Thursday, September 2, 2010

Snacks for the Lunchbox - Roundup

American school bus

Here in the Northeast, school will be back in session next week – right after Labor Day. In other parts of the country school has already started. And, of course, when school starts, Allergy Moms across the country are faced with the dreaded lunch box.

We are always looking for ideas to send in our child’s lunch bag for snack or a treat with lunch, so I thought it would be a good idea to share some allergen-free snack ideas. Here goes…

Free of the top eight food allergens and gluten-free:

Enjoy Life Boom Choco Boom – chocolate bars in dark chocolate, and chocolate crispy-rice. These will melt, so save them for when the temperatures are a little cooler.

Ener-G Wylde Pretzels – these now come in snack sizes. Look for the Wylde name to ensure you get the soy-free version.

Olive Corn Chips – by Foods Should Taste Good. Put a handful in a baggy for lunch.

Enjoy Life Cookies – come in lots of flavors including apple and chocolate brownie. If you’re lucky you can find the snack packs in your store, otherwise stash a few in a baggie.

Allergen-free ingredients but contain contamination warnings:

No Nuttin’ Granola Bars – in both chocolate chip and chocolate chunk flavors. (Contain soy lecithin, and they do process soybeans in their factory)

Nature’s Path Sunny Hemp Bars – a great nutritious sweet snack. They do contain soy oil and are processed in a facility that processes dairy, peanuts, and tree nuts.

Not quite perfect but worth mentioning:

Larabar Snack Bars – are really great snacks for those who aren’t allergic to nuts. Most flavors contain tree nuts. The peanut bar is made in a separate facility.

Newman O’s – in the dairy-free wheat-free package (look for the blue label). These are free of the top eight allergens, but are not gluten-free. They contain barley flour. They are processed in a facility that processes nuts.

Ingredients do change, so please – always check the labels each time you buy a product!

What’s your favorite allergen-free snack for the lunch box? Please add your ideas here (and feel free to add a link if you’ve done a review).

Photo By freefotouk Ian Britton

8 comments:

Five Bunnies said...

Here is a recipe for some gluten free thumb print cookies from my blog :) I like your blog. Food allergies are an important topic! Fivebunnies.blogspot.com

Colette said...

Five Bunnies (love your name!) - thanks for sharing!

Egg-Free Epicurean said...

Coming soon...cookies and dessert bars that are egg-free, peanut-free, and tree nut-free. (Shopping cart under construction)

Colette said...

Egg-free Epicurean - thanks for sharing! Please let me know when your site is up!

Tali212 said...

I just found your site while searching for a pizza dough my 16 month old son can eat. He has 7 of the top 8 food allergies (he was allowed back on soy recently). I just want to say a huge THANK YOU. Your blog is exactly what I have been looking for for months. I just bookmarked you, Again Thank you.

Colette said...

Tali212, I am so glad you found me!

StephanieC said...

Enjoy Life's trail mix "Mountain Mambo" is pretty good if you can have seeds. It has their dairy-free chocolate chips (which is obviously my favourite part!).

Not sure if little kids would enjoy trail mix as much, though.

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/our_foods/trail_mixes/not_nuts.html

Colette said...

StephanieC - thanks for the suggestion. I am going to have to try those. Yup -- the chocolate chips would make them a great choice in my house too!