Hosting girls, one gluten free, one will only like chicken and one no spice

[qualitychat]

So about 9 people. I don't want to go to a lot of trouble so either stuff I have made beforehand I can stick in the office or sandwiches, nachos and dip, maybe a spanish tortilla or gluten free quiche. Could also have potato salad and maybe gluten free pasta salad, but is gluten free pasta rubbish? Ideas much appreciated. Don't want to poison anyone.

If cooking from scratch, OP needs to beware that a lot of store-cupboard staples are not always GF, eg stock cubes, soy sauce, spices and spice mixes.

I would not use an air fryer that has been used for gluten containing foods to make food for someone GF.

If you make it yourself then make sure to check your stock ingredients. And don't use wooden spoons.

You need to check all ingredients. A lot of stock cubes etc aren't safe. I've found that the cheap Tesco ones are ok, though I haven't bought for a few months, so I'd double check. I find I can't tolerate Bisto which is supposed to be safe.

Standard large roast dinner surely with 2 chickens will easily serve 9 and suit everyone ?

@HorribleHerstory Barley contains gluten, stock in many other recipes also contain gluten

cous cous is literally wheat!

your air fryer will already be contaminated with gluten if it has had anything pass through it that contains gluten

Please just ask the girls family because I would be very concerned about cross contamination, one of the safest things would be GF pizza cooked on a separate tray or jacket potatoes but if you don’t know all they many ways you could cross contaminate this girl please don’t do it

ironically A McDonald’s meal is lower risk if the right items are chosen, fries and veggie nuggets are gluten free as are milk shakes

Gluten free pasta is fine - my family eat it without complaints and it’s only me who needs it.

Id do a roast in the bag chicken, wedges, salad and sides.

Jeez - other than the gluten free then the others eat what's offered! Sorry I know that's not helpful but what are you, a restaurant?

You can buy gf stock pots. Risotto rice is completely GF.
I fry onion in garlic infused oil, add the rice and then stir in the stock. I add smoked Haddock, peas and cheese and top with poached egg. It's amazing.
There will be chicken variations. As long as you use the GF stock and keep the base ingredients clean, it'll be safe. Make sure to thoroughly wash all utensils before starting.

My stock doesn’t contain gluten. You can make a chicken stew with whatever ingredients you like. Lentils. Split peas. Chickpeas. Black beans. Kidney beans.

No, they aren't.

If they're made by Walkers, they aren't. If they're Doritos, they aren't. If they're not labelled gluten free, they aren't.

This is how celiacs get harmed by people.

Some of the comments here give me the heebie-jeebies 🤣 Very few people have a clue what providing a gluten-free meal actually entails, which is totally fair and understandable because why would they? But people seem to want to give it a bash anyway, to be nice to a friend, but without all the knowledge or precautions to actually be safe.

It's so much hassle to cook for a coeliac in a normal wheaty kitchen and without the pre-existing knowledge of safe products that I wouldn't impose that on a friend, and would try to convince them not to try and cook for me. If they say it's not a hassle, I'm going to suspect that they're not doing it properly.

Same here. Rice can and does get cross contaminated at factory level, which is why many of the packets carry a may contain gluten warning.

Chicken and bacon stew with barley

Fucking Hell.

I would get 2 rotisserie chickens (from Costco ideally lol), gluten free bake at home bread, salad, coleslaw, some gluten free crisps and those big choc macaroons are gluten free. Perfect!

I found it much easier when catering for a party of 8, one of whom was coeliac, to just make a completely gluten free party.

Yeah.

This thread is why coeliacs end up in the awkward situation of having to turn down food when someone has been kind enough to make a special effort to try to cater for us — people don't know what they don't know, and from reading a thread like this might well offer flour tortillas, couscous, any and all crisps/rice/other commonly gluten-contaminated foods, a shared buffet with croutons going everywhere, stew full of barley, food cooked in contaminated ovens using contaminated utensils and ingredients, all while genuinely thinking they've done the research needed to provide food that won't give me organ damage.

Or rather, this thread demonstrates why. The problem existed before this thread.

You need to check the stock - not all stock cubes/pots are gf but I think the knorr ones are (double check though!)

My dad has cooked gf for my mum for 27 years and now also me for over a year and never glutened either of us. I would honestly say my dad is the ONLY non-coeliac who I don’t even worry about when I eat their food.

I do eat at other people’s houses, like my partner’s, and he is very careful and just makes an extra effort with wiping down. I also eat safely at his parents’ because he’s there managing it.

If I was eating at your house I would rather just get a gf pizza and put it on a clean baking tray then cut it myself on the baking tray. I could not give less of a shit about having to have the same thing as other people. I just don’t want to get ill. Ask your coeliac friend what she would like to do and run everything by her. This is what I personally would prefer - I like to check the packets myself because I can’t afford to be off sick!!!

Also “crisps are gluten free”?! for fuck’s sake…

What's been painted onto the chickens before the rotisserie? What else is cooked in the oven and what ingredients are used? How close is the rotisserie to the bakery? Are they the same staff? What about the bags - are they kept near the bread/with the bread bags so could be handled by bakery staff?

If you imagine that gluten is the same as radioactive dust as far as a celiac is concerned (as it causes cancer, for a start), maybe that explains to other posters on here - as I'm not having a go at you, it's the combination of ignorance, lack of understanding of the risks and well intentioned assumption that of course it'll be alright and there aren't product recalls due to contamination and mislabelling regularly after multiple celiacs get glutened - just how bloody important this shit is to a celiac.

If the GF person is coeliac then you really cannot prepare food in your kitchen. Using things have been used for gluten unless they are able to be thoroughly washed could cause major problems for the coeliac.

Unless you really know what you're doing when catering for someone with coeliac disease you 're in danger of causing them serious problem through cross contamination. So you need to buy GF in food for them already prepared and be very careful not to use anything for their food that has been used for the other food you're making.

Obviously if the person wanting GF just avoids gluten because they don't want to eat it then frankly, it's a non issue and you can only do your best.

As many have mentioned, there's a huge different between gluten free and coeliac. You need to check.

At least you said to check. Knorr cubes aren't gluten free - that's why they sell specifically labelled GF ones for a hugely increased price.

If you imagine that gluten is the same as radioactive dust as far as a celiac is concerned

That's very good advice.

It's clear from this thread that most posters have no idea how nasty the effects of gluten can be for someone with coeliac disease.

I write this as a coeliac. If you're going to cook, that's great, but you NEED to read and then re read everything before you cook with it.

Do not make anything in your air fryer.

Not all crisps/dips are gluten free, again, read everything.

If you're going to cook anything with gluten in it, keep it on a separate tray/dish and use different utensils for everything.

It's not as simple as 'oh I'll just use the same wooden spoon for this and that', you can do serious damage to someone with coeliac disease. I once spent 3 days in excruciating pain and unable to go to work because I had one spoon of the wrong ice cream once.