Kids Lunches

[happy4dolphins]

HI, After decreasing gluten in my daughters diet this summer, the question now comes up, what ideas can we send to school with her for lunch? Anyone have any good ones?

Nicole

[lonewolf]

Sandwiches on gluten-free bread or rice tortillas, deli meat rolled up in lettuce leaves or corn tortillas, rice cakes and peanut butter or almond butter, leftover dinner food, chips and bean dip in a little thermos, salads, soups, and cheese and crackers all make good entrees.

Carrot sticks, fruit, fruit leather, gluten-free cereal bars (Envirokidz), chips, popcorn, homemade cookies or brownies and juice can fill out the lunch.

Think of what she took last year and make it as similar as possible, substituting gluten-free foods when possible.

[Guhlia]

Lunchables nachos w/ cheese and salsa are gluten free and delicious... Corn tortilla sandwiches, celery with peanut butter, lunchmeat wrapped around cream cheese (pinwheels), veggies and Kraft ranch dressing, Lays Stax (most are gluten free), cold chicken with BBQ sauce and/or honey, Envirokidz bars, hot dogs (no bun) in a thermos of hot water w/ a side of ketchup for dipping, gluten free macaroni or potato salad, Lara bars, gluten free brownies, rice crackers with flavored cream cheese dip, rice crackers with tuna/chicken/turkey salad for dipping, Fritos scoops with tuna/chicken/turkey salad for dipping, fresh fruit, fruit salad, canned fruit, jello, pudding, Glutano crisp bread with peanut butter and jelly for dipping... If they would have a microwave available to them, you could pack gluten free chicken nuggets, pizza, leftovers of any sort. If your daughter has a celiac diagnosis (which I'm assuming she doesn't since you've just decreased the gluten) you could get a doctors note to force public schools to make her gluten free meals. They would probably also let her use their microwave with a note.

[mamaw]

Amy's frozen mac & cheese. Ian's has a chicken nugget micro meal which I posted about.

Guhlia:

We tried to have our public school provide gluten-free meals but they would only allow us to use the micro & this year the freezer to store things until lunch time. Strangely the female principle & her assistant have celiacs.I thought they should be doing more. Does your school provide gluten-free meals? And if so how did that come about????I know some private schools provide gluten-free meals.....help!!!!

mamaw

[2Boys4Me]

We aren't able to use the fridge or microwave.

Other schools in our public school system have microwaves in the class and the supervisor helps the kids, but we have one supervisor for two (adjoining) classes, so how can one supervisor run a microwave for 50 kids? She can't. So no micros in the class and when I brought up using the microwave once or twice a month on the fun lunch day the principal was not very enthusiastic. It pays to have the teacher and lunch supervisor on your side though, our lunch lady heated up Ty's fun lunch a couple of times. (Fun lunch is when they have Papa Johns pizza or Arby's sandwiches or chicken.)

With regards to the content of lunch, Ty took the same thing every day and has already announced he'll do the same this year. 3-4 slices of banana bread, a sliced hard-boiled egg and cheese cut up in cubes. Wildberry juice. Sometimes he'll have leftover steak, chicken, roast beef or ham instead of cheese. He may also mix it up and toss in a Five Alive instead of Wildberry juice.

Oh yeah, we're in Canada at a public school so everyone either goes home or brings a lunch. No such thing as school providing lunch...we have to pay for the fun lunch. It's a fundraiser and the proceeds go to the library.

[Guhlia]

Amy's frozen mac & cheese. Ian's has a chicken nugget micro meal which I posted about.

Guhlia:

We tried to have our public school provide gluten-free meals but they would only allow us to use the micro & this year the freezer to store things until lunch time. Strangely the female principle & her assistant have celiacs.I thought they should be doing more. Does your school provide gluten-free meals? And if so how did that come about????I know some private schools provide gluten-free meals.....help!!!!

mamaw

My daughter isn't in school yet, so we haven't personally addressed this yet. However, I believe that because Celiac disease is considered a disability they have to accomodate your child's special needs. Again, I could be very wrong about this and I have not looked into it yet. If your school is reluctant to help out, I would probably stear clear. There's probably a reason that they're fighting you on it. Plus, I can't imagine that CC wouldn't be a MAJOR issue. If your school provides a monthly lunch menu, I would just try to match your child's meal as closely to that as possible. If they're allowing you to use a freezer and a microwave, it should be relatively easy to make her feel like she's fitting in. Her friends will probably actually be jealous that she's getting better food than they are.

[happy4dolphins]

mamaw,

Our private catholic school doesn't provide gluten-free meals that I know of. I never thought to ask though.

Nicole in Michigan

[eKatherine]

I know that in the elementary schools I've worked in, the only microwave ovens are the personal property of employees, and none are available for student use. In some middle schools and high schools they have microwave ovens available, but generally kids who don't buy hot lunches bring cold food rather than waiting for a microwave anyway.

[Guest nini]

The cafeteria manager at my daughter's school told me that if my daughter needed to heat up her lunch that she could ask the teacher to bring it back in the cafeteria to her and she would warm it up for her. So far we have not done this as she has lunch so early that if I heat it up in the morning and put it in her thermos and/or wrap it in foil it stays warm enough for her until lunch.

I say it never hurts to ask.

[momofsilyak6220]

My daughter was diagnosed almost two years ago while in 6th grade. Since then she has either not taken a lunch or taken Oscar Mayer nacho lunchables. I read an article in November about a college student with Celiac and that the school had to provide a gluten free meal. I then started searching for information in regards to this. I have learned that a school that receives public funding for their lunch program is required to offer a gluten free meal to children. I started this process two months ago with my daughters district. At first they were less than responsive and told me that that is not something they are required to provide. I called the State of Illinois board of education and was told differently. The district also called and found out that they were wrong. I had to have a note from my daughter's physican stating the disease and what she can and can not eat. It has not been easy, but it is something that she is excited about. I would gladly help anyone else that needs to get information to their districts in regards to this matter.

I only wish that I knew this information two years ago. I hope that this helps some of you with children in school. It let's them have some normalcy back.