As many times as I have been asked this question, the answer is always the same.  Cleaning.  This may seem too obvious, but I will state it anyway.  Every inch of the kitchen needs to be searched for crumbs and cleaned thoroughly.  Do not neglect the countertops, floor and storage cabinets.  And while we are talking about searching for gluten crumbs, remember any room in the house where snacks potentially have been eaten.  Most of us snack in our family room, bedrooms and in the basement.

However, let’s go back to the kitchen.

Cabinets:  These are the hiding place of every mystery condiment we planned to cook with but never got to, every junk food item we ever purchased and then hid so no one would know we’d bought it, and all the stuff your mother sent over for your kids that you couldn’t throw away, so you stuck it on a shelf (sorry, Mom).  Time to clean out the pantry.

If you are making your whole kitchen gluten-free, then simply put a big garbage bag next to you and start tossing.  But if the entire family doesn’t require the same diet, you may want to do things a little differently. 

Divide your shelves into gluten and non-gluten areas.  You may want to reserve one shelf that is strictly for your family member with Celiac Disease.  I made all of the shelves that my son could reach the gluten-free shelves.  When he looked into the pantry, everything at his eye level was safe for him.  If you can’t do this, or don’t really need a full shelf, a big plastic container works great too.

Next time I will continue with the refrigerator.