Kitchen Utensils
When cooking for diet meals, you must ensure there is not cross-contamination. This is essential for Gluten Free, Nut Free and Dairy Free diets.
To prevent cross-contamination
You must:
Essential Kitchen Kit
- Baking sheets, cake tins* and bread tins* and muffin pans*
- Can opener
- Chopping boards*
- Cooling rack
- Fish slice
- Food processor*
- Frying pan (non stick and cast iron)
- Greaseproof paper
- Hand beater
- Hand whisk
- Ice cube tray
- Mandoline
- Measuring cups and measuring spoons
- Mixing bowls (stainless steal)
- Oven gloves*
- Pastry brush*
- Peeler
- Pestle and mortar or electrical grinder for nuts, seeds and spices*
- Rolling pin* (glass bottle for multiple uses)
- Saucepans
- Scales
- Sieve*
- Skewers
- Soup ladle
- Spatula (silicon)
- Spoons, metal
- Spoons, wooden* (never use for GF or NF cooking)
- Tea towels*
- Whisk (wire)*
- Wok
- Zester (microplane)
- Lots of sealable containers for uncooked bits and leftovers
* Items are required in multiples for Gluten Free, Nut Free and Dairy Free diets.
Pantry Staples
Herbs and Spices
- Basil*
- Bay leaf*
- Black pepper, whole*
- Cardamom
- Cayenne*
- Chilli, crushed
- Cinnamon*
- Cloves
- Coriander seeds*
- Cumin seeds
- Curry powder and curry paste
- Fennel seeds
- Ginger powder*
- Mustard, dry
- Mustard seeds
- Nutmeg, whole*
- Oregano
- Paprika*
- Paprika, smoked
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Star anise
- Thyme*
- Turmeric
- Vanilla pod
*Herbs and Spices I use most frequently.
Dry Store
If you regularly cook for Gluten Free, Fodmap (irritable bowel) or Vegan meals you will need a few specific ingredients that are below, “Diet Cooking Staples”.
- Baking powder
- Capers
- Chillies, dried
- Cocoa and chocolate
- Coconut; desiccated or flakes and coconut milk
- Dried fruit
- Fish sauce and or oyster sauce
- Gelatine
- Grain: a selection from buckwheat, couscous, millet, quinoa
- Honey or maple syrup or rice syrup
- Legumes, dried or canned: chick peas, cannelloni beans, puy lentils
- Mirin or sherry
- Mushrooms, dried
- Nuts: a selection of almonds, cashews, peanuts, walnuts
- Oil, coconut, olive and sesame
- Olives
- Pasta
- Polenta (cornmeal)
- Rice: a selection of risotto, basmati, brown, sushi
- Seeds: sesame seeds, tahini (sesame seed paste), sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
- Soya sauce or tamari
- Tofu
- Tomatoes, tinned and paste
- Yeast, dry
- Vinegar, balsamic and rice
Freezer
- Berries (great as a decoration in mid winter)
- Herbs, fresh herbs frozen
- Peas, soya beans, spinach
- Pita bread
- Stock, homemade
Diet Cooking Staples
Cooking for special diets requires a few specific ingredients. Below are the lists of the staples I frequently use. Do not restrict yourself to these, experiment with new ingredients which will bring new flavours and textures to your food.
Gluten Free and Fodmap Cooking
A variety of grains and flours used as substitutes for flour, oats, barley and rye
- Flour – pre-mixed Gluten Free flour for cakes and bread are available. Blending your own will enable you to vary the flour and texture for different products; bread, pastry, cakes, muffins and pancakes. My essentials are:
- Buckwheat
- Chickpea flour (garbanzo bean flour)
- Cornflour
- Potato flour
- Rice or sorghum flour
- Tapioca flour
- Grains, a good selection to start with:
- Buckwheat
- Millet
- Polenta (cornmeal)
- Rice; a selection basmati, risotto, sushi, brown, wild
- Rice noodles and or buckwheat noodles (soba noodles)/li>
- Other ingredients to assist with your baking:
- Almond meal (ground sunflower seeds for Nut Free diets)
- Gluten Free baking powder (or bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar)
- Tamari (or Gluten Free soya sauce)
- Xanthan gum (adds texture and holds moisture in baked goods) and flax seeds/linseed or chai seeds
Vegan Cooking
- Beans, dry or canned (Canned beans are more easily digested and are suitable for many people on a Fodmap diet.):
- Black beans, chickpeas, cannelloni, and lentils
- Grains – a variety of grains will enable you to cook numerous cooking styles incorporating their flavours and textures:
- Rice: a selection from basmati, risotto, sushi, brown, wild
- Noodles: whole wheat (not Gluten Free), soba, rice noodles (not egg noodles)
- Oats (Gluten Free diet requires Gluten Free oats), barley (not Gluten Free), millet, couscous (not Gluten Free)
- Flours
- Wheat (not Gluten Free), chickpea, buckwheat, rice flour and almond meal/flour for baking (not Nut Free).
- Oils
- Coconut (solid), olive, sesame (not Nut Free), vegetable oil
- Tofu, silken and firm
- Nuts (not Nut Free diet) – start with a small selection, nuts are interchangeable in most cooking (peanut less interchangeable with its distractive flavour). Cashew nuts are particularly useful because they have multiple uses for vegan cooking:
- Almonds, cashew, macadamia, peanuts, pistachio, pecan and walnut.
- Seeds, a selection:
- Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds (not Nut Free), sunflower seeds and tahini (not Nut Free)
- Flaxseeds/linseed or chai seeds (Essential for replacing eggs in Vegan baking.)
- Non dairy milk:
- Almond, coconut, and soya milk. (Oat and rice milk are suitable although lower in protein.)
- Soya yoghurt or cheese
- Ingredients to add flavour and interest to your cooking:
- Agar agar (replaces gelatine)
- Baking powder
- Canned tomato and tomato puree
- Capers
- Cocoa
- Coconut: desiccated and flakes
- Dried fruits: dates, apricots, dates, raisins etc
- Dried Vegetables: tomato and mushroom
- Ginger, fresh
- Herbs and Spices as listed above
- Lemon and Lime
- Maple or Rice syrup (Processed sugar is often avoided on Vegan diets and honey is not suitable.)
- Miso
- Nori
- Olives
- Peanut butter and or other nut butters (not Nut Free)
- Poppadoms
- Rosewater
- Soya sauce or tamari (Only Gluten Free soya and tamari for Gluten Free diet)
- Stock, fresh if possible (recipe)
- Tacos and tortillas
- Vinegars: balsamic, wine, rice vinegar