Help with Peanut Free Lunches

Get sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds) instead of peanut butter. It tastes really good and he will quickly adjust. We get one that is made in a totally nut free facility, so it's definitely safe for a no peanut school. I get it at the regular supermarket.

I don't know about regular stores, but Trader Joes or things like that carry different nut spreads. Almond butter, cashew butter, and hazelnut butter. If the school is PEANUT free and not totally nut-free, one of them might work.

I choose to not allow a school to mandate what I feed my kids. They don't really have the legal right to do so and if anyone complains they can't do it.

If they do it for a child that has a peanut allergy they have to take out every possible allergen producing food, supply, craft item, etc...that might effect another child so it will never be enough.

A child that is allergic to citrus would make the school stop using anything that had citric acid in it, a person allergic to fish would be able to stop them from ever serving fish sticks again.

A person with a dairy allergy would be able to make them stop serving pizza, pudding, cheese, milk, etc...

The point of this is that it would never end. Each and every child that is allergic to anything is forcing another person to change their own way of living to accommodate them and that is wrong.

These kids with nut allergies can come in contact with peanuts or other nuts at Walmart, at the convenience store, at the movies, in their friends car, each and every place they go they run the risk of touching a handle or door knob where someone eating a peanut butter cookie just touched that door knob. They run the risk of touching the cart where someone might have been standing in line eating a PayDay candy bar and having a life threatening reaction.

So, I would tell the school no thank you, that their telling me what my child could or could not eat is unconstitutional and discriminatory and I would not be allowing them to do that.

I am allergic to tree nuts and they are in everything from candy to pie to cereal. I cannot get away from them BUT I would never tell someone they can't eat what they want. It's not their job to manage my allergy it's my job to make sure that I am protected and able to manage a reaction.

Cream cheese and jelly is one good alternative.

Food bans give a false sense of security.
No public place can be as allergen free as some of these kids need them to be.

Sunbutter!! My son likes it as a sub for pb in a pb&j. I have tried it, it is pretty tasty! Soy butter is another option, but neither of us liked the taste as much as the sunbutter. You will want to put the jar's "nut-free" label in the lunchbox so his sandwich does not get confiscated! I try to pack 1 fruit, 1 veggie, 2 protein, 1 carb. I was driving myself nuts trying to figure out what to do...then decided to bring my son to the store! I had him pick out 2-3 different veggies, 2-3 different fruits, so he has some variety through the week. For protein I either do a quesadilla with some salsa to dip, a sunbutter and jelly tortilla or sandwich, veggie "meat" sandwich, etc, and then a second protein that may be a cheese stick, yogurt tube, or cream cheese or hummus to use as a dip. The tortilla or bread usually counts as the carb, but sometimes I will add pretzels or pita chips to dip in the hummus/cream cheese. Sometimes I will use an element of last night's dinner, like beans and/or taco "meat" and cheese burrito, pizza slice, tortellini turned into a pasta salad, etc. (Oh yeah, we're vegetarian, not suggesting that you should follow the same ingredients, go ahead and take those quotes off "meat" for your purposes :) :)

I would probably look for another nut spread and just use his favorite jelly. He probably won't even notice the difference.

Well I'm sure he doesn't eat PB & J for breakfast, lunch and dinner right?
Just pack whatever else he likes.
If he's not big on sandwiches there's a hundred other options: pasta (pesto, spaghetti, lasagna, raviolis) fried or grilled chicken, pizza, fried rice, sushi, hard boiled eggs, cheese/crackers/fruit, soup, burritos (scrambled egg breakfast burritos if he doesn't like beans) I could go on but you get the idea :)

Looking forward to your answers. My son also eats pb&j every day for lunch. His school does allow peanuts, but since his best buddy is allergic, he wouldn't be able to sit by him if he brings peanut butter.

Gramma G., your attitude frightens me. My child has a peanut and tree nut allergy. We went from a nut free daycare to a non nut free school. His friend, as well as the class teacher also had the allergy. We asked the parents in his class to not send in items with peanuts. Yet every day parents would send in snacks for birthdays that my child couldn't eat and the teacher couldn't serve. Every day at lunch, my son had to sit at a different table because someone had brought peanut butter sandwiches.
I'm sorry, but my son's overall health and possible breathing, outweighs your childs wants. My son should suffer a hives attack just so your child can have the lunch he wants? What about my son's want to go to school and come home the same way? Why can't your child wait until his at home for his afternoon snack for that?

As for out in public, yes, we are ALWAYS on alert. My son has only been to 1 baseball game because of the peanuts. The stadium last year dedicated a small 'nut free' section so that people wouldn't worry. Yet there was such OUTRAGE. I don't understand that. The stadium didn't stop selling nuts, just created a 'free zone' and yet people started yelling about THEIR rights being stepped on ...

To any parent that feels their child's right to Peanut Butter outweighs a schools right to block nuts. How will you feel when a child is seriously injured or dies (does happen) all because your kid wanted a certain lunch and you have a protected right to provide that? Are you going to be like the parent who was told no PB&J because of a student that had an airborne allergy, and had his kid sneak a PB&J into lunch? That parent faced criminal charges.

As to answer the original question.
Chicken nuggets
Chicken strips
Wraps
Bagel and cream cheese
Cheese sandwiches
Cream cheese and jelly sandwiches
Mac-n-cheese in a thermos
Vienna sausages

Have your tried quesadillas? My kids had PB&J's forever, it seemed, and finally got tired of them and asked for something else. At first, we just used cheese, cut them into pie pieces, put them in sandwich bags, several days worth, and they took them like that. When the weather got cold, I added ham and they loved that. In fact, I had to hide them in the back of the frig so they wouldn't eat too many at a time that I had made for their lunches.

Try them and see if he likes them.

I will add that I agree with Gamma, though, about not bowing to the school on this issue. My kids got tired of peanut butter. I did not choose to stop giving them the sandwiches when kids were asked not to bring them. My kids were not the only ones who brought them, and there was a nut free table. I told them to wash their hands and face with the wipey I provided. To me, that was enough. Like Gamma says, there are SO many allergies - how can you cover them all? No one would eat!

Anyway, the quesadillas were a welcome change. Hope they work for your son!

Dawn

Go to your local deli & order ham, turkey, cheese, whatever he will eat, in thick slices about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. When you get them home, slice the pieces into strips. you can bag some of the strips with a small container of a favorite dressing or mustard. You can also pack strips of celery, baby carrots, etc.
Give him the pb&j when he comes home from school as a snack.

There's a 'Nut Free' Peanut butter, with roasted peas or roasted soy. It's pretty tasty. Available at most stores next to the Peanut Butter

Possible sandwich/wrap fillings:
Add a leaf of Romaine lettuce and Mayo
Turkey
Salami
Ham
Roast Beef
Cheese

Other options:
Butter & Jam
Hummus & Naan bread
Pizza
Pot stickers
Roasted Chicken leg
Crackers, Cheese & Olives
Veggies & Cheese
Fruit

Your son could have a PB& before or after school as breakfast or an after school snack

A jelly-only sandwich (no peanut butter). I like the cream cheese and jelly answer.

Thermos brand keeps stuff warm. So my son has easy Mac, spaghettios and chicken nuggets in it. And I have him buy once a week. My son doesn't like bread so we also do roll ups of deli meat and cheese with an ice pack in lunch box. Since its not all the healthiest he also has a fruit everyday too. He has very healthy breakfasts and snacks at home so I figure what he wants for lunch that is peanut free is ok.

The answers are interesting! They give me some lunch ideas for when my grandchildren visit, although they like peanut butter best. And, since your house is NOT peanut-free, your son can have PB&J for his after-school snack every day if you want to give it to him!

While I agree that one cannot ban all allergens in a school, I'm more sympathetic to this one. My younger son went through elementary and high school with a friend who, along with his brother, was violently allergic to peanuts. If some other kid ate peanut butter at his/her desk at lunchtime, and didn't clean up the desk *thoroughly* afterwards, and this boy accidentally touched peanut oil residue on that desk, he ended up in the hospital. So we mamas were working out peanut-free lunches, snacks, birthday treats, and all that, long before the issue became a school standard.

Butter and Jelly.
Or anything else he will, eat.
Even left overs, or breakfast food.
I see all kinds of lunches at my kids' school, where I work. Which is a peanut and tree nut free school.
The main thing is that the child has something they will eat. Albeit not junk food.