5 New Nut Free School Lunch Ideas

Happy new school year my friends! I can't believe school is starting already, can you? Summer flew by for us. With a new baby (now 5 months old), going back to work, and just living life, I feel like summer totally got away from me! Well, with a new school year, comes a fresh opportunity to get creative with allergy-friendly school lunches! I named this post "Nut Free School Lunches", but really, they're dairy free, egg free, sesame free and of course tree nut free and peanut free -- all of Little Guy's allergens.

AND there's a fun theme to this lunch post, they're not only nut free and allergy-friendly, but they all include SunButter On the Go Single Cups.

If you've read this blog before, you know we truly eat SunButter every day in our family. We appreciate it as a safe and easy form of protein!

I find the SunButter On the Go Single Cups VERY useful for snacks and school lunches. They're easy to pop in a bag and GO (and when you have 3 kids, that's just what you need).

Here are our fun 5 New Nut Free School Lunch Ideas.


Thanks so much to SunButter for sponsoring this lunch post!

VEGAN and VEGETARIAN
This is "snacky" lunch box, filled with fruit, veggies, protein (dairy free cheese and SunButter), and a little fun with the blueberry muffins. The muffins came right out of the freezer. All I had to do with put everything in the box before school!

BREAKFAST FOR LUNCH - Round 1
We LOVE breakfast for lunch. Every time I make pancakes, I quadruple the recipe so I have extras to freeze. For school lunches I pop a few small pancakes out of the freezer, and microwave the bacon. My kids don't mind eating bacon OR pancakes cold! In the past I've also warmed up the pancakes slightly and wrapped them in foil. 

Tip - if you pack gluten free pancakes, they usually need to be warmed before eating since they get a little dry.

BREAKFAST FOR LUNCH - Round 2
I just cut up some toasted waffles into strips. They're great to dip in the SunButter with some apples. I also usually put the sausage in a thermos to keep it warm, but it was hard to see in the photo! I also sometimes send a little maple syrup as a treat!


HOT LUNCH
There are SO many hot lunch options you can send in a thermos like mac and cheese, chili, soup, etc.. Little Guy loves spaghetti and meatballs. Round it out with salad, and you have a good meal. I also like to send a little something sweet sometimes, and pictured here is a safe granola bar free of all his allergens, to dip in the SunButter...with a few chocolate chips of course!

Tip: Fill the thermos with hot water for a minute, then put in the hot food to keep it warm until lunch.

DELI LUNCH
And finally, I had to feature my favorite chicken salad in this lunch post. I've been obsessed with it all summer. As a nursing mama, I get VERY hungry, and this is a really healthy and easy form of protein. I make a big batch almost every week by boiling organic chicken, chopping in in the food processor, and mixing it with Veganaise, celery, onions and spices like thyme, parsley and sea salt. Perfect.

This is a colorful lunch with a good mix of protein, fruit, veggies, and a little sweet with graham crackers to dip in SunButter!

I hope this post helps you think "outside the sandwich" a little bit and inspires fun peanut-free and allergy-friendly lunches for school!

What's your favorite nut free lunch to pack and eat!?


Other SunButter On the Go posts you might like:

Healthy Nut Free Snack Ideas

Mason Jars and SunButter On the Go? Oh my!

6 Allergy-Friendly School Lunch Ideas and Giveaway

As a mama of a child with multiple food allergies, I find school lunches to be stressful. Little Guy can't buy lunch at school since he has allergies to dairy, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts and sesame. So, we pack lunch 5 days a week, every week.

This year, I knew kindergarten would be a whole new "ball game". I was stressed that I had to pack allergy-friendly school lunches that no one would reheat for him. It's doubly difficult since Little Guy has become somewhat PICKY.

I know, I know, he used to be my Brussels sprouts eating toddler. But things have changed. I can't really blame him. He hasn't had the chance to explore as many new foods as other kids. But I'm determined to get creative and keep trying new ideas. 

So far, I've found a bit of lunch success in:

1. Buying lunch supplies to help me get creative with allergy-friendly lunches. Things like these EasyLunchboxes (part of a fun GIVEAWAY you can enter below!), colorful silicone cupcake holders and character thermos have helped me brainstorm new lunch ideas.
2. Realizing he'll eat (and likes!) cold food. For example, he'll eat pizza cold!
3. Getting somewhat cute with his lunches. I know a few awesome mamas who make their child's lunch SO cute every day. I'm always amazed at their talent! However, I know with a full time job and 2 kiddos, I'm not going to make lunches as art projects every day. BUT I can make them just a little cute in a short amount of time. Cookie cutters and fun tools like Pick-Ease have helped me do this easily! (also part of this fun GIVEAWAY!)

In case you need a little lunch inspiration (I know I still like new ideas!) I thought I'd share 6 of our favorite allergy-friendly school lunches.

1. Nitrate free turkey, spinach and Earth Balance mayo sandwich (Don't judge me on the white bread, Little Guy is slowly accepting wheat bread more and more. If you ever told me I'd have a kid who eats white bread I'd call you crazy ;). Carrots, honeydew, pretzels and SunButter dip too!

2. Chicken salad sandwich made with Earth Balance mayo (we also love mayo-free avocado chicken salad), apple slices to dip in the Don't Go Nuts single dips. SkinnyPop popcorn mixed with SuperSeedz cinnamon pumpkin seeds. The awesome SoDelicious dairy free chocolate coconut milk on the side!

3. Nitrate free bacon (yes, Little Guy likes it cold!), vegan banana muffin, cantaloupe and half a banana (kept it in it's peel to stay fresh).

4. Nitrate free turkey rolled up on the Pick-Ease picks, cantaloupe, SoDelicious coconut yogurt, Ozery Bakery cinnamon raisin bread and juice box (although juice is high in sugar, we do 100% juice boxes occasionally!).

5. Dairy-free pizza (made with Daiya cheese), cantaloupe, peppers, carrots, homemade nut free granola bar (recipe here), and SoDelicious Chocolate Coconut Milk.

6. Spaghetti and egg-free Italian meatballs (made with hidden broccoli!) (recipe here), frozen peas and corn (he likes them cold!), applesauce and apple chips.

Here are some of the fun lunchbox supplies I'm currently using to make school lunches easy and fun!

    

    

GIVEAWAY

Okay, ready to win your own fun lunchbox supplies? One winner will receive:

• One Pick-Ease Play Pack (for either a boy or girl, your choice!)
• One EasyLunchbox container set
• One Easy Lunchbox lunch bag (winner can choose color)

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Enter the giveaway now!

Entry-Form

I received the awesome Pick-Ease Play Pack and EasyLunchboxes cooler bag and small containers to review for this post. Thank you to Pick-Ease and Easy Lunchboxes! All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.