Packed Lunches
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Gluten Free Lunches for School and Days out
Packed lunches can be just as fun for celiac chidren as well as the other kids in the family. Maybe packing you child's school lunch box is an added reassurance of what is being eaten throughout the day. Packed lunches and snacks need to be exciting and varied as well as include a few of the 5 a day portions of fruit and vegetables.
Gluten Free Bread
There are many breads on the market for ceoliacs and some are better than others. Some have a shorter shelf life than other. You will experiment and find what best suits your family. There are many loaves which are great for toast but are just simply dry for sandwiches. Bread from certain manufacturers are available on prescriptions so chat to your dietician or doctor about these, or better still ask a fellow celiac.
Gluten Free Bread Rolls
These are often great because they are designed to be eaten untoasted. There is a huge choice, from white bread, brown bread and seeded too! Again, you will find which you like best.
Gluten Free Pittas and crackers
Adding a variety to a child's diet will always help adjusting and coming to terms with having an alternative diet. Crackers are great, they are fundamentally dryer and crumblier than bread so probably more 'normal' than some breads. Try adding butter crackers to a lunch box and leaving the filling for yur child to fill themselves. Pitas can be a bit more hard work to chew but these are improving all the time. Older kids will love stuffing and making their own. Pitas are also a great alternative for the toastie maker or under the grill.
Food Flask
A food flask is a great way to keep food cold or hot! Hot pasta and sauce is great for a supper out when it maybe difficuly to get a gluten free dinner.
A gluten Free Balanced Lunch Box
A variety of starchy / carbohydrates, fruit, veg and proteins is a must in any lunch box, and play your cards right, the 5 a day will take care of itself.
Aim to have:
- Starchy foods, gluten free bread, rice, potatoes, pasta etc.
- good for energy, seeded and brown alternatives are a healthier choice
- Protein foods, meat, eggs, beans etc
- important for cell repair and healthy tissues etc.
- Dairy item, cheese, yoghurt
- cheesey strings and babybels are great for break times as well as getting the right amount of calcium
- Veg or fruit items, carrots, banana, blueberries etc.
- Chop up so the kids can eat with their fingers, choose a different item each day or create a delicious fruit salad
Packed lunch sandwhich alternatives
| Breads / Crackers / Pasta / Pitas | Gluten Free Fillings | |
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cracker bread rolls pitas cold pasta / sauce chicken / tuna pasta rissotto rice cheese crackers bread sticks |
cheese cottage cheese soft cheese cheese strings babybel egg egg mayo ham bacon chicken |
jam lemon curd chocolate spread peanut butter marmite houmous tuna salmon prawns sardines |
Top up the gluten free lunch box with
| Drinks | Healthy Extras | |
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carton of rice milk beaker of milk fruit juics carton
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carrot, cucumber sticks, peppers fruit flakes dried fruit - raisins Mrs Crimble's cocont macaroon Mrs Crimble's Apple rice cakes gluten free pickles unsalted nuts (ask school about nut allergies) |
dairylea triangle & gluten free bread sticks soya / dairy yoghurt banana, apple, kiwi pot of sweetcorn fruit salad pot of blueberries flapjack (if oat gluten okay) rice snacks |
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