I’m so excited to announce our first giveaway! We’ll be giving away an inflatable Teal Pumpkin to one of our followers on each of our 3 main sites. Increase your odds by liking, following, and subscribing at our YouTube channel and Facebook both at Gluten-free Life Hacks.
Tag: Gluten intolerant
Allergy friendly trick-or-treating!
A great find at Target today! I was so excited to find how big the Teal Pumpkin Project has grown since last year. The idea is that people who have allergy friendly treats to offer for Halloween will have a teal pumpkin on display so people with allergy issues know safe places to stop and trick-or-treat. Watch this short video on our YouTube channel.
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GF Life Hack #9
This hack is simple to do and can help make a world of difference in avoiding cross-contamination!
GF Life Hack #9 Label reading doesn’t just mean reading the manufacturers labels. Find fun ways to keep your food safe!
This hack has a little bit of a back story and will actually tie into another hack down the road. But for now let me say…
I am the only person in our house with Celiac Disease and while they all eat what I make gluten-free, there is gluten in my house for the rest of my family to enjoy without me. I’ll share more about how cohabitation of the two diets works for us in future posts. For the purpose of this hack I’ll share that there are two different jars of peanut butter in our house. One for me, and one for my husband and kids. (By the way added benefit of food allergies- you don’t have to share!) Usually our solution to keeping the two jars separate is to keep the gluten infested jar in the gluten cupboard and mine in my cupboard with the other gluten-free food. But a recent accidental mixup prompted my husband to write the following on their jar. 
I love that after all this time we still can have a sense of humor and that he still works so hard to keep me safe from cross-contamination. The subsequent peanut butter lids have all had different variations of this same theme, but have been slightly different. It’s been fun to see and read the labels that are there to keep me healthy!
Find ways to label your food, but don’t be afraid to have fun with the situation and keep eating as joyful as possible.
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GF Life Hack #8 Celebrity Chef, Jamie Oliver and Gluten Free Certification: Why knowing your labels is important!
Not 5 days ago I posted about the importance of labels and gluten-free certification in my blog post To be or not to be Certified Gluten-Free. What does that mean? (That’s our question.)
When I was surfing the internet for new gluten-free information I ran across several headlines about Jamie Oliver and his company labeling items GF that are not necessarily gluten free.  Here’s a family friendly article I found during my search Jamie Oliver, celebrity chef Grub Street article
It is astounding to me that the Gluten Free certification label was treated like the gluten containing donut you were just handed at brunch!
My family loved watching Jamie Oliver on his Food Revolution show. Â He would go to school cafeterias and help the cooks serve healthier options for lunch that kids would actually eat. Â Being a teacher I enjoyed seeing healthy fresh options be devoured instead of scorned. Â I could not believe what I have read on several different sites. Â The TMZ article I read was particularly harsh-but not necessarily family friendly. Â If you read the article by Grub Street it talks about how callously Jamie Oliver and his company are treating the GF logo-here’s a side-by-side comparison from that same article.
It just further emphasizes several of the hacks I’ve shared already.  Be your own advocate, know and read labels and if you are unsure-ask! Be sure to leave a comment below about what you think about this news.  Watch what you eat and keep your gluten-free hacks close!  Here are some family favorite certified gluten-free items we have in our cupboard.
Krusteaz Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Krusteaz Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffin Mix
Pamela’s Gluten-Free Pancake and Baking Mix
Namaste Gluten-Free Perfect Flour Blend
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My #1 Secret Hack for Avoiding Gluten Cross-Contamination!
Most people don’t realize one of the major sources of cross-contamination in their kitchen is their toaster!  Think about it, if you are moving your kitchen over from 100% gluten to gluten free there are so many things you have to buy-food, baking utensils, who wants to, or has the money to buy a new toaster?  Or if you live in the real world, like we do, the majority of the family is not gluten free, but I am.  And quite honestly it is just too expensive to buy gluten free for everyone, I’ve tried and the kids don’t mind it, but it’s just not affordable.  So you could do several things;
- Give up toast.
- Buy two toasters
- Make the gluten eaters give up toast
I don’t know about you, but those don’t really work for me! Â So one day while I was exploring ways to get one of my favorite gluten free brands online (otherwise I had to drive 1/2 an hour away to get it) I discovered these! Â I have to say it was one of the most liberating days in my gluten free journey!
Toaster Bags! Â I had never heard of them before! Â It was amazing! Â I can still use a toaster that all those other gluten eaters around me use, but I won’t get sick!!!! Â So here’s some of my favorite features about them!
- They are reusable!!!
- They are very inexpensive!
- You can toast; sandwiches, pizza, make grilled cheese, bagels, waffles, and moreAND it doesn’t make a mess!
- Dishwasher safe
- Transportable
I pack my bread for my sandwich in it for work and sandwich fixings separately. Â I put my tuna melt together at work, put it back in the toaster bag and use the toaster at work. Â Voila-I have a safe for me sandwich, the mess is contained and the bag can be thrown in the dishwasher and used again!
Here is a link for the toaster bags that I use.  The bags are good for roughly 50 uses, or when you start to notice excessive wear.
I love this hack, it has made my gluten free life so much easier!
Gluten Free Life Hacks 