My kids love to roll their own sushi. Check out this video to see my 10 year old in action! We frequently make these with egg, but for this series, we've got carrot, lettuce, avocado and either brown rice or rice noodles. There's coconut aminos - a great soy sauce substitute - for dipping, plus some chickpeas seasoned with gomasio. Naturally, if you have a sesame allergy (rates of that are on the rise), just eliminate the gomasio. All of that plus strawberries, kiwi, raspberries and some gummy peaches which are free of the top 8.
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #3
Everyone loves Taco Tuesday!
This lunch has a corn tortilla with ground meat (here we have beef, but you can use any ground meat), chopped tomatoes and lettuce for some DIY fun. I seasoned the meat with some homemade taco seasoning using this recipe. I've left the avocado as is, because my little one likes to scoop it with a spoon, but you can easily mash it for your kids to use as guacamole. Make sure to squeeze fresh lemon or lime juice on it to prevent browning. This lunch also has popcorn and apple slices.
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #2
Here's a colorful lunch that's filling and balanced! We have roasted sweet potato slices (slice a sweet potato, drizzle with olive oil and roast in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes), plus grapes, apple, dried coconut, sliced ham (I use Applegate ham, which is free of dairy, gluten and casein, but of course any meat will do here), and rice noodles with tomato, broccoli, olive oil and nutritional yeast.
Nutritional yeast is kind of amazing. It adds a boost of savory flavor (kind of like cheese) but it's vegan. Be sure to read the label to make sure that your nutritional yeast is not made from whey. Here's the one I use. I cooked and drained the rice noodles, and then sauteed some chopped tomato and broccoli in olive oil. After about a minute, I added the rice noodles and stirred to make sure the ingredients were evenly distributed. I added a tablespoon of nutritional yeast, gave it a final stir and that was that - it took all of 5 minutes!
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #1
This lunch couldn't be more simple and the best part is, it's easy to pack quickly. I'm a fan of packing lunches at night because mornings are hectic around here. But this lunch can quickly come together in the morning rush if need be.
Here we've got sunflower seed butter (you can even make your own with this recipe) with apples for dipping - which most kids love to do, plus steamed broccolini (any leftover veggie from dinner will work!), popcorn, a "tuxedo banana" and a sticker for some added lunchtime fun.
To make that tuxedo banana, just carve out a V in the peel, and add three (non dairy) chocolate chips for the buttons. This is a huge hit with my kids. We've manually added this to the LaLa Lunchbox food library (and you can too - find out how here).
Here's another bit of news: today we've made the Dairy Free lunch bundle FREE inside of the LaLa Lunchbox app. We've never done that before so go ahead and snag that one today!
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunches
When I was pregnant for the first time (2005-6), I read the alarming data that if one parent has allergies, a child's inherited risk is between 30-50%, but if both parents have allergies, that number increases to 80%! I've got anaphylactic allergies to certain tree nuts and all fish and my husband is allergic to stone fruit, though he doesn't have anaphylaxis. My allergies have played a defining role in my life. They impacted where I played as a kid, where I went to camp, even who my parents socialized with to some extent (allergy deniers - yes, they existed back then - fell by the wayside). I watched my parents assume the position of grizzly bear while talking to waiters in restaurants. I learned to read labels and to ask questions before taking a bite. I learned how to use the epi pen by myself and to take enough Benadryl to avoid a secondary reaction. In many ways, having life threatening allergies has made me stronger. Tougher. More educated. But it's not something I wanted to pass down to my children.
My youngest (4) has not yet tried the foods that I'm allergic to, but mostly that's because I can't be near them and I can't serve them to her. She has a mild allergy to berries (hives) and cow dairy (a rash) but in the grand scheme of things given my reality, that's very manageable. I guess I've been too nervous to find a way to expose her to nuts and fish, so I really don't know if she has an allergy to those, but in time, my husband will do so. Fingers crossed. My kids have all seen what happens to me when I accidentally have an allergic reaction and while it's not often, frankly it's enough drama for our family of 5.
My heart goes out to parents who manage food allergies for their children. I was the focus of that fear as a kid and when I became a parent, I understood the other side in a whole new light. Today, there are supportive communities and helpful, widely available information that enables families to get stronger, tougher and inspired together.
According to FARE, (Food Allergy Research and Education), though any food is capable of causing an allergic reaction, there are eight foods that cause the majority of reactions. These foods are:
* Peanut
* Tree nuts
* Milk
* Egg
* Wheat
* Soy
* Fish
* Shellfish
These 8 foods (often called the Top 8) are the cause of 90% of all food allergic reactions. I love this article from Eating With Food Allergies which has handy information on each of the allergens and great strategies for how to avoid them.
I've created a series of Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunches to showcase how families can get creative with lunch packing even while managing the top 8 most common allergens. Click the links below (I'll add more every day this week) to find options that are healthy, delicious and colorful but most importantly, safe. They're simple and straightforward. They've got tips and recipes to make things easier. Feel free to comment on any of these on our Instagram feed and let me know if you've recreated one (or part of one) by using the hashtag #lalalunchboxtop8. And of course, drop me a line if you have any questions.
- Gillian
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #1
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #2
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #3
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #4
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #5
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #6
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #7
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #8
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #9
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #10
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #11
Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #12
You might like:
Here's what it feels like (for me, at least) to have an anaphylactic allergic reaction.
Here's why involving kids in meal planning is best
Recently we launched new dietary specific bundles in the LaLa Lunchbox app (which you can download for free via iTunes!) with allergic folks in mind!