Planning school lunches with major allergy concerns

[littlelady33]

Our son just started school and I'm trying to come up with a handful of ideas for planning school lunches.  It's complicated because of food allergies.... no gluten, dairy, egg, or soy and our school is peanut and tree nut free.

Suggestions would be much appreciated! Help!

[mistymorning]

Gluten free wraps (homemade) or brown rice wraps with meat and veggies, or sunbutter instead of nutbutters with honey or jelly 

Meat kabobs

Leftover meatballs with marinara dipping sauce

Leftover gf chicken strips (Breaded in cornmeal or other gf flour) with marinara dipping sauce or ketchup.

Cold pasta and bean salad, or chicken and rice salad, or bean and rice salad

Soups in a thermos

Dairy free yogurt with gf granola

That's off the top of my head! Hope that helps.

[littlelady33]

Wow, thanks for the ideas. How do you make homemade wraps?

[Ragana]

Cut up vegetables or GF crackers with hummus (I forget which brand is labeled GF, but there is at least one)

GF tortilla chips (I know Green Mountain are labeled GF) and refried beans (if you use canned, choose the ones with just pinto/black beans & salt - usually they are labeled "No-fat refried beans" or "Vegetarian refried beans") with salsa (Pace is labeled GF)

Ham/salami (Hormel natural in the brown cardboard container is labeled GF) sandwiches on GF bread - I know that one is tough, literally! Or maybe the same ham/salami as a roll-up with corn tortillas or some sort of spread (is there non-dairy cream cheese? That would be a good base).

Corn tortilla burritos with toppings - endless possibilities there: beans, rice, meat, non-dairy cheese, salsa, lettuce, etc.

Leftover baked potato or sweet potato with whatever you normally put on them.

Chili with or without rice in a thermos

When I lived in Germany, one of the lunches at uni was warm rice pudding with fruit compote - you could make that or GF oatmeal with non-dairy milk & serve in a thermos.

Tuna salad with GF crackers - you could maybe make more of a vinaigrette dressing rather than mayo-based? The same could work for canned salmon.

Does your child like Indian food? I have a DD who is crazy about it & takes chickpea curry for lunch a lot, with or without rice. I make a big pot and keep it in the fridge. I vary the chickpeas with potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, etc.

[littlelady33]

Just yesterday, my son said, "mom, can I take leftovers?" Yes!  The chicken curry sounds great

[Ragana]

Leftovers make awesome lunch!

[mistymorning]

Homemade wraps.  Well, I don't really have any one recipe.  I just take a gluten free flour and chickpea flour, add some water till it's runny enough, some salt, sometimes some spices and put it in a lightly oiled skillet and cook it like a crepe.  There are several recipes out there on the internet that will give you better directions!