by Jana Čarnohorski, Croatia
Do you know what’s scarier than the Halloween season? Moving into a student accommodation!
Any college student knows that feeling when, just as you figured out how to live with celiac in your own home, life throws you a curveball and you find yourself moving away from your sweet, gluten-free home into a new city, new life… and new kitchen. Soon enough, you start spiralling down the hole of worries: How will you get along with your flatmates? How will you explain celiac to them? How to prevent cross-contamination?
Of course, there is no magical recipe on how to deal with these situations, but don’t panic! It’s certainly not impossible and here are some tips to help you out.
Talk to your flatmates
I know, you would have never thought of that without me. But seriously, good communication is essential for a peaceful life in student accommodation, so make sure you communicate your disease with your flatmates. Assume they don’t know anything about celiac disease, gluten-free products, and (especially) contamination, and fill them in with all the basics. Be specific about your needs: what can they do to keep you safe from gluten.
Divide the kitchen
Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid the presence of gluten in your kitchen. Your flatmates are going to eat normal bread and other crumbly gluten products, and it is only fair that they can do it freely in their own kitchen. So how to avoid cross-contamination? The easiest thing to do is to divide the kitchen into gluten and gluten-free parts. Try to arrange a special part of the kitchen where your flatmates can cut bread and another part where no gluten is allowed, so you can prepare your food.
Mark your food
With a bit of luck, you will have normal flatmates who don’t steal your food. But even so, sometimes food can get mixed up in the fridge and suddenly you don’t know if that on the shelf is your gluten-free jam or the gluten one. This is where it would be useful to mark your food produce. I like using funny colourful stickers, but this is an opportunity to get creative!
Use colourful kitchenware
Same as with the food, it is really important to differentiate your gluten-free kitchenware from that of other flatmates (especially when it comes to things like cutting boards). To make sure no one takes your utensils by accident, I highly recommend opting out of boring old regular Ikea items that likely all of your flatmates will use (no hate for Ikea, just don’t buy the most basic items). Instead, try to find colourful or somewhat unique kitchenware.
And this is all you need to know before moving into your new student accommodation!
Although it might seem daunting, don’t forget you’re not the first to go through it. It is absolutely possible to live a safe and gluten-free life in a student accommodation, and with a bit of practise, you’ll get there as well!