillas. When we did eat gluten-free things like crackers, dad would eat the wheat ones.

[Juliebove]

In the beginning we went totally gluten free. But then we learned that wasn't always feasible. I still make family meals gluten free. My daughter's foods are kept separate. She has her own little fridge and a place to store her dried and canned foods.

I can eat gluten but due to my other food allergies, many things like most breads are off limits to me. I do buy some wheat crackers and pretzels that I eat. They are kept far from her food. I buy premade sandwiches for my husband and at times, premade meals containing wheat. They are kept away from her food. He complains about the premade food but I can't see doing it any other way. The stuff he wants to eat is not stuff we can eat. And he won't always eat what we eat.

[Guest cassidy]

It really does depend on the family. I cook gluten-free if we are sharing a meal, but my husband still eats gluten. He eats sandwiches everyday for lunch and I can't imagine him eating expensive gluten-free bread that doesn't taste as good. He is good about not touching things like remotes when he is eating something with his hands at home. Cost is also an issue. My pasta is much more expensive and as long as I'm not getting myself sick by him having gluten around I can't see letting him eat my expensive food when he can have cheaper, often better tasting, regular food.

I am pregnant and hopefully the baby won't have celiac. I plan to breastfeed and keep him gluten-free at least most of the time. I can't see me handling gluten to give to him when it isn't something that he needs in his diet. As long as he is healthy I think my husband will give him gluten food and he can have it when he is out of the house, but I don't want to get it all over me.

As for going to someone's house to eat, I bring my own food. I am very sensitive and I won't risk getting sick. If the little one is the only one that has to be gluten-free, then you could bring food for that child and have everyone else eat whatever was being served. I always try to bring a dish to add to the meal and sometimes I will eat that along with other things that I have brought. I know many parents bring special meals for their kids even when the kid doesn't have any food allergies, so that shouldn't be a problem anywhere.

[gfp]

It really does depend on the family. I cook gluten-free if we are sharing a meal, but my husband still eats gluten. He eats sandwiches everyday for lunch and I can't imagine him eating expensive gluten-free bread that doesn't taste as good. He is good about not touching things like remotes when he is eating something with his hands at home. Cost is also an issue. My pasta is much more expensive and as long as I'm not getting myself sick by him having gluten around I can't see letting him eat my expensive food when he can have cheaper, often better tasting, regular food.

As I said in my first post this is something everyone should decide for themselves....and their family is the biggest hurdle...

Sandwiches are convenient, no denying that but they are optional... gluten-free bread is expensive, its true but its really up to your husband and how much hassle he can put up with balanced against everythng else. He could take a salad or wrap to work ... millions of Mexicans manage to take tamale as lunch... Unfortunately our society is given to looking at a guy taking a salad to work as "weird" ...

Same goes for me and gluten-free pasta.... its expensive so its not something I eat much of...and I try and reserve it as a special treat.

can't see letting him eat my expensive food when he can have cheaper, often better tasting, regular food.

I can certainly see that ... and this isn't a simple wrong or right... but I think minimising the amount of special gluten-free food and just eating things you make yourself is a valid option... especially if cost is an issue.

Equally you can go anywhere between these two as well.... the less you cook anything with gluten the less chance of an accident or CC.

Anyway, I agree totally on eating at other peoples houses ... its a bit hard to explain that a single piece of flour might make you ill and people who take pride in their kitchen can get kinda offended ... the problem is they cook gluten all the time but for them its not a poision so they are far less manic about cleaning it than they would be after handling raw meat etc...

[happygirl]

We have two main options when we go to people's houses:

Once I learned enough about the diet, learned enough to clearly express what I needed, and was lucky enough to have friends that wanted to cook for me, we would discuss a meal, and go through it step by step. Ask the person what they want to make, ask them for their brands/ingredients (or, tell them which one is safe), talk about cross contamination, clean utensils/pots/pans, preparation, etc. We have successfully done this many times (but, only with good friends that I trust, and who I know "get it"....some people just don't, and that is ok....). My whole family luckily "gets it" and I can eat at both my parents and in laws, and grandparents/gp in laws. The good thing is that many foods are naturally gluten free (one of the first meals I ate out was a friend in grad school...his wife made baked chicken with olive oil and pure spices, baked potatoes served with a brand new sour cream and butter---so that there were no crumbs/nothing "bad" had been dipped in it, and a vegetable/steamed. Ice cream for dessert). I also tell them, if you have a question while you are making something---call me! And, if they have made a mistake---its ok, but just let me know, don't try to "fix" it---it will make me sick.

The other option (and this is what we do when it is impromptu, or for someone who doesn't feel comfortable, or any other reason...I just tell them that I would much rather enjoy their company than worry about getting sick, so I just bring my own food. (It truly is about the company, and it does take awhile to get used to that , esp since our society is so "food centered") I take my own food to restaurants as well, for social gatherings (I have bad reactions and truly can't even risk getting sick, it is too miserable!)

The main thing is to be able to express clearly what you need, and hold firm in your convictions! Best of luck!

[Guest cassidy]

As I said in my first post this is something everyone should decide for themselves....and their family is the biggest hurdle...

Sandwiches are convenient, no denying that but they are optional... gluten-free bread is expensive, its true but its really up to your husband and how much hassle he can put up with balanced against everythng else. He could take a salad or wrap to work ... millions of Mexicans manage to take tamale as lunch... Unfortunately our society is given to looking at a guy taking a salad to work as "weird" ...

Same goes for me and gluten-free pasta.... its expensive so its not something I eat much of...and I try and reserve it as a special treat.

I can certainly see that ... and this isn't a simple wrong or right... but I think minimising the amount of special gluten-free food and just eating things you make yourself is a valid option... especially if cost is an issue.

Equally you can go anywhere between these two as well.... the less you cook anything with gluten the less chance of an accident or CC.

Anyway, I agree totally on eating at other peoples houses ... its a bit hard to explain that a single piece of flour might make you ill and people who take pride in their kitchen can get kinda offended ... the problem is they cook gluten all the time but for them its not a poision so they are far less manic about cleaning it than they would be after handling raw meat etc...

Our situation works well for us. I don't get sick at home, so I don't mind him eating gluten in the house as long as he is considerate and doesn't leave tons of crumbs everywhere. If I was still constantly getting sick or if I felt put out by making two dinners, then we would have to make some changes. I feel fortunate to have found a situation that works well for both of us.

[BFreeman]

Thank you so much for all the helpful advice. My husband and I are very encouraged and ready to move forward with the whole family going gluten free at home. We have another question though... what do you do when going over to friends' houses for dinner? Obviously when folks come to our house they would eat what is on the menu but what about when you are the guest elsewhere? And again, all of the repsonses were so helpful. Thanks.

I agree that it depends on the family situation whether the whole house is gluten free or not. In my case, I wanted home to be the one place in the universe that my husband didn't have to stop and think before putting something in his mouth, so I decided the household would be gluten free. (It helps that it's only the two of us now.) He tried to talk me out of it for my sake, but it's also easier on me; I don't have to think about flying flour dust or forgetting to wash between gluten and non-gluten. I don't feel deprived either; I just ate the last slice of banana bread that Ken-someone posted recently and it's about the best thing I've ever had.

BF

[mamatide]

I am brand new to the diagnosis and it is more like a best guess at the moment. We have a 19 month old who has had all the testing which has been negative yet symptoms persist. Our natropath is reccommending at least 6 months gluten free. I am wondering what works best... if our whole family goes gluten free or just the one with "symptoms." What has worked for other families? We are a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids ages 7, 4 and 19 mo.) Any suggestions? Also, any things to do to get started? Help is appreciated!

Here's why we went completely gluten free on the home front. When we began gluten-free it was to find out if our 5yo was Celiac. She had all the symptoms and it was going to take forever (8+ months) to get in to see a specialist for a consult to decide whether to do a biopsy... so we went on a trial.

IMO a gluten-free trial is useless if you don't go 100%. And if there is even the least chance of cross contamination from gluten crumbs all over the house (floor especially if you are testing a young child) then your gluten-free experiment will give you useless results if the symptoms persist you will never know whether gluten is the culprit or not.

We tried gluten-free for our 5yo only for a while and I became the crumb nazi in the house. "Did you just eat gluten? Where did you eat it? Did you leave any crumbs? Did you wash your hands before you touched the baby? Keep your fork out of the child's plate - don't cut their food with your gluten knife..., which side of the barbecue grill did you use? Did you get gluten in the baby's frypan? Don't use that colander...." it was awful for all of us.

It seemed that every other word that came out of our mouths was GLUTEN. Gluten became our lives it seemed and our Celiac daughter felt terrible for being the cause of the tension (of course it wasn't her fault of course we didn't make her feel bad... but a kid can sense these things no matter how much of a positive light you put on it).

Now we're 99% gluten free in the house. The 1% is Daddy's beer and the odd licorice (or other gluten-filled but non-crumby treat for the non-celiacs). I buy gluten crackers and other treats for my other children but only the pre-packaged ones (individually wrapped) and only to go in their school lunches.

It has worked wonders. In fact, gluten-free living at home has made ME feel a lot better (although I've tested negative bloodwork and biopsy) which has been a nice offshoot. But best of all, we have a completely safe place for our Celiac daughter to live. She can drop her gluten-free cookie on the floor and no worry about picking it up again and eating it.

I know that going gluten-free in the household is not for everyone and there are strong arguments for having a G/gluten-free mixed household but for us, it's worked extremely well and we're just fine without wheat.

Good luck with your decision.

mamatide.

[mamatide]

Thank you so much for all the helpful advice. My husband and I are very encouraged and ready to move forward with the whole family going gluten free at home. We have another question though... what do you do when going over to friends' houses for dinner? Obviously when folks come to our house they would eat what is on the menu but what about when you are the guest elsewhere? And again, all of the repsonses were so helpful. Thanks.

When we go to someone else's place to eat we bring our daughter's meal with us. All the good intentions in the world can't prepare someone for all of the possibilities of cross-contamination in a gluten-filled environment to suit our purposes. Our daughter is very sensitive. It's easier (socially) when it's a child. I know most adults will just eat before going to avoid having to feel like the odd man out.

[Juliet]

We bring food for our 3 year old son whenever we visit others, except for at a couple of family members houses (and even then, we still bring food for him unless they specifically say they are preparing something for him - they've tried shopping for him on occasion and bought things that were wheat free but not gluten free - they are not on top of the label reading). It's actually not that difficult - he's still young so no one really thinks twice about us bringing food for a little one since almost all of kids around this age are so picky they will barely eat anything. No one gets offended by this. And you soon get used to bringing food for your child everywhere. When we stayed at a friend's house for a couple of days (our first experiment out since he had been diagnosed), she had no problem with me taking over the kitchen. She and I went shopping together (she actually appreciated this part - her mother has a wheat allergy so she liked finding out how she could make pancakes & cookies that her mother could eat), and I prepared all of the meals except for one - she was testing her new skills at gluten free cooking.

When you start really going out and about with your little one, although it is expensive to bring the specialty gluten free products everywhere, you soon find how to bring stuff that's easy to prepare. I'll bring yogurt in an insulated pack, a peanut butter "sandwich" with these large corn crackers (Real Foods Corn Thins - Original - the bag is less than $2 and has about 30 4 1/2" dia. crackers, large enough for a kid's sandwich), fruit, maybe some cheese, occasional rice & nut crackers (like Almond House crackers - less than $3 for a large box), and occasionally a "birdseed bar" (Bumble Bars - very tasty and about the same price as most protein bars). I'll also bring cut up veggies with dip (lots of Italian dressings at the store are gluten free and Annie's Cowgirl Ranch is also gluten free). It takes about 5 minutes to get everything together and then we're out the door.

[gfp]

Here's why we went completely gluten free on the home front. When we began gluten-free it was to find out if our 5yo was Celiac. She had all the symptoms and it was going to take forever (8+ months) to get in to see a specialist for a consult to decide whether to do a biopsy... so we went on a trial.

IMO a gluten-free trial is useless if you don't go 100%. And if there is even the least chance of cross contamination from gluten crumbs all over the house (floor especially if you are testing a young child) then your gluten-free experiment will give you useless results if the symptoms persist you will never know whether gluten is the culprit or not.

Well people seem to partially recover but .... overall ...

We tried gluten-free for our 5yo only for a while and I became the crumb nazi in the house. "Did you just eat gluten? Where did you eat it? Did you leave any crumbs? Did you wash your hands before you touched the baby? Keep your fork out of the child's plate - don't cut their food with your gluten knife..., which side of the barbecue grill did you use? Did you get gluten in the baby's frypan? Don't use that colander...." it was awful for all of us.

It seemed that every other word that came out of our mouths was GLUTEN. Gluten became our lives it seemed and our Celiac daughter felt terrible for being the cause of the tension (of course it wasn't her fault of course we didn't make her feel bad... but a kid can sense these things no matter how much of a positive light you put on it).

Now we're 99% gluten free in the house. The 1% is Daddy's beer and the odd licorice (or other gluten-filled but non-crumby treat for the non-celiacs). I buy gluten crackers and other treats for my other children but only the pre-packaged ones (individually wrapped) and only to go in their school lunches.

I have to say this is true even for me... no kids... but even more so the way you put it....

I found that having gluten around made gluten the focus of my life, my eating etc. you have to think about it constantly...

It has worked wonders. In fact, gluten-free living at home has made ME feel a lot better (although I've tested negative bloodwork and biopsy) which has been a nice offshoot. But best of all, we have a completely safe place for our Celiac daughter to live. She can drop her gluten-free cookie on the floor and no worry about picking it up again and eating it.

I know that going gluten-free in the household is not for everyone and there are strong arguments for having a G/gluten-free mixed household but for us, it's worked extremely well and we're just fine without wheat.

Good luck with your decision.

mamatide.

Excellent post.... very well put...

Its true everyone should make their own minds up but your arguament is well put and will help them do that....

The only downside is the rest of the family but this is one of those arguaments where they really are not missing out and the option is hasardous to someones health...

[jayhawkmom]

Hi. I wanted to respond in a long drawn-out way... but my kiddo just woke up. So, I'm going to respond quickly by saying... we are also a family of 5, 2 adults and 3 kiddos - 8, 5, and 17 months. All of us are gluten free at home. Period.

When we go out to eat, my husband can make a choice. We don't eat out much at all anymore... but when we do, we bring safe foods for the baby, and always help our other two to make appropriate choices. =)

Long version later! =)

[lonewolf]

I have to avoid gluten, dairy, eggs and soy, but it's still fairly easy to keep everyone on the same food schedule. Having milk, cheese and eggs in the house is no big deal, but the only gluten allowed is sandwich bread and occasionally some low gluten cereal like Corn Chex or Rice Crispies. (I don't eat them, but I also don't freak out if there are a few crumbs of low gluten cereal around like I would if it were Wheaties or something.)

All meals are made gluten-free. Even French toast and garlic bread are made with gluten-free bread because I don't want to contaminate my griddle. Sandwiches for my two gluten eating children and hubby, and the occasional piece of toast, are the only gluten foods that are regularly eaten in our home. It's actually quite easy to switch over to gluten-free breakfasts and dinners. It's easy to adapt almost any dinner food to gluten-free without having to buy specialty foods. Pasta might be the most expensive thing that we eat regularly, but it's only $1.99/pound at Trader Joe's. My kids all love my gluten-free pizza crust too.

I wouldn't trade the headache of making two separate meals for the slightly higher expense and peace of mind of making everything gluten-free.