Our son's camp has a new policy this summer: no nuts, period. No peanut butter, no Nutella, no trail mix with nuts, etc. They are Not Kidding Around. Kids who bring any food with nuts will see their lunch confiscated and tossed.
Let me hasten to say that I get it. Nut allergies are a very serious thing. Without policies like this, some kids might not be able to go to camp at all.
(I do wonder what's going to happen when some of these kids grow up and head off to the corporate world... are nutfree policies coming soon to an office park near you?)
Anyway, facing a summer without hot school lunches and Uncrustables to feed my child was a very daunting prospect. I'll admit it. We're not the most ambitious lunch makers for our kid. Nor is he the most adventurous lunch eater.
I tried googling for lunch ideas and found such helpful suggestions as making my child a gourmet cherry-Asian-chicken salad (oh yes, THAT will go over big) or using a nutfree peanut butter substitute like sunbutter (tried it; hated it; moving on). There aren't any microwaves available to warm up lunch, nor is there refrigeration available, of course (thank goodness for ice packs). Pair that with my inconsistent but insistent worries about food additives (my latest freakout is nitrites, so forget lunchables) and we had quite a time coming up with lunches.
So, I'm listing a few of the lunches "main dishes" that have been a big hit with our incoming second grader. Hope this is useful to a few other parents too.
- Hard-boiled eggs along with garlic popcorn we buy in Wegmans (sounds weird but he LOVES it, and the popcorn is a whole grain, riiiiight?)
- "Stackers" made of Jimmy Dean reduced-fat turkey sausage patties and (defrosted) frozen waffles. I use a biscuit cutter to make the waffle size match the sausage patties size. If I'm careful I can get two little waffles out of a normal-sized one (and the leftover bits are a good start to my breakfast).
- "Stackers" made of nitrite-nitrate-free salami (thank you Applegate Farms) and colby-jack cheese, paired with Ritz crackers. I use the same biscuit cutter to shape the salami and cheese. Leftover salami and cheese scraps go great in a breakfast omelette.
- Bagel spread with a thick layer of cream cheese
- Pasta salad made with the Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad Classic mix. This is getting oddly hard to find in grocery stores, but he LOVES the stuff and it cooks up in ten minutes. One box will buy me two days' worth of lunches.
What nut-free kid lunches are a big hit in your house?
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Hey Em! Some of these look really yummy! I can definitley eat a meal with all vegetables and be content but hubby thinks it is not a meal if there is no meat and he does most of the cooking which makes me happy. I will have to sneak some of them in our repertoire as “side dishes”
oooo, fun&valuable resource – thanks for sharing!
I started this about five years ago, after I read The Omnivore’s Dilemna. I make a concerted effort to not at meat more than once a day. I used to have no meat days frequently (and often purely by accident!) but since Jordan now is the cook in the house and he can’t do pasta (no gluten) which was a lot of my vegetarian meals, it’s not actually as often.
i am definitely going to check some of these out! we have done the same thing at our house. less meat…more veggies. recently i have starting cooking quinoa some…there are some great vegetarian recipes using that…might want to check it out.
I know what you mean about husbands and meat. Mine was surprised that he doesn’t miss it most of the time—and of course he doesn’t eat lunch with me
Definitely some of these recipes could be great side dishes or could be accompanied by a side dish of chicken or other meat. Some of the soup recipes I serve with optional shredded chicken. The most filling ones are the bean or bean and rice dishes. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for stopping by 
Hope you enjoy them! Thanks for coming over
So nice you have a cook! We had to do no wheat for awhile and it was very hard, but I learned a lot of rice dishes! Trader Joe’s makes some gluten-free pasta that’s not bad, too. Thanks for stopping by.
Hey Eliz—I haven’t used quinoa in a long time. I’m not sure if it’s readily available here, but I’d love to hear about good recipes with it for when we return.
I just got my very own copy of Mollie’s cookbook The Vegetables I Can’t Live Without and i love, love, love it. I had a brief flirtation with vegetarianism years ago, and the veggie main dishes just stuck. I only cook meat once or twice a week now, and the husband doesn’t even mind!
I will have to take a look at that book. I do love Mollie K. Yeah, I’m surprised my husband doesn’t mind, either. He does get a full hot lunch every day, and he’s always been willing to try all kinds of foods, so he had that going for him to start with. He’s pretty great
I think for him the main thing is—-is it filling? and does it have a lot of flavor?