The two-page list of day camp supplies wasn’t daunting, except a week’s worth of peanut-free kid’s sack lunches. Each had to:
- Last through a morning without refrigeration
- Fuel an active child through the afternoon
- Be tempting enough to actually eat
- Not be “smushed”
- Not look “weird” to other kids
- Be safe for peanut allergy campers
Children lunch challenge
Our kids, ages 11, 10 and 6, are participating in sports, outdoors, craft and church camps this summer. They don’t have nut allergies and they’re not picky eaters, but the children lunch challenge had me researching options. The best sack lunch ideas:
Cool it
Invest in a soft-sided lunch tote with a reusable ice pack. It isn’t the same as a refrigerator, but it gets the lunch through the morning without spoiled mayo, dip or cheese.
The new bread
Bagels hold up better than bread. Or build a roll-up with a flour tortilla: spread on SunButter with jam, roll it up, then roll in tinfoil. Or use cream cheese (holds it together better than butter or mayo), with any combination of meat, cheese or veggies.
Shape up
Use little cookie cutters to make your own “lunchables:” meats, cheeses and bread or just add crackers. Hard cheeses hold up better. A fav: Last night’s meatloaf cut into star shapes. I also bought these mini cookie cutters in camp-related shapes like an oar, fish and fire.
Rethink “sandwich”
Try this sandwich from lifestyle and food columnist Sherrie Le Masurier:
Almond butter, banana & sprouts on a bun
This lunch idea may sound a little out there but it really is a great combination of tastes and textures. Spread almond butter (or SunButter®) on a hot dog bun. Wrap up. Send along a small banana and some alfalfa or bean sprouts (both are equally delicious) in a small plastic bag or container. At lunch time, have your child place the banana on the bun and top with sprouts.
4 more summer camp lunch ideas from Sherrie
Take a dip
One of the 6-year-olds favorites was all sticks for lunch: pretzel sticks, carrot sticks, celery sticks, cheese sticks and little bread sticks with SunButter for dipping.
Oodles of noodles
Make a cold pasta salad with their favorite noodles, a bit of SunButter® and their favorite chunks of veggies, cheese, meat and whatever else you mix in.
And possibly the most important thing:
Get a night life
Pack the lunches the night before for happier campers each morning.
We’d love to hear your summer camp lunch tips. What works for you and your children?
Releated posts:
Food can be fun for children with food allergies
Food is fuel. Food is also fun! One of our weekly highlights is seeing photos of what Keeley McGuire packs in fun bento lunches for her lucky daughter, who also happens to have a peanut allergy. We’re proud Keeley shares her story here, and we love watching her daughter thrive. Thanks, Keeley! Look at this lunch: My name is Keeley and I have a little site called Keeley McGuire Blog. When I started blogging last year, I didn’t really know what direction I was headed – I just knew I needed a creative outlet. I started sharing some crafts, recipes, my love affair with my crockpot, and what I called “silly sandwiches” for my daughter, aka Little Miss. If you’re a mom looking to spice up your kiddos’ lunches, start simple. Use a cookie cutter on the sandwich! It takes the same amount of effort to cut a sandwich into a fun shape with a cookie cutter as it does to cut it in half. Then, get as clever as you’d like.
School lunch ideas from SunButter
We gathered creations and tips focused on healthy yet affordable foods that your students won’t trade away—and will fuel them through the rest of their day. Peanut butter is a cornerstone of kids’ school lunch ideas, but more and more schools are becoming nut-free to keep all kids safe. Other schools have a dedicated nut-free table in their lunchrooms. Solution: SunButter. It’s made solely from sunflower seeds in a totally nut-free facility. Yet it looks and acts like peanut butter. It also tastes great.
“Is your lunch packed?” It’s the morning-rush question, and here’s a fresh answer: a pre-packed lunch alternative, reviewed as a healthy Lunchables alternative at The Family Kitchen blog.
Guest Blogger: Back to School with SunButter
We’re grateful when parents of kids with allergies tell us how SunButter® helps them. Jenny is the mother of two girls, a freelance writer and the author of “The Nut-Free Mom” blog, where she writes about parenting with nut allergies. SunButter® makes school lunch fun again It’s back-to-school time and like every other mother of an elementary school child, I’m asking myself what to pack for lunch. And since I’m the mother of a child with severe peanut and tree nut allergies, I’ve had to be creative at lunchtime. This isn’t always easy with a busy schedule. While I’ve done my best to offer non-peanut butter lunch alternatives (all kinds of deli products for sandwiches, pasta salad, veggies and yogurt dip, etc.), sometimes I’ve found myself wishing I could turn to peanut butter. Of course, that’s not an option for us.
Guest Blogger: My Family’s Allergy Journey
We’ve heard hundreds of stories from parents of kids with allergies who are grateful for SunButter. We are thankful to them for sharing their stores. Patti is one of SunButter’s biggest fans, always developing creative peanut-free snacks and recipes. She grew up savoring peanut butter fudge at the holidays and peanut butter cookies after school. She loves to cook and bake, which has served her family well in their nut-free journey. And she is a daycare provider to other children. We’re impressed at Patti’s determination and creativity and we wanted to share her story in her own words. Thanks, Patti! I love SunButter. I love the smell of it, the taste of it, cooking with it, and the smile that it produces on my children’s faces. I love the feeling of normalcy that it gives, knowing that my family can taste something very similar to a treat that we used to love. It was quite a journey to find it, but well worth it.
Tags: allergy-free, gluten-free, peanut butter allergies, peanut butter allergy, peanut butter alternative, peanut nut allergy, peanut-free, SunButter, SunButter nutrition, sunflower seed spread
