In order to imitate the texture and consistency of wheat/gluten, most gluten-free recipes call for a combination for various flours and starches. These gluten-free flours and starches include buckwheat, sorghum, millet, brown rice, white rice, glutinous rice, quinoa, bean, tapioca, potato, corn, cornmeal, and others. In addition to these flours and starches, you also need supplemental ingredients like xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, guar gum, cream of tartar, raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, coconut flakes, yeast, sugar, brown sugar, unflavored gelatin, and others. Some recipes/books use a specific combination/ratio of these flours, so to save on time, I premix some flours/starches as well.

That’s A LOT of ingredients! The key to being efficient in the gluten-free kitchen is to have all the ingredients in one place that’s easily accessible and well organized. I have an entire cabinet, actually a drawer, dedicated to all my gluten-free ingredients. 

Below is a picture of my gluten-free drawer.

I bought a bunch Lock & Lock containers to store the majority of the ingredients. It’s much more organized to place the ingredients in containers of the same size/shape rather than keeping them in the original bag/box. Since Lock & Lock containers have a good seal, they also keep the ingredients longer.

For flours and starches, I use the rectangular containers with a spout at the top for easy pouring. Then I label both the top and the side. For ingredients that are in smaller quantities, I either keep them in the original tin/box or in smaller Lock & Lock containers.

In case you are interested in buying these containers, I ordered all my Lock & Lock containers online from this seller on Taobao.

Lock & Lock sells many different shapes, sizes, and varieties of containers. You should get ones that suit your kitchen cabinet/size/space.