On The Go Snacks

[marinewife]

Can anyone recommend gluten free snacks for on the go or to keep for around town in the car for the kids?

I have access to a very small health food store an hour away, but does anyone know of a good places to buy gluten free online for reasonable prices?

How about buying snacks at a regular food store...any recommendations?

All tips and suggestion are welcome.

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I want to add, this is for my 8 year old son, who I have always had trouble getting to eat foods.

Of course....sugar loaded and gluten loaded has never been a problem for him.

When he was 3, he refused to eat for 2 days because he would not try oatmeal (we gave it to him for breakfast lunch and dinner until he ate it). Then it became his favorite food. He refused to eat pizza until he was 6, then that became his favorite.

He always inspects his food, and smells it before he eats it.

I was told by day care worker when he was a toddler they have never seen anything like it. Normally when kids see other kids eat certain foods they will try it, my son never would...he would choose not to eat at all on most days (at daycare), with the exception of drinking his daily milk. My doctor told me not to worry. He would eat if he was hungry. Personally I think the gluten had a impact on what foods he would eat, which happen to be mostly gluten foods that did not look or smell funny to him.

My in-laws said years ago they were going to get him to eat other foods. They swore we (my husband and I) were not being diligent. They tried too, and failed.

I have had a huge breakthrough with him. Since I started eliminating gluten foods he has been more willing to eat other things, new foods he would have not dared to do before. Has anyone had any experience with this?

I am introducing more fruit to him, before he only would eat apple sauce, and now he enjoys home made apple juice. He only eats chicken, and I have to work getting him to eat veggies.

I am looking for gluten free snacks that my son can have on the go (I want to prevent going to the dreaded drive-throughs when he gets a snack atttack) as close to traditional snacks he used to have like pretzels, fruit bars, chips (I found out you can get glutened by the manufacturing process.) Is there any good gluten free brands...snacks that taste good?

Thanks,

Sharon

[Lisa]

Jiff Peanut Better - individuals w/ carrot sticks

Hiddden Valley Ranch - individuals w/carrots or celery

Jello - individuals

Pepperoni snacks

Peanuts, almonds, home made trail mix

...just of few off hand.

[missy'smom]

There are so many things to choose from! Here are what we keep on hand.

Larabars and other fruit and nut bars, the names escape me at the moment.

fruit leather, dried or freeze dried fruits and nuts, Gerber sells packets or freeze dried fruit cubes with the baby food that are good

Glutino pretzels

Namast choc., vanilla(made into pineapple upsidedown cakes) and spice cake(made into carrot cake)-for all of these I split the mix in half and bake off half at a time in muffin tins and freeze so that I have a stash. I like them as is without frosting, and they are easy to transport that way too.

[marinewife]

I added additional information on my original post.

[dandelionmom]

I keep Envirokids cereal bars in my car at all times! My daughters like the Koala ones, they're kinda like chocolatey rice krispie treats. We also have good luck with the Lays Stax potato chips.

[April in KC]

My kids really like gluten-free Cheecha Krackles - have to order them online:

Open Original Shared Link

They are a puffed potato snack. Pretty tasty, and easy to get my picky kids to try them. Be careful, they also have non-gluten-free Krackles made in a different facility. Be sure to order the gluten-free ones.

Also, General Mills makes a new gluten-free cereal called Tigger & Pooh. It is a lot like Kix cereal but without the oats. My kids love it, and it travels well. Small enough for little hands, but not as tiny as some of the smaller gluten-free cereals.

Glutino pretzels (if your child can tolerate soy ingredients).

Surf Sweets gummy bears and gummy worms.

Kinnikinnick animal crackers and/or cookies.

Almonds.

Rice crackers (Edwards & Sons and/or Blue Diamond Nut Thins). My experience has been the Edwards rice crackers were an acquired taste for my kids.

This isn't really a "car" snack, but we also use the Hormel Natural Choice lunch meats (package says "gluten free") to make little roll-ups. I roll up one or two Hormel pepperonis inside a slice of turkey and put a toothpick through it.

Good luck! My gluten-free kiddos were always very picky before going gluten free. I can't say that they're "easy" now, but the oldest (7) certainly has branched out quite a bit.

April

[Juliet]

"Hiddden Valley Ranch - individuals w/carrots or celery"

Last time I checked, and from what I just searched on the net to verify, Hidden Valley Ranch is not gluten free, or at least can't be guaranteed as gluten free. In fact, a year ago, I e-mailed them about it and received a response where they proudly claimed that every Hidden Valley Ranch product had gluten in it, as well as other "wholesome" ingredients.

Annie's Cowgirl Ranch is gluten free, and I believe so is Paul Newman's Caesar dressing. You can also get from Penzey's Spice (www.penzeys.com) a buttermilk ranch spice mix so you can make your own that's gluten free. I liked mixing it with a little sour cream as well as buttermilk.

Bumble Bars are great - they come in many flavors, have lots of fiber, and are relatively high in protein. And they keep in the car.

As for ordering online, Amazon is actually decent if you buy in bulk. Also, Gluten Free Mall isn't bad when you buy in bulk, too. They both work out to be only a tiny bit more (in the range of a few cents) than if I buy it from Whole Foods. And they have some things which I can't get from Whole Foods at all, like Chebe mix or frozen dough (can't wait to try the Chebe frozen pizza dough).

[missy'smom]

Kinnickkinnick makes "oreo's" called K-too's that taste like the real thing. Expensive but you can ration them out There are also some fruit bars by Glutino or Glutano that are good and like those breakfast bars that are made kind of like the fig newtons with the soft dough outside and the fruit spread(apple, blueberry, etc.) inside.

[melrobsings]

You can NEVER go wrong with a Snickers bar!!!

[dandelionmom]

Here's a list that might be helpful!

Open Original Shared Link

[marinewife]

Thank you, for the great ideas and the help