The Lunch Box Post
Last week I wrote a little about having a growing teenage boy in his 13th year of dealing with multiple, life-threatening food allergies.
I decided to write a practical post that's kind of the "inside baseball" of "What do you even feed him?"
Mostly, I did this because when I first received that long list of foods to avoid, I wondered, "What else is there?" and good friends put me in contact with friends of friends in our position who gave me the play by play of their daily menus. I NEEDED that. When we first received Moses' cancer diagnosis a few years later, I scoured the internet for answers, and with such a rare diagnosis, let me tell you it took awhile. But I found a blogger who'd been where we were, and she connected us to an online community that have become our advisors, cheerleaders and friends.
I love it when God gives me the opportunity to pay it forward but providing some practical advice that took me quite a few years to figure out.
If some desperate mama found this by chance because they're in the position we were 12 years ago, trying to figure out, "Can you live on just baked potatoes?" as we once were, then this is especially for you.
But maybe you're curious, or maybe you are trying to navigate school lunches around a picky eater or a lot of school restrictions and this can help you out a little too.
So here it goes...
First, we have to get over that packed lunch = sandwich. Mo has exactly two kinds of bread on the market he can even eat, and they taste kind of like cardboard, unless you do some crazy stuff like first steam it, then toast it, then say five hail marries and rub your head while patting your stomach. Seriously. Gluten free waffles "work" but they tend to get soggy OR hard if that's even possible, when left in a lunch box. And, the closest thing to peanut-butter like substance he can eat is Oat Haus granola butter, which we just discovered about six months ago. And while it is delicious and safe it is also EXPENSIVE.
So...95% of days we pack Moses a "hot" lunch.
First, I found this style of Stanley thermos at Target. https://a.co/d/cKPot6y
It's smart to have a spare. Our "spare" is actually just a cheaper Avengers one he's had a few years. But obviously, Stanley is pretty much always superior in every way.
About 10-15 minutes before packing lunch I start my electric tea kettle and then fill the Stanley with boiling hot water. DO NOT SEAL IT because you won't be able to reopen it until it cools down. I found out the hard way on a very busy day.
Quite a few things can go into the Stanley. Our most typical meal is rice with a meat and sauce.
There are a few options for rice...if you are more consistent with your meal planning and rice making (I struggle with getting rice just right), make a big batch for the week on Sunday night. BUT, if you're more like me, Costco sells a large container of microwavable sticky rice bowls at a decent price. Or, you can buy the single microwave portions (Uncle Ben's or something like that) at any grocery store.
Meat might be something that we have leftover. Sometimes I'll splurge and buy the "Kevin's" brand healthy microwave meals. Thai Curry and Cilantro Lime Chicken are our favorites. When I meal prep I'll freeze mini meat loafs, ground beef, or shredded pork or chicken to use.
Any time we make gluten free spaghetti, I cook enough to get at least one lunch that week out of it. This is VERY easy to stick in a thermos. If he weren't allergic, I'd definitely do Mac and Cheese regularly as well, but I'm real bad at getting the texture right on the vegan/gluten free version.
If the thermos isn't available, I find things that can be tightly wrapped in foil. Hamburger patties work well this way, as do sliced polish sausage or hot dogs. He definitely prefers the thermos though.
At least once a week we do "Bento box" or, as he calls it, snacks for lunch. These are already packaged up bags of popcorn, pepperoni or beef jerky, rolled lunch meat, applesauce, cut up fruits and veggies, chips with guacamole, Sweet Loren's breakfast biscuits or Made Good granola bites. Now with the newly discovered Oat Haus Granola Butter, he can also do sliced apples (with a little squirt of lime juice for freshness) dipped in the granola butter.
Snacks? Usually when he goes to a party he brings a package of gluten free oreos to share (because they're amazing), or popcorn. He usually has a package of plain old lays potato chips or ruffles with him. At "events" like festivals, shows, sports games, etc. he usually can order popcorn, cotton candy, or just a soda.
Dining out is it's own post entirely, but a short word about that. Years ago we found a template for dining cards to help when ordering out:
Food Allergy Chef Cards - FoodAllergy.org
We have had many servers thank us for all the time it saves them writing everything down, and having them carry that back to the chef relieves me of some of the fear of forgetting something myself or not speaking loudly and clearly in a noisy restaurant.
I'll never forget how hard this used to be. Putting away a cart of food at Sprouts in tears when I reread the fine print and realized his options were narrower than I realized. But, since then, we've somehow managed to pack lunches every single day for the past eight years of school. And he's hit milestones, managed fantastic grades, and finally made it onto the growth chart. Dr. C and I almost cried for joy together, I think...we've had a LONG road together!
Our newest challenge??? Our newest challenge? Adding foods that aren't "braces-safe" to the no list. We're still mourning the skittles and starbursts!
I know we're not the only people out there navigating the multiple, severe food allergy life. For other parents, what are some of your go-to tips and tricks?
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