Help with lunches

[NZJMama]

DS #2 is eating lunch at preschool this year. They are a nut free school which is pretty easy to comply with. I was tlaking to the director the other day and she mentioned there was a child in his class with a severe dairy allergy. If someone so much as eats cheese and touches her, she immediately needs an epipen. I have never been asked not to pack dairy in my son's lunch, but I don't feel right packing dairy with this information. I need some ideas for protein rich and dairy free lunches. Help, please.

[Linda on the move]

Are you guys vegetarian or meat eaters? Does your son prefer foods not touching, or is he happy with things like soup?

My dairy free DD eats a lot of turkey sandwiches. She also likes hot dogs (which I know means I'm evil and should be banned from mothering, but they are pretty healthy in spite of being shaped like hotdogs) and she likes one cut up with ketchup to dip it in.

My other DD's standard lunch is something like homemade soup with beans and vegies in it, or a tossed salad. But she's in highschool, and didn't like foods touching until very recently.

My kids prefer to take pretty much the same lunch day after day, with minor variations like what find of fruit they have.  They each take a fruit, some vegies sticks, and a granola bar to go with whatever else they have.

I think at 4, my kids would have wanted something like little slices of turkey, little crackers, vegies, etc.

[NZJMama]

We are meat eaters and he is not a terribly picky eater. I just keep getting stuck on the dairy thing. Sounds silly I know.

Do you cook up the hotdogs and pack them cold? I think he would really like something like that. Also, do you use any spread for the turkey sandwiches? He likes hummus, but told me he doesn't want it in his lunch. Go figure.

I will have to get a thermos to pack soup in. We do a lot of soup in the fall and winter and I think he would enjoy that at lunch.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Linda on the move 

Are you guys vegetarian or meat eaters? Does your son prefer foods not touching, or is he happy with things like soup?

My dairy free DD eats a lot of turkey sandwiches. She also likes hot dogs (which I know means I'm evil and should be banned from mothering, but they are pretty healthy in spite of being shaped like hotdogs) and she likes one cut up with ketchup to dip it in.

My other DD's standard lunch is something like homemade soup with beans and vegies in it, or a tossed salad. But she's in highschool, and didn't like foods touching until very recently.

My kids prefer to take pretty much the same lunch day after day, with minor variations like what find of fruit they have.  They each take a fruit, some vegies sticks, and a granola bar to go with whatever else they have.

I think at 4, my kids would have wanted something like little slices of turkey, little crackers, vegies, etc.

[mtiger]

Originally Posted by NZJMama 

Do you cook up the hotdogs and pack them cold? I think he would really like something like that. Also, do you use any spread for the turkey sandwiches?

My daughter (in HS) takes hot dogs in buns, with ketchup on the side. Wrapped in paper towel and foil keeps them warm until lunch. For turkey sandwiches, she likes ketchup as a spread.

[Imakcerka]

WOW, not dairy no nuts. I"m not sure what my DD's would be eating then. We're on a one week school lunch trial. They begged and I relented. ONE WEEK! I'm thinking how can you have the jelly without the peanut butter?!

Bean dip and tortilla chips is a fav here. I just buy the pintos and mix them with taco seasoning. I've tried different kinds this way. I always put cream cheese in mine but the DD's don't like it that way.
Fruits and veggies. Banana's are so filling. If I pack one I notice the DD's eat less of their lunch.

Hummus and bread.
Hot dogs are a good idea or corndogs
Pasta with marinara

[Peony]

Lunches are the bane of my existence to begin with, I think I'd keel over if we couldn't do dairy! DD2 only eats cheese sandwiches, day after day. 

It's getting colder here already so I have sent a thermos of soup a few times already. This was an epic failure with my kids but others seem to like it, breakfast for lunch. I packed leftover pancakes, syrup, fruit. We also do some leftovers here and there, we usually eat the same dinner two nights in a row so I only do that when we aren't going to eat it again that night. Good luck!

ETA; Boiled eggs? DD1 love egg salad so I also do that and send bread on the side to dip in it. 

[karne]

Originally Posted by NZJMama 

Do you cook up the hotdogs and pack them cold? I think he would really like something like that. Also, do you use any spread for the turkey sandwiches? He likes hummus, but told me he doesn't want it in his lunch. Go figure.

.

Thanks!

I mix the hot dogs with baked beans and pack it , hot, in the thermos.  We have moderate success with this.  DS also likes turkey meatballs (Purdue-not mine, naturally), in a little marinara, made into a meatball sub.  I generally try to cut this to fit into the thermos as well, although I'm sure there's a better way to do it.

[puffingirl]

DD has been really enjoying cubes of a ham steak for lunch.  I buy the fully cooked, uncured kind and dice them up.  She can eat that with some fruit, veggies and crackers or pretzels and be pretty content with that.  We'd be up a creek without dairy since she has yogurt every other day though....  

[VisionaryMom]

We are gluten-free. I usually send either meat (deli meat or leftover baked chicken) with cheese or a substantial trail mix (which wouldn't work with the no nuts rule), either GF crackers or tortillas, a fruit, and a veggie with dip (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots are the most requested). I do some type of non-fruit dessert once a week (GF brownies or a pudding cup) and often will add a granola bar in case he's extra hungry that day.

In our case, I would just cut out adding in the cheese. I've been debating it anyway ever since I read a study showing that something like 80% of lunches checked weren't at the correct temp for dairy, even with ice packs.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by VisionaryMom 

We are gluten-free. I usually send either meat (deli meat or leftover baked chicken) with cheese or a substantial trail mix (which wouldn't work with the no nuts rule), either GF crackers or tortillas, a fruit, and a veggie with dip (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots are the most requested). I do some type of non-fruit dessert once a week (GF brownies or a pudding cup) and often will add a granola bar in case he's extra hungry that day.

In our case, I would just cut out adding in the cheese. I've been debating it anyway ever since I read a study showing that something like 80% of lunches checked weren't at the correct temp for dairy, even with ice packs.

In addition to the cheese, the dip is most likely diary based, and pudding is mostly milk.

[NZJMama]

Thanks for all the ideas. I did some shopping for the week and so I'll see what he thinks.