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[boysmom8]

Hi. I have 8 children and two(so far) have Celiac(one also has type 1 diabetes). They have been on the gluten-free diet for going on 5 years now. I find myself getting so bogged down lately since the oldest of the two is going into the teen years very shortly(b-day in Oct). The diet wasn't as much of a challenge when we homeschooled but for a year and a half now they have been in school and with school starting in just a little over a month I have the dilemma again of sending lunches. With such a large family, it is getting so costly to do a good variety of gluten-free lunches so I would appreciate some ideas to get me outta my rut. What works for you all and keeps well until lunch time???

[Carriefaith]

With such a large family, it is getting so costly to do a good variety of gluten-free lunches so I would appreciate some ideas to get me outta my rut. What works for you all and keeps well until lunch time???

Welcome!

Wow big family! How do you do it! I have a few ideas for lunches:

EnviroKiz bars or dry cereal

Open Original Shared Link

Plain rice cakes or gluten-free bread with peanut butter

Tuna or chicken salad with gluten-free bread (Just put a small ice pack in with the lunch to keep from spoiling). My Recipe: 1 can tuna or chicken equilvalent, about 1/4 cup green onions, about 1/2 cup celery, and 2 tablespoons of Kraft Mayo or more if needed (Kraft will not hide gluten on their ingredients).

Fruit like Apples, Bananas, and oranges.

Tinkyada spiral pasta with Ragu sauce (This may keep well in a thermus)

If they have access to a microwave:

Amy's gluten-free microwavable dinners Open Original Shared Link

Thai Kitchen gluten-free instant dinners (they are like Mr. Noodles, but better). I recommend the gluten-free rice bowls and noodle carts for lunches. Pad Thai, Spring Onion, and Thai Ginger are my favorites

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

[boysmom8]

Thank you for the ideas. I'm looking for more!!!

I have another son who is constantly having celiac symptoms but tested negative. doesn't make sense.....I thought for sure he had it too.

I know a few folks who put their whole family on a gluten free diet since it was easier. I just don't know how they afford it! My 4 year old has never been tested and neither has the baby(10 months). I need to get them in.

Anyone have a negative test that came out postive later????

Thanks again.

[Carriefaith]

I have a few more ideas:

Cold gluten-free pizza (or heated up in a microwave if they have access to one)

Boost nutritional shakes (all are gluten-free I believe except chocolate malt)

Veggy salads with gluten-free Kraft dressings (Kraft will clearly put gluten on the ingredient list so you don't have to worry)

Fruit Salad

I have another son who is constantly having celiac symptoms but tested negative. doesn't make sense.....I thought for sure he had it too.

Which tests did he have?

[boysmom8]

the blood test and biopsy. Both were negative.

[Carriefaith]

I don't know a whole lot about this, but it is possible that he is sensitive or intolerant to gluten and maybe get celiac in the future if he has the gene. You can get a gene test done to see if he has the gene for celiac, then you would know for sure. If present, the celiac gene is usually triggered "on" after a stressful event.

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Hello there,

Welcome to the board!!!

I'm a german, but a resident of the United States. In germany there were already several cases of people (also kids) all ages, that tested negative and a couple of years later suddenly they were positive . One thing that might be the reason, is the fact, that you can be a celiac, but the damage of the villi in your small intestines is pretty much the last stage of celiac disease and might not be present yet at an earlier stage. That's why the damage of the small intestines is aka the tip of the ice-berg. That means, your son can be a celiac and to find this out you would have to go on with feeding him gluten and damage his intestines on purpose. If you don't want to wait for this to happen and you are pretty sure, that he has this despite the negative tests, then give him glutenfree food. And I think, with two celiac kids already, you have pretty much experience in this. And my doctor said, if you improve on a glutenfree diet, even if your tests were negative, then this is proove enough.

A little bit more costly, but pretty good are tests done by EnteroLab. They also do family screening, which is for more people and then a little bit cheaper (if they still offer this special). You can also find out about other food intolerances/allergies with them.

Here is one idea for your kids for school. I had that as a kid all the time and still eat it now as an adult. It's terrific and glutenfree! It's called Nutella and a breadspread from Europe. It's not a butter like my mother-in-law calles it all the time. She compares it with peanut butter. And it just is no butter. In fact you put real butter or margarine on the bread first and then you put Nutella on it. It's a hazelnut-chocolate breadspread. Awesome! Kids in general love this and it has a lot of calcium and iron!

Oh, and Carrie is right. But not only stress can trigger celiac. The two already known trigger are stress or a surgery. With me it was triggered by a tooth surgery.

Whatever you decide to do, just go for it and good luck !

Keep us posted how you made out.

Hugs, Stephanie

[jenvan]

Gluten free pantry also has some instant bowl meals, like pasta/beans, stroganoff. I usually eat a salad with some lunch meat and an apple or gluten-free chips. I put all kinds of things on my salads to make them more filling too--nuts, meat, beans, quinoa. But not sure if kids would like that. Does your grocery store have fruit leathers? I get them at wild oats and trader joes. They are like a fruit roll-up in a way, but made of pure fruit. I eat them instead of fruit snacks now. You could also add some dried fruit or trail mix with yogurt. Lays stacks chips are gluten-free and cheetos are too. Cut up veggies w/dressing or hummus. I make gluten-free banana nut muffins, brownies, flat bread and cookies and take those too. I like to make those in bulk too and freeze. Ever make johnny marzetti with gluten-free pasta, that would work too cold if you couldn't heat it up. Or cold "fried chicken." I also ditto Carrie on gluten-free bread sandwiches. I like miracle whip on mine. And I actually make them in the night before, and don't have a problem with them getting soggy. How about a wrap sandwich with a rice or corn tortilla and mean or just veggies and a dressing spread inside? In addition to apples I like to pack applesauce or fruit cups. Hope some of our ideas help--good luck!

I don't know if you're interested in asking, but since your kids have special diets, perhaps they would be allowed to access a microwave that other kids wouldn't be able to ?

[Guest taweavmo3]

Welcome to the board! I haven't had to tackle the school years yet, but it's coming up soon for us. My daughter will hopefully be starting pre-school this fall. Here's some of her favorite snacks that I'll most likely send along with her.....

Kinnikinnick pizza...the crust has a sweet taste, it's terrific. But, a bit pricey.

Rice cakes w/ peanut butter & honey

Quesadillas made with corn tortillas, you can fill them with a ton of different things, then fry them in olive oil or heat up in the microwave. For fillings I usually use either hummus & cheese or pizza sauce and mozzarella for an economical mini pizza. My kids LOVE the pizza quesadillas, and since I can get a huge package for under $1.....I've been using them alot!

Corn tortillas also work well for roll up sandwiches......my son likes them with pb/honey or ham and cheese. They keep really well too.

Cool Ranch Doritos, my one splurge of junk food for my little ones

Tinkyada pasta w/sauce keeps well too, if your kids could heat it up somewhere.

Tuna w/ Miracle whip and relish on rice crackers

Make your own rice bowls. We go through a ton of rice, and by adding different sauces/meat/veggies you can change the taste. Throw it all together in a plastic container, and just heat it up. This is usually what we bring for my daughter when we go out to eat.

Gluten free cereal for snacks. I just found Health Valley Rice & Corn Crunch'ems. They are gluten free, and much cheaper than the Envirokidz cereal. I mix the cereal with nuts, raisins and marshmallows for a trail mix sort of snack.

Kinnikinnick donuts are good too, and very filling.

Homeade soups would be good to take to school, if you children are into soup (mine aren't)

That's all I can think of at the moment! I know everyone else will have some good ideas. We have finally gotten to the point where we aren't spending a fortune on the diet anymore. I used to get frustrated when the more experienced celiacs would say going gluten free doesn't have to be expensive. But, I have to say, that now I totally see what they mean. We do buy gluten free pasta, and stocking up on my dry baking goods gets pricey.......but if we stick to more naturally gluten free foods and the basics, I can keep the extra cost to a minimum. Good luck!

[Guest Lucy]

my son also has type 1 diabetes and celiac. He just turned 3. It is definately harder with diabetes. Is your son on pump? I would love to ask you some questions about it.

I too am worried about school. My kids are going to go to a private Christian school that does not have a full time nurse. I am worried about insulin shots and so forth. I know that my friend whose son has celiac just heats up supper from the night before and throws it in a thermos every day.

Fresh fruit, yogurt, pudding cups, hotdogs, carrots and celery with dip. Make a huge batch of muffins and freeze them. That can take place of sandwiches. Just grab them in the morning, and should be thawed by noon. Same with banana bread. (Maybe they can bring in a toaster oven just for their use at school? Might not always be the healthiest lunches, but maybe you can have extra healthy at breakfast and supper to make up for it.?.?

[boysmom8]

Thank you so much for the ideas. I have written a whole bunch down and NO I hadn't heard of the Chebe bread before. I was trying to make my own and it just doesn't taste that great.

Lucy, my son who is diabetic is 10 and has had diabetes since he was 2years3months. Of course they don't know what triggered it but they think stress and/or a virus was to blame. We had just had another child and I thought Seth was just being bratty because of the new baby. He was drinking alot but since I was so preoccupied with a newborn I just didn't think of the symptoms at first. I felt really bad since I myself was suffering from gestational diabetes and checking my sugars!! I really felt stupid when I went to put on an outfit that was getting tight on him and it was hanging off him! It finally clicked and I bought some glucose test strips at the pharmacy(we were also in the middle of a major move across the country) and tested him and it was high glucose. We went to the hospital and learned how to do shots and all that. He isn't on a pump yet. I am going next week to see the diabetes educator and I am going to plead my case for a pump.

I am going to have the two kiddos tested that haven't been tested and also have John(the one with symptoms) tested again.

Thanks again,

Lori

[SmittySlick]

I am also new to the board. I have a five year old son who has severe food allergies to wheat, gluten, whey and casein (previous one to peanuts) and I have a hard time finding things, that a picky five year old, will eat. Are there any gluten-free hotdogs? He also tested negative, for Celiac, to a biopsy when he was 18 months old and to a blood test at the beginning of the year.

SmittySlick

[Canadian Karen]

Corn tortilla chips with salsa (check the delphi list to see which ones are gluten free), and cheddar cheese graded to sprinkle on top. The other kids in the class will be drooling!!!!

Karen

[robbiesmom]

Hi! Check out Oscar Mayer hotdogs-the ones we bbuy are gluten-free.

Sara

[tarnalberry]

I'm always a fan of sticking to naturally gluten-free things that don't cost an arm and a leg. For the purposes of this exercise, I'm going to assume that there is no place to *heat* items, but an small insulated lunch bag with an ice pack can be put inside somewhere so that it will stay cool for half a day. The following suggestions are based on things I take to lunch at work (that don't require reheating, and don't include dairy since I can't have it, and with an attempt at balancing fat/protein/carbs since I can get hypoglycemic symptoms).

Ususally, my lunch will include three or four of the first set of "snack" items, and one of the "main course" items.

* raw veggies (carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, celery, tomatoes, cauliflower)

* whole fruits (peaches, pears, apples, bananas, berries, cherries)

* nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans)

* "raw" brownies (pureed dates, almonds, water, cocoa powder)

* cold bean salad (canned beans, chopped onion, chopped sweet pepper, shredded zucchini, diced avocado, diced tomato, salt, garlic powder, cayanne pepper, cumin)

* chicken salad (chopped spinach, diced leftover chicken (breast or thigh), sliced red onion, sliced tomato, dressing of mashed avocado and lemon juice)

* corn tortillas and tuna salad (canned tuna, mashed avocado, tomato salsa, lemon juice, chopped red onion, chopped spinach)

* flax crackers (flax seeds, braggs or water, spices - dehydrated in a dehydrator (you can buy them, but they're much more expensive store bought than home-made)

* chili (yep, it's fine cold) (canned black beans, canned kidney beans, canned stewed tomatoes, canned tomato paste, chopped onion, crushed garlic, ground turkey, chili powder, cayanne pepper, cumin)

* pumpkin bread (regular banana bread recipe converted to gluten-free and using canned pumpkin instead - making use of high protein flours, including soy flour)

* lettuce leaves, deli meat, tomato and avocado slices (a slice of tomato and avocado in the center of a slice of deli meat, rolled up in the lettuce)