Lunch Box Ideas for Celiac Kids and Kids with Allergies

Looking for lunch time solutions at school for your celiac child?

Celiac kids have special needs in the school cafeteria. Most teachers and classmates are dangerously unaware of the dangers of cross contamination for celiac kids and kids with food allergies. Parents of celiac kids are fully aware that the slightest exposure to gluten can cause a host of celiac related symptoms in their child.

When fall is just around the corner, if you are a parent of a food intolerant child like me, anxiety starts to build. Your friends and neighbors scurry around trying to get supplies, clothes, registration, books, and shoes for their kids at the last minute. The last thing on most parents’ minds is the lunch box. But your situation is different because your child has a celiac diagnosis. So what can you do to make lunch in the cafeteria an easy, safe experience for your celiac child?

A child with a celiac diagnosis, or one with dangerous food allergies has special needs

We parents in the celiac community or a similar food allergy network have a whole set of additional concerns that go above and beyond whether or not our child finishes the sandwich we packed.

The first priority for parents in the celiac community is safety. This is best accomplished with a section 504 plan. Parents with a new celiac diagnosis should inform the principal and school nurse in writing and request a meeting to draw up a section 504 plan for their child outlining specific special dietary needs. As part of this plan parents should educate the teachers and lunchroom staff about their celiac child’s need for a clean lunch area that is safe from cross contamination. This is best done by providing a detailed letter at the start of the school year.

The second priority for parents in the celiac community is a visual reminder of that safety plan. It is especially important for pre-k through grade 2 celiac kids and kids with food allergies to have visusal reminders at the lunch table every day. This will help classmates and lunchroom supervisors remember the safety rules they learned at the beginning of the year. Often kids that young are not yet mature enough to understand the dangers of gluten cross contamination. Several allergy safety companies have products available for families with celiac kids and kids with food allergies. There are also companies that sell products that are very handy for kids who are not eating a regular sandwich in a plastic ziploc bag.

Here are a few cute items I’ve recently run across for celiac kids cafeteria lunches at school:

Parents of small children with gluten intolerance might like the Silly Yak Pack, which is designed especially for kids with a celiac diagnosis. It has convenient labeling right on the bag so that watchful lunch room volunteers will have a daily visual reminder to keep an eye on your small one while he is eating.

Small kids with multiple food allergies need a box with good visual labeling to help avoid mistakes in the lunch room. Kidsaware.com, based in the U.K., has a handy box for a bargain price that fits the need beautifully. This organization also sells wristbands, labels, shirts, and a variety of other useful items to make people aware that offering food to your child is potentially dangerous. For those on the other side of the Atlantic, Kids with Food Allergies, based in the U.S. also sells apparel that informs others your child should not be offered food.

Recommended Reading: Read our Healthy-Family review of Cilie Yack is Under Attack and the Cilie Yack Sous Club for Kids.  The club is just for kids with an allergy to gluten, they offer materials for parents to help them create allergy support groups in their own area. So if you have a child allergic to one of the top eight allergens and you are looking for food allergy help, take a look at all they have to offer.

Proper allergy warnings aside, packing lunch for the gluten and/or casein-free kid may be tricky. Often times the many plastic containers you pick up at the store are bulky and awkward to open, especially for little kids. The Japanese Bento Box is a great alternative for celiac kids. In Japan, traditionally half of the box will consist of rice and the rest will be made up of side dishes– vegetables, meat, egg dishes, etc. Fruit dishes are considered the ‘dessert’ item, and an easy, all natural gluten-free choice. Most Japanese moms pack the bento boxes while they are preparing the family dinner the night before. They choose items that would preserve nicely and as a result make their morning a little less hectic. We actually do this in our house as well. Two of our favorite food items are raw carrots and sliced apples (tossed in lemon juice so they don’t brown up).

If you are interested in using a Bento box for your child with celiac disease, take an all-around peek at everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know about the Japanese Bento Box; visit the Japanese American National Museum Kids Bento Box website with your youngster.  Another cute place to check out Bento box lunch ideas is Jennifer Laycock’s Bentoyum blog. There you will find scads of lunch box ideas and beautiful photos that will inspire your creative side.

If you are looking to purchase a Bento box for your child, check out these sites for the best deals and cutest designs:

• Biggie’s Lunch in a box’s Amazon Store (San Francisco based) sells Totoro, Snoopy and Hello Kitty Bento Boxes for sale. Her blog also contains tips, recipes, and a nice Blogroll of helpful Bento related links.

• Lunchboxes.com also has the simple yet trendy Bento Box featured on the Rachael Ray Show. They also carry a variety of other suitable lunch containers for the average kid: Metal, Plastic, and Insulated lunch boxes are available and offer a variety of cartoon and pop culture themes. Accessories like the princess or Spiderman plastic ware are available for purchase as well.

Another place to check out for allergy specific products is My Precious Kid. They offer personalized waterproof labels that list up to four allergens. These are great for daycare, the first few weeks in the lunch room, field trips, class parties, and any other occasion where food might be offered to your small child while you are away.

NOTE: We’d like to encourage our readers to post their ideas and solutions for additional safe lunchtime eating in the school cafeteria, too.