Your home should be your one safe haven where foods are safe and life is free. Some families choose to be one hundred percent nut-free and other families choose to monitor the allergic persons choices at home too.

Neither of these options is more correct than the other - it is personal preference and what works in your situation. If your child is young and unable to fully grasp the seriousness of his allergy it may be best to have all unsafe foods stored where there is no chance of contact or not in your home at all.

Your Home :

Until today, you likely weren't aware of every ingredient in every product in your house. Today - you are. Start in your kitchen, it gets much easier after that.

• obviously, the first things to go are your peanut butter, nut spreads and any other obvious nut products
  
• go through your house in a similar but much more thorough fashion than we recommend in Educating Others - it will get you thinking of removing items such as your current dish cloth and either replacing or very, very thoroughly cleansing your cookie sheets and cooling racks
  
• check your cupboards, anything (including spices) that is not in its original packaging (so you can read it's label) has got to go in the trash - if you can't read the label, it's not safe
  
• products that have labels must be read (see Terms Table and Reading Labels) - if you are not sure about an item you can either discard it or contact the product manufacturer (see Manufacturer's) - in this situation it is recommended to phone the manufacturer so you will have your information immediately
  
• in your fridge you must read every label - especially sauces and condiments
  
• it is necessary to throw out any condiments (honey, jam, butter, margarine, cheese whiz, cream cheese) that are open as they may be cross-contaminated with nut products such as peanut butter and unsafe bagels or breads
  
• check all breads, bagels and buns to see if their manufacturer has them labeled with traces of nuts or not - be aware that most store/bakery made items could be cross-contaminated with nuts BUT not labeled as such - it is known that the larger bakeries labeling is more accurate than most smaller or store bakeries
  
• any baked goods in your fridge, freezer or on your counter must be thrown out - these products are loaded with the possibility of being contaminated - we strongly recommend you discard them and replace them with homemade items you are sure are safe or purchased items that are safe

For more helpful tips, see the Peanut Allergy Handbook.