Calling all gluten-free cybermoms!

[EmersonAilidh]

Normally I just eat a Larabar for lunch. Which, sidenote, if you haven't tried, you need to. The only allergen in them is nuts, they are DELICIOUS & come in lots of flavors made for gluten-free people who can't eat desserts (mostly) & are incredibly healthy. The ingredient list on most of them is five items or less & all of the items are REAL foods! Peanut butter & jelly bars, cherry & apple pie bars, lemon bars, coconut cream pie bars, key lime pie bars, so on, so forth. At my grocery store they're 10 for $10, too. That's two weeks of school lunches for $10.

 

My brainfog & morning anxiety have been killer lately, & every single day last week I forgot my lunch. On Friday I was hungry enough to eat a little bit of tortilla at lunch, then got dumped & ate a brownie in a moment of weakness later on. OH boy, as if I needed a reminder why I had to stop eating "real food" (as my family so kindly explains it to confused waiters at restaurants), but I paid for that tortilla & brownie for two days. ANYWAY. I've been wondering if maybe actually having a substantial lunch would help me remember instead of just a little bar that is so easily looked over & forgotten. But I've been trying to think about what I could pack & I'm drawing a blank. :/

We have no access to microwaves or refrigerators at school, & I can't eat meat either. Do any of y'all pack lunches for your kids??

[Suzan]

Hi, my girls don't like sandwiches so I usually pack snacky things. They don't like stuff in thermos either. Otherwise, I'd suggest a thermos with soup or anything really! I know others will have even better ideas. This is just what I do for my kids who are very picky right now.

 

Piece of fruit or fruit cup

Chips or Chex cereal w/ gf pretzels

Celery and carrot sticks w/ ranch dressing

Home made "granola" bars

Soy Milk or juice box

 

 

PS... I wish my kids liked the lara bars. I have no idea why they don't!

 

Susan

[mama2alex]

Hi Emerson,

 

Boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes and almonds are good healthy (and easy) GF additions to a packed lunch, and don't need to be refrigerated. Whole Foods has a good GF bread called Udie's bread, but I'm not sure if you have access, plus it's a little expensive. The bars sound yummy and cheap, but in your situation you want to watch your sugar intake and keep it to a minimum, especially if you start on antibiotics, as sugar feeds yeast.

[emmalily]

peanut butter on rice cakes (or good gluten free bread if you can find it)...you can add to that (banana, jelly, chocolate, marshmellows, etc).

[pixiesmommy]

I did a post on lunchbox items on the blog. I know we have more food restrictions than you and we eat meat, but I think a lot of them would still apply. Do you like salads? A salad would be pretty easy to prep at the beginning of the week and portion out.

[Stephanie2]

I also use Udie's bread from Whole Foods, ds5 goes through about 1 loaf a week. You are supposed to keep it frozen so that it stays fresh. I pull out 2 slices the night before and put it in a ziploc bag and leave it out on the counter overnight to defrost. Then I either make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (sometimes I use sunflower seed butter) or I make a turkey sandwich. Ds2 does not like the bread so I make his "sandwiches" on very thin rice cakes from whole foods.

 

Also, gluten free pretzels, chips, fruit cups, etc. for snacks...

 

PS. I am sorry that your parents say those things to the waiters. If it makes you feel any better, my parents say the same type of things about how I "feed" and medicate my kids. They just don't get it and probably never will...

Edited September 19, 2010 by Stephanie2

[amyjoy]

Normally I just eat a Larabar for lunch. Which, sidenote, if you haven't tried, you need to. The only allergen in them is nuts, they are DELICIOUS & come in lots of flavors made for gluten-free people who can't eat desserts (mostly) & are incredibly healthy. The ingredient list on most of them is five items or less & all of the items are REAL foods! Peanut butter & jelly bars, cherry & apple pie bars, lemon bars, coconut cream pie bars, key lime pie bars, so on, so forth. At my grocery store they're 10 for $10, too. That's two weeks of school lunches for $10.

 

My brainfog & morning anxiety have been killer lately, & every single day last week I forgot my lunch. On Friday I was hungry enough to eat a little bit of tortilla at lunch, then got dumped & ate a brownie in a moment of weakness later on. OH boy, as if I needed a reminder why I had to stop eating "real food" (as my family so kindly explains it to confused waiters at restaurants), but I paid for that tortilla & brownie for two days. ANYWAY. I've been wondering if maybe actually having a substantial lunch would help me remember instead of just a little bar that is so easily looked over & forgotten. But I've been trying to think about what I could pack & I'm drawing a blank. :/

We have no access to microwaves or refrigerators at school, & I can't eat meat either. Do any of y'all pack lunches for your kids??

 

 

Hello

 

ah yes lunchbox challenges. my son is 14 and also has celiac so we have had to get creative, since larabars are ok but you know, variety is a healthy thing and also, having stuff you like and isn't always sweet can also be a good thing.

do you have a thermos? this can be a ticket to lots of options. rice pasta or rice mac and cheese, soups with crackers and maybe a cheese stick if you can do dairy, or even some rice potstickers can go in there, or baked potatoes (in pieces:)), or some taquitos or enchiladas or tamales. Or maybe, you could use some rice and bean chips or corn chips plus guacamole or a bean dip or one of those 5 layer dips? You can also put tuna in a thermos it will stay fresh and you can use some chips to dip, yum if you like tuna. Also, someone did mention the Udi's sandwich bread, bless them, they make wonderful lunch box sandwiches. Yogurt? Little individual packs of fruit like applesauce or peaches go well in lunchbox.

i hope this helps!! being hungry and feeling stuck at school is no fun!!

And by the way, you can also get one of those little freezer pack things and stick that in your lunch box and it will keep things cold for you if you ever want that.

amy

[matis_mom]

I'm going to try those Lara bars!

 

Anyway, I was going to suggest fruits, nuts, hardboiled eggs, brown rice (I absolutely LOVE brown rice!), baby carrots, celery sticks, leftovers from the night before, canned tuna, canned sardines, etc. Do you like cooking? There are a lot of very yummy gf recipes out there, but I guess you are pretty booked with school and all.

 

Also, if those bars you've been using do not need to be refrigerated, it might be a good idea to keep some in your backpack or locker in case of emergency. Skipping lunch and letting your blood sugar go too low is a recipe for disaster!

 

Also, since we are in the subject, make sure to bring your own water bottle and DO NOT USE WATER FOUNTAINS! That's a sure way to catch anything that's going around.

[Chemar]

One of our members, Caryn, has a great website with gluten free recipes & lots of info http://healthy-family.org/

 

she also has a book out next month called

 

"Cilie Yack is Under Attack" a Novel for Kids with Celiac Disease

 

There is also a FaceBook page

[AmbersMommy]

Muffins!!! I know this might take a little work on your part, but they are AWESOME!!!!!!! My whole family eats them! I can pack them for trips, and they are great snacks! Here is a recipe.

 

2 1/2 cups ground nuts (Almonds in a food processor)

1/4 cup melted butter or you can use a small amount of fruit juice or pure apple butter - add this last

1/2 cup honey

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

3 eggs

 

Preheat oven to 375. Make sure you use cupcake liners! Bake for 15-20 minutes or until muffins spring back when pressed. These muffins get really dark when you cook them..probably because of the nuts. You can add 1/3 cup raisins before you cook. What I like best is to replace 1/2 cup of the nut flour with dried unsweetened coconut! I've also used 3/4 cup blueberries.

 

If you want something you don't haveto cook or anything try Fruit Leather!! There are other brands. They are like fruit roll-ups, but they are completely natural/organic. I have found them in the organic section. You could throw a bunch of them in your locker at school.

[EmersonAilidh]

Thank you all so much!!!! This is why I love this forum, hahaha.

 

Suzan ~ You have helped so much with me going gfree!! Those all sound yummy, cheap, & easy. I think I can do that! & I can't imagine how anyone couldn't like those bars! I handed a little bit of my PB&J one to a girl at school today going "It's delicious!! It tastes just like a peanut butter & jelly sandwich!" & she just went "This is gross, & you are deprived", hahaha. I think we gfree kids just adapt better than others.

 

Mama2alex ~ Those are all great ideas! & they would all just fit in a tupperware. In a weird way, they kinda all sound good together. I LOVE tomatoes, but only from the Farmer's Market down the street. I hate to be "that" girl but I swear storebought ones just taste different! Do you have any tips for boiling eggs though? Everytime I try they just fall to bits when I try to peel them. :/ & I had no idea about sugar feeding yeast! The only sugar I really eat is in those bars & fruit juice though. I don't eat much cos I buy low/no sugar juice.

Also, I have Udi's! It's a delicacy over here though seeing as how we make it to Whole Foods about once every two months so I try to eat it sparingly, most of the time with some Gfree veggie burgers from Amy's Kitchen.

 

EmmaLily ~ I always forget about rice cakes! I found some really yummy cheap ones once & then they just... Escape my mind, I suppose. Peanut butter is my favorite food so that sounds great!

 

PixiesMommy ~ I tried salads last year but the're just too difficult to carry around school. D: The dressing would always leak out of the tupperware, or it would get gross & wilty before I could eat it, or it would just bust open in my bag. All in all.... No bueno. I LOVE salads though, #1 restaurant option, so I wish I could work it out.

 

Stephanie2 ~ I started freezing after being very sad & confused when it went bad so quickly when left out like regular bread the first time. I've been trying to microwave it but it just turns into a giant crouton.. Defrosting would probably be a better idea, hahah. If I can remember to leave it out the night before PB&J's would be great! I'm so sparing with my bread I almost always forget that I even have it, hahah. Almond butter would be great with it too!

I don't mind them joking about it every now & then. I know the look on a waiter's face when I start asking a billion questions so i always just start off with "I'm one of those restrictive diet nightmares", hahah. I always make sure to say CAN'T eat blah blah blah... instead of WON'T or anything like that. I've found that people are a lot more receptive when you make it apparent that it's not just some choice.

 

AmyJoy ~ Yogurt & I have a love-hate relationship. It would be worth a try though! I haven't eaten meat in about seven years (& haven't vomited a SINGLE time since I stopped) but I used to LOVE tuna. Are there gfree crackers?? I haven't seen those before! Thermos is a wonderful idea too. I bet I can find a cute, cheap one & soup is about as easy as it gets. & I do eat cheese! No other dairy, though. I'm gonna make a lunch list, & cheese sticks (especially the twisty kinds) & fruit cups will most certainly be on there!

& we don't know if it's Celiac's, necessarily. We don't know what IT is at all, actually. All we know is that I hated eating before because of how horrible it made me hurt but, once I went glutenfree eating stopped being a terror. As a wise Mom on here once said... They could call it Sh** On Toast Syndrome for all I care as long as I feel better, hahah.

 

Mati's Mom ~ Oh no, never ever water fountains!! I won't even touch public doorhandles or floors, much less use public bathrooms or fountains. That's been going on since back when OCD was just "germaphobia" to us. & I never ever have time to cook. I wish I did!! I wonder if I beg my Mom if she'll get off FarmVille long enough to make me something, hahah. I always try to make Minute Brown Rice (only comes in short grain. Bleh.) but it always just comes out so... Watery. I guess it's a sensory issue but I HATE boiled rice unless it's done absolutely perfectly because even if there's no water left in the pan the rice is just too... Wet. No matter how long it's left out. Do you have any suggestions?? I used to love just simple rice & beans & cheese but I can't eat it anymore. :/

& we have no lockers at my school. Weird, I know. We have split days. Four classes on "A days", & four different classes on "B days". A days are just one binder, but B days are two binders, two giant textbooks (one of which is for my college history class! So proud. ), three spirals, & sometimes more.. The thought of adding a lunchbox to that load is not a happy one, hahah.

 

Chemar ~ I'm going to buy that book! I bought one gfree vegetarian book but all of the recipes were pretty complicated. We just don't have the time or funds to do all that. Thank you for the links!

 

AmbersMommy ~ I totally forgot about those things!!! I used to eat those back in the sixth grade, when I thought just being vegetarian was difficult, hahah. I wonder if there are some sugarfree ones!

[Suzan]

Suzan ~ You have helped so much with me going gfree!! Those all sound yummy, cheap, & easy. I think I can do that! & I can't imagine how anyone couldn't like those bars! I handed a little bit of my PB&J one to a girl at school today going "It's delicious!! It tastes just like a peanut butter & jelly sandwich!" & she just went "This is gross, & you are deprived", hahaha. I think we gfree kids just adapt better than others.

 

Mama2alex ~ I LOVE tomatoes, but only from the Farmer's Market down the street. I hate to be "that" girl but I swear storebought ones just taste different! Do you have any tips for boiling eggs though? Everytime I try they just fall to bits when I try to peel them.

 

Thanks Emerson....I'm going to buy the PB&J Lara just on your recommendation for them to try. I don't think we tried that flavor.

 

Barge on reply to Mama2alex....I learned this tip from Julia Child for boiling eggs and I think it works every time! I don't do everything she says to do here because I'm too impatient so sometimes they are hard to peel. Her suggestions really do help with that. Mostly I do the boil the water, turn off and leave eggs in for 17 minutes. That gets them cooked inside perfectly.

 

http://www.recipesource.com/main-dishes/eggs/01/rec0137.html

 

PS... I'm a home grown tomato girl too. I won't eat store bought tomatoes except on tacos.

[matis_mom]

For perfect brown rice, just make sure you put 1 part rice, a bit less than two parts water.

If you can, saute the rice in oil or butter first, then add the water. Let it boil uncovered for about 10 minutes, then reduce and simmer covered for another 30 minutes. If you can use stock instead of water is even yummier. If you can use butter, add tons of it and salt to taste. It does take about 40 minutes to cook, but you can make a big batch and save it in individual servings.

[pixiesmommy]

For boiling eggs- you need older eggs, so if you are trying to boil ones from the farmer's market, they are probably "too fresh"- believe it or not!

 

Here is a link to our lunchbox ideas for you:

 

http://chickiepea.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/lunchbox-packing-time/

 

 

Here is a link to some containers for salad dressing:

http://www.reuseit.com/store/humangear-gotoob-mini-reusable-container-p-2259.html

 

Are you vegetarian too? Sorry, I can't remember.

[EmersonAilidh]

Suzan, Mati's Mom, & PixiesMommy ~ Thank you thank you thank you!!! You are all so helpful. All of this reminds me of my post from the summer about my rage attack following a failed fried egg & how everyone joined together to teach me to cook an egg over the internet.