Need lots of help!!

**NickiB** · 09-12-2006, 01:33 PM

Hi, I have one ds in full day school (snack and lunch) and one ds in morning preschool (only snack). BOTH are in a peanut-free school. I also just found out that my oldest ds in full day school cannot have ANYTHING in his lunch which has a generic peanut warning that says it "may" contain nuts. This warning is on everything. I can no longer send granola bars, commercial cookies, crackers etc.

So I need to make some stuff for his lunch as I can't afford to purchase organic guaranteed peanut free foods. So if you have any ideas or recipes for anything lunch box related please share, I'm pretty desperate.

**AmyMCGS** · 09-12-2006, 02:25 PM

My 3 year-old likes all of these:

Lunch:
Applesauce sandwiches: http://www.recipezaar.com/61154
Pizza Sticks: http://www.recipezaar.com/120949 (eaten cold)

Snacks:
Snickerdoodles from cake mix: http://www.recipezaar.com/76237
Funfetti Cookies: http://www.recipezaar.com/93732
Sour Cream Banana Bread: http://www.recipezaar.com/9351 (I use choc chips instead of nuts)

And here are a few ideas I have bookmarked but haven't tried yet:
Quick 'N Crunchy Granola: http://www.recipezaar.com/130588
Chicken in a Sleeping Bag: http://www.recipezaar.com/142817

My DD also likes Quesadillas.... with canned fat-free refried beans or with just cheese in them. She dips them in ranch dressing or salsa. That would be pretty portable, especially without the dip.

**Daisygirl** · 09-24-2006, 07:38 PM

If your kids are peanutbutter lovers, there is soy butter at the health food section of the grocery store. It is peanut free and tastes like peanut butter. It is what we used during our peanut-free year (especially tough cause one of my kids is a vegetarian.)

I also sent that year:

Yogurt (in tupperware or tubes)
Pudding
Applesauce
Homemade muffins
Homemade chex mix (obviously without the nuts)
Fresh fruit
Canned fruit
Veggies and dip
Quesadillas
Veggie wrap

**Sara Noel** · 09-24-2006, 08:22 PM

This isn't a reply to your question, but I am curious about families that have experienced this peanut-free issue before. I truly feel horrible that any child has to live with something like this, but what in the world do they do at like highschool level? (meaning how do they possibly enforce this)

**celina** · 09-25-2006, 08:21 AM

quaker chewy granola bars are peanut free in canada , they have the label on them..go check it out...

i also make my own granola bars from livingonadime.com

make some homemade cookies...
veg and dip
fruit
yogurt
muffins
fresh buns with cheese or butter
crackers with cheez wiz to dip
hot rods

here is my dd's lunch in a peanut free school

cookies (homemade)
granola bar (homemade)
sandwhich, cream cheese, slc cheese cajun chicken on white bread
milk
pink lemonade
hot rod
grapes
yogurt
trail mix of cereal and raisins

they have a mini lunch, a lunch and a snack..so she needs 2 drinks and lots of food, shes in sr k

**PennyPinchinPam** · 09-25-2006, 07:17 PM

I'm dealing with this with my dd in K this year. It's frustrating because she loves PB. Because she has one child in her class who is allergic to it no one is allowed to bring it in. This girl is 5 yo and knows not to eat it. She is not so severely allergic that she can't be around it but because of liability issues all the kids are held to this rule, even the AM classes who aren't around this child. So now if this child and her family do not get orders and move my dd will have to follow this rule in first grade too as they will be in the same grade. Luckily we are going to be getting orders out of here the summer of '08.

**duchess** · 09-26-2006, 10:12 AM

In our boys' lunch boxes, we send:

Cheese String
Pizza Rolls
Applesauce
chicken wings
any fruit

Btw, my boys don't even like PB, so it's not an issue with us.

**Little Birdie** · 05-25-2007, 05:15 PM

I know this is an old thread, but I have some input.

My daughter is allergic to peanuts.

In her school, the classrooms are peanut controlled. No food with peanuts or any peanut warning is allowed in. If a child (other than one of the panut allergic ones) brings lunch from home, they place it in a bin outside the door. Now, I don't think a bunch of wrapped food is going to jump out and hurt one of the allergic childrem, but it makes for a clear, simple, easy to understand rule for the children and staff to rememeber!

In the lunchroom, there is a peanut free table. The peanut allergic children and anyone who purchases school lunch can sit there.

I'm actually very glad that her school is not completely peanut free. I know (believe me, I know) the financial and time-consuming drawbacks to making sure that all food is safe. For us, it is just part of our budget and our habits. If other families have to take that on in addition to the dietary requirements of their own family, it can only breed resentment.

Each school district, or each school, needs to find the best solution for them. In schools where lunch is eaten in the classroom, it is very hard.

Some of the precautions can seem odd or over protective to those who aren't familiar with food allergies. It can be necessary for both an AM and PM kindergarten to be peanut controlled for just one child. Even if that child's allergy is not servere now, every exposure can worsen it.

A jar of Sunbutter (made from Sunflower seeds) is $5.30. And it's not organic. Soybutter is cheaper, but daughter and I both think it is disgusting, so we don't buy it.

Regarding the question about high school... Right now, she is 6.5. She rides in a belt positioning booster. I sign her in and out of day care. She's not allowed out of our yard. She has a peanut controlled classroom at school. By the time she is in high school, I don't expect any of those things to be true.

**Sara Noel** · 05-25-2007, 05:26 PM

It's frightening to me. I can't imagine how horrible another child or family would feel if they were responsible for anything happening, but at the same time, I wondered how often things slipped by.

My kids don't eat peanut butter at all, but I can't imagine sifting through snacks and trying to be sure it didn't contain anything. I say this because when Ally had a dairy intolerance and I was checking how many foods had dairy proteins, I was overwhelmed. I had no idea.

I don't think any precautions seem over the top. It's most definitely a serious issue for the child that has the allergy. I just think it has to be very difficult for the parents of children that don't have the allergy problem and difficult to screen everything. It's a huge responsibility for a school to undertake.

I was curious how in a larger environment, they could possibly keep this controlled.

Is the school liable if something were to happen?

**nodmicks** · 05-25-2007, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by Nicki*B

Hi, I have one ds in full day school (snack and lunch) and one ds in morning preschool (only snack). BOTH are in a peanut-free school. I also just found out that my oldest ds in full day school cannot have ANYTHING in his lunch which has a generic peanut warning that says it "may" contain nuts. This warning is on everything. I can no longer send granola bars, commercial cookies, crackers etc.

So I need to make some stuff for his lunch as I can't afford to purchase organic guaranteed peanut free foods. So if you have any ideas or recipes for anything lunch box related please share, I'm pretty desperate.

We but sunflower butter in the grocery store right next to the regular peanut butter. It's very good and very nutritious since its made from sunflower seeds.

**kittykatstrong** · 06-08-2007, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by Sara Noel

I was curious how in a larger environment, they could possibly keep this controlled.

I was wondering the same thing, but I think by that time they will understand that eating PB is bad while now they may not understand how imprtant it is.

KAty

**thriftybargainmom** · 06-08-2007, 11:33 PM

No peanut butter?? Wow. They actually offer peanut butter sanwiches as a substitute at school lunch where my sons go.

How about a jelly sandwich on wheat bread. Carrot sticks, cheese sticks, and wheat thin crackers.??

**mom2three** · 06-16-2007, 07:42 PM

We are used to peanut and nut free daycares and schools. You could try sun butter or brown pea butter (if allowed). We are also gluten and dairy free with the exception of yoghurt. I found exactly one prepackaged cookie that I could send with my child to school abd it was about $5 for 8 of them so I gave up on that route. Our formula is:

1 starch: slice or bread, rice cake, rice crackers, homemade pancake or waffle
1 protein: luncheon meat if tolerated (my daughter cannot have ham and some luncheon meats have gluten), cold or hot chicken nuggets (thermos), egg salad, or egg, yoghurt, sunflower seeds, my daughter does not eat hummus but you could send homemade hummus as a dip for some protein, other meat, you could send cheddar cheese or cream cheese (ants on a log go over well)
1 fruit
1-2 veggies
Sometimes she gets a cookie, brownie, or muffin, but this is usually only 2x per week
juice or rice milk (always send an ice pack)
reusuable water bottle
Our school is trying to be waste free so limits the prepackaged stuff anyway.