Cold Lunches - What To Pack For My Son?

[SandraD1971]

My son is in first grade and has been diagnosed with Celiac since he was 2 years old. While at daycare, I was able to pack "heatups" so I had a lot more choices for lunch. Since he has been at elementary school there is no access to microwaves so I am packing sandwiches every day. He is getting bored of the food and coming home with his lunch untouched. Any suggestions for packing healthy but interesting lunches? I also can't find a decent sized thermos-bowl.

[weluvgators]

We use a kid lunch thermos, like these: Open Original Shared Link , and I am sure there are some other cool thermos and lunch container links. My kids really enjoy the warm lunch, and we use ours most days. We have found them very handy for travel too. I would be lost without the thermos!

[Kate79]

It's not a gluten free site, but this one has some good suggestions for packing creative lunches for kids, using leftovers & fairly easy recipes: Open Original Shared Link

It's based on the Japanese bento box, but it's not all Japanese recipes. Lots of rice and polenta suggestions. Hummus or nut butter w/veggies to dip is also a good choice, or hard boiled eggs, if he likes them.

Does your son have food allergies? Dairy, eggs, nuts, etc.?

[Juliebove]

At that age I often sent in a thermos for my daughter. She loved soup. Especially tomato.

I also got her a chip and dip set. I would fill the middle with hummus or cheese dip or maybe ranch dressing or bean dip. The outside held baby carrots, or tiny corn chips.

Costco sells individual tubs of hummus. Or I would get shelf stable ones from minimus.biz.

She liked apple slices or squeezable applesauce. She also liked cans of Vienna Sausage and fruit cups.

These days I often fix her Teff wraps from La Tortilla Factory. I heat the wrap for maybe 10 seconds in the microwave to soften. Spread it with margarine then some shredded lettuce and meat and/or cheese.

I also sent in Justin's peanut butter or almond butter packets. This was before she got the nut allergies.

[MitziG]

Hi, my son is also in first grade and was diagnosed with Celiacs a few weeks ago. he is also lactose intolerant and allergic to soy. He wont eat sandwiches, but loves fruit and yogurt so his daily lunches so far consist of a carton of yogurt and some cut up fruit (strawberries, apples, blueberries, grapes work well) I also add a small container of nuts sometimes, or some gluten free banana bread, cookies or a carton of jello. They have a really short lunch period so he doesn't have time to eat alot anyway, and this seems to work ok. Its also easy to pack in the morning. I hate having him eating much "processed" food and food colorings as he is so sensitive to stuff, but at least the yogurt is healthy and easy for him to digest. the jello- well- I only send it about once a week and so he thinks it is the most awesome treat ever! lol. I also send him a snack that he keeps in his desk and is allowed to eat when he wants. He has gastroparesis from the celiac so he has to eat small, frequent meals to keep his blood sugar under control and stomach pain to a minimum. No word on how long it will take for that issue to resolve!

[Kelleybean]

Udi's bagel with tofutti cream cheese, rice cakes with sunbutter (or again tofutti cream cheese if he can't do dairy), my son actually likes dry cereal sometimes. You could make your own "lunchables" - gluten-free crackers, slices of cheese, etc. I make muffins using Namaste muffin mix (prepared to package directions) and add 1/2 c applesauce and a couple jars of sweet potato or carrot baby food.

[CeliacMom2008]

We rely heavily on our thermos (got it at Wal-mart). I use it for leftovers - chicken with rice & gravy, fried rice, lasagna, mac & cheese, etc. Oh, and scrambled eggs.

My son loves tuna salad (tuna and mayo) with potato chips to scoop it with. Here are some others.

Lunch meat and cheese rolls

Hard boiled eggs

Canned turkey with ranch dressing to make a "salad" - he uses crackers to scoop it.

Chicken salad

Cold pizza (I think it's gross, but he likes it)

[aeraen]

No elementary school age kids here, but the things I like to pack for myself are:

Egg, tuna or chicken salad w/ rice crackers to use as a dip. Fritos as a dipper would work nicely for a school-ager, too.

Cut apples into 12 or 16 slices, put it back together in a zip lock bag, then suck the air out of the bag. The apple stays fresh. Add a small container of peanut butter (either from home, or buy the little travel sizes) for dipping. The fruit and protein really fills them up.

sliced meat roll-ups. We slice our own meat thinley, but if you can find gluten-free lunchmeats, just spread them with cream cheese and add whatever else he might like (I use a green onion, but that's probably not to the taste of a grad-schooler) and roll it up. Refrigerate and keep cold.

[Deana Huneke]

My son is in first grade and has been diagnosed with Celiac since he was 2 years old. While at daycare, I was able to pack "heatups" so I had a lot more choices for lunch. Since he has been at elementary school there is no access to microwaves so I am packing sandwiches every day. He is getting bored of the food and coming home with his lunch untouched. Any suggestions for packing healthy but interesting lunches? I also can't find a decent sized thermos-bowl.

The school may say there is no microwave available, but there is one most likely, in the teacher's lounge or the cafeteria ( in the kitchen)My daughter is in kindergarten a celiac and allergic to dairy, soy, beef and cherries. We had the doctor write a letter of medical necessity that her meal needs to be heated and we send in whatever we want every day although 4 out of 5 days its pre-cooked bacon, eggs and corn. We had to sign a release that we would not sue school if they burned her but she is fine. We have 8 letters of medical necessity letters on file with the school. A medical letter trumps everything when it comes to school, if the doctor states its necessary the school must accomadate. Good Luck.

[tarnalberry]

Leftovers! Even if originally served hot, they don't need to always be warmed back up and can be kept in a cooler bag. (Chicken soup is equally good cold as hot, imho. )

[Darn210]

I send a small container of peanut butter in the small size glad ware (I don't fill it up, it's just a nice size to stick in a lunch box) and Glutino pretzels for dipping. She used to take corn thins (thinner than a rice cake) and spread her pb on it but she got tired of that.

Tuna/chicken/ham/etc salad scooped up with the tostitos scoops.

A special treat for her is to take the snack size version of the nachos lunchables from Kraft (I think it's gross but she likes it)

Yogurt

She loves cheese and crackers . . . and lately she is getting to be a cheese snob . . . no more cheap store brands for her . . . she wants Cabot.

Sometimes ham and cheese roll ups.

Add some fruit/chips/cookie/pudding/juice/what-have-you to balance it out and change it up.

[domesticactivist]

Another vote for the thermos! We ordered ours online. Hot soups of all kinds are what we normally pack places.

We also like packing yogurt with chopped nuts (if they're allowed) and dried fruit (all homemade)

Many roasted vegetables are good cold. Beets and carrots hold up well.

Some pureed soups are good cold - carrot soup especially. You can puree the cooked meat right into it.

Cold chicken or beef.

Tuna salad with cucumbers, carrots, pickles chopped in. You can pack lettuce to wrap it in or serve it on top of.

If you do rice, sushi rolls are fun. Instead of raw fish, you can do smoked, fermented, or pickled fish.

[srall]

THERMOS.

Send leftovers, soups, rice noodle spinach pesto, rice dishes

Lunchmeat with sesame rice crackers (as close to a "lunchable" that we can get)

Homemade muffins made with teff flour and rice flour

PB & J on Udi's

cut up fruits and veggies obviously

potato chips

nuts (if you are allowed to send nuts)

lara bars