Well, as a recently-diagnosed coeliac here you are some tips from the Catalan Coeliac Association:

You can share anything class, china or metal without too much concern, as long as you wash it thoroughly. So cutlery, dishes, glasses, bowls, etc... can be shared without worrying too much.

You'd better keep wooden spoons and bad quality plastic stuff separated.

They also recommended me to keep separated toasters and blenders, as well as bread machine.

When using the oven, keep the racks immaculate. If you doubt, simply bake your pizza over a different pizza stone or dish.

Also keep food staples in different cupboards. Of course, canned stuff can to together, but keep your cookies, flour and bread in a separate cupboard.

Hope this helps!

Separate toasters!
If you have a bread-maker, use it for gluten-free bread only;
When dispensing and mixing flour, I always do it in my front hallway.
Separate butter dishes and use spoons to dispense your favourite toast condiments.
Use corn starch to thicken gravy instead of flour.
...and 1000s more!

I'm gluten-free and currently live with someone who isn't. We always use racks in the toaster and oven so it's easily cleaned. You either need to be incredibly careful about spreadable things like peanut butter, butter, and jam or you need to use separate ones. If you spread something on bread and then dip the knife back in it could cause a reaction. A sharpie in the kitchen to label things is helpful. Different cabinets for GF and non-GF is best. Also make sure you wipe the counter tops well after cooking so there are no crumbs.

Chances are your future housemate will be able to tell you what she needs. It also depends a bit on whether she is Gluten intolerant or has Celiac's. I'm Gluten intolerant and well aware it's a million times easier to manage a gluten-free diet when you are intolerant versus celiac's. I'm careful about cross contamination, but my SO knowing a bread crumb isn't going to make my drastically ill is a big help too.

It wonderful that you are thinking about how to keep your roommate safe.

Things you might not want to share:
Wooden cutting boards & spoons
the toaster
condiments, butter (they end up full of bread crumbs)
toothbrushes and toothpaste
a bag of chips while eating a gluten sandwich (best to wash hands before touching her food)

Try not to wipe down surfaces with sponges used to clean up gluten foods.

Also, use caution mixing flour, it stays airborne for up to 24 hours, can be inhaled and then lands in mucus membranes and is swallowed. Also the flour lands everywhere in the kitchen. Best to mix flour products outdoors, though I understand the challenge here if you love to bake.

The thing is, people have different comfort levels/levels of sensitivity so I would ask your roommate.

It's so nice of you to consider her needs and learn about them before a problem occurs. Items like cast iron, wood spoons or cutting boards, some plastics (old ones in particular) and other porous items like pizza stones need to be kept separate. If you use it with gluten, it becomes a gluten-only item because the gluten can be absorbed and released into future food. Just make sure you wipe down everything after cooking food with gluten. It might be wise to separate the foods with gluten in the cupboards just to avoid confusion. If you plan on cooking for your roommate, just do a lot of research first and let her know everything you're doing so she can be comfortable with it.

Once you get used to it, its not so hard. Good luck!

Hey Jen! I have Celiac and live with a roommate who sustains on pasta and toast alone. For that reason, the very first things I made sure we had were two toasters, colanders and pots for cooking pasta. Other than that, I just make sure to throw anything she cooks with in the dishwasher!

Kudos for putting in the effort to learn about cooking/living gluten free!

Is it really that bad? I have never lived with someone who has to eat gluten free, but we have two family friends wo have to eat gluten free and have often cooked/baked for them and all we did was not using anything containing gluten, but we used all our regular cooking stuff including wooden spoons and neither did they warn us in advance not to do so nor did they ever complain about having a bad reaction after eating our food at our house. What they did warn us about, was, that many things you don't expect can contain gluten, so we look out for that, but that really has been the most challenging thing about cooking for them. Maybe people really have different needs, but in my experience it isn't that big of a deal and I wouldn't really worry about it and mostly carry on like normal (I mean, we bake all the time in our kitchen and never worried that the flour might somehow end up in the gluten free food we will prepare the next day or something like that). In the end I think you just have to talk with your roommate about her needs.

This is something you should really talk to her about. She will know how to deal with her own sensitivities best, since there can be a wide range. I've known people with celiac's who kept their own set of dishes, pots, cutting boards, utensils, etc. because any little remnant could cause a reaction. I've known others with mild gluten intolerance who shared everything and just made sure it was washed and didn't worry if a bit of flour got on the counter.

So you have a dishwasher? Find out if you can share it. Make sure dishes are rinsed well before going in so there aren't bits of pasta floating around and clinging to other dishes.

Also talk about food storage and cleaning.

I'm the gluten-free one, and I lived with roommates for a long time. Never a problem. People have already mentioned the kitchen equiment. Beyond that, just clean up after yourself. If you bake, wipe down all the surfaces. Don't leave bread crumbs on the table. MARK EVERYTHING with a sharpie (like peanut butter) to indicate whether it's been used with bread. Labeling and dating with a sharpie is just good roommate practice anyway, since the fridge always gets full with old mystery food.

Thanks so much, y'all! I've actually been in the house since May 1st and we've had no problems, although I'm still nervous about getting flour in the air when I bake bread. It helps that I like to cook with other people and they enjoy my bread, so I just bake at a friend's instead. It's actually nice to not heat up my own house so much in the summer anyway!

THANK YOU!

All excellent suggestions for everyone. One other thing we do in our household. Everything is dispensend into a smaller container for eating. If you want chips, you pour some into a bowl. If you want jam, butter, etc you take a spoonful and blob it onto your plate. Once anything has touched a surface with a possible contaminant it never goes back into a common jar of anything. This alone has saved us from many hours of sickness.

I have celiac disease and these are my top annoyances when sharing kitchen stuff:

• Crumbs in butter, jam, nutella jars, etc.

• Starchy pasta residue on colanders and in pots.

Don't expect your roommate to eat gluten-free items off of a plate that has gluten-containing crackers on it or to eat the filling out of a cheesecake crust (or even to taste the filling).