(no subject)

[mommydama]

Zoe just threw a fit and sobbed for awhile because she doesn't want to go to preschool today. Oh goody. And today is the beginning of carpool so she will be asked to get out of the car and walk inside without mommy. I can hardly wait. Don't worry. I handled it correctly. She knows she's going anyway and is cheerfully eating lunch at the moment.

Okay, there is a child in both my girls classes who is allergic to nuts. They sent a note home telling us not to bring anything for snack that even MIGHT contain nuts. Each child bring their own snack and are not supposed to share or trade, but I'm guessing they just don't want to risk kids handing food containing nuts to someone who can't have it. I understand that. But do you know how many crackers and cereal bars and other such things say "may contain tree nuts" on the packaging? Since I don't want to send cheese with Luci (limiting dairy severely) and can't send anything that might have nuts in it, that really limits her snacks to fruit and veggies. Our staples of granola and cereal bars with whole grains in them (therefore, some protein) are no-nos apparently. She really needs some protein fairly often. I try to give her protein about every two to three hours to stave off meltdowns. What can I possibly give this child for protein that is a finger food, non-messy snack, that doesn't contain milk or nut products? Arg! She begged to take an oatmeal bar to snack today and some raisins. I hope it is okay. The packaging says "may contain TRACES of tree nuts". Is that too dangerous?

Comments

[corin13.livejournal.com]

Beef Jerky? lunch meat?
Sorry if you are a vegetarian. I couldn't remember.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

meats are definately an option, though I was nervous about it since they will be unrefridgerated for about two hours. Do you think thats okay?

Technically Wed and Fri (Luci goes to preschool MWF) are fast days (no meat or dairy) for us Orthodox Christians, but I'm not a real stickler for that with Luci. Yet.

[corin13.livejournal.com]

well jerky (and you can get organic or all natural kinds) does not need refrigeration.

You could also put the lunchmeat in a thermal lunchbox. My husband always did that for his meat sandwiches and they were fine.

[corin13.livejournal.com]

I just had another thought- sunflower seeds.

[ariellejuliana.livejournal.com]

Have you ever seen that baked marinated tofu or tempeh at the health food store? It's totally not like eating tofu, it's really yummy and much more solid, almost cheese consistency. I wonder if she would like that and some crackers?

Cut up tofu dogs? (Make sure to slice them lengthwise and not just in circles or else they are a choking hazard) Make some muffins (blueberry bran is REALLY good, and maybe she'd like that the muffins are purple) or breakfast bars? (Can Lucy have eggs? Trace amounts of dairy - like if you cooked with it?)

I'm trying to think of what we served at the day care. We had to work with all of those restrictions quite often, and our kids would also have a collective meltdown with no protein.

I MAKE granola all the time, and it's SO GOOD. If you made a batch, you could guarantee there was no traces of nuts. You could even make some with dried fruit and stuff in it.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

I'll look for it. They really want us to send stuff the kids can eat with their fingers that isn't too messy. No yogurt, pudding, jello containers they have to open or use a spoon. No dips. Just simple finger foods. But they also are big into healthy stuff, of course, so discourage cookies, fruit snacks, fruit roll-ups, etc. I just feel like the options are pretty narrow unless I bake a lot of stuff. I just need to do that. She LOVES blueberries (I've sent fresh ones for her), I'm sure she would love muffins. I need to find some good recipes for granola and bar type snacks. I've tried about five different granola recipes and none have been very good. Care to share one of yours?

[ariellejuliana.livejournal.com]

The way I usually make it, I kind of make it up from what I have in the jars in my kitchen. I mix oats (NOT quick oats), sesame seeds, coarsely chopped almonds, coconut flakes, wheat bran and germ, raisins, cranberries (or any dried fruit), sunflower seeds (love these in it)...and I can't remember what else. My mom has a whole hutch full of these blue glass jars full of all this stuff, and I just dump in whatever. The oats, raisins, sesame seeds, and coconut are always in there. Then I mix it in a giant bowl with honey and vegetable oil, and bake it until it's brown and toasted. Oh, and add the fruit AFTER baking, not before.

Obviously, some of that stuff won't fly with the "no nuts", but what about the seeds? Do the seeds count as nuts?

I think blueberry bran muffins would be a great solution, maybe with some apple slices or something. Or banana. My mom used to make these "energy bars" when we were kids - super healthy bars of oats and raisins and who knows what else. I'll see if there's a recipe somewhere.

That tofu or tempeh would be totally non-messy finger food. It's pretty solid stuff. You could even slice it into little squares like cheese slices. And I forgot about hummus - my daycare kids loved it as long as it wasn't too strong. I can give you a recipe for that too - if you lessened the tahina and garlic, it's much less strong (I make STRONG, Lebanese hummus, but I don't think your girls would like it :))

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Yes, Luci can have eggs and I do use dairy in cooking. I just don't often give her hunks of cheese to eat and never give her a glass of milk to drink. It is SO obvious when she's had something like that. I should really be limited wheat products too, because I'm sure she does better when I do. It just gets really hard.

[aelf.livejournal.com]

Out of curiousity, I did some googling for lists of "nut free snacks".
For protein, I'd probably do things like hummus, eggs, beans, fruits and veggies, crackers, breads w/things like apple butter or something.

http://www1.ocdsb.edu.on.ca/cbtrweb/nutsafe.html
http://www.salmonbay.seattleschools.org/snacklist.htm

are two of the first URLs that popped up. I'd also ask the teachers if they could get a list of suggestions from the nut-free families -- they've been doing this longer than you have and may have some wonderfully creative ideas.

I hope drop off went well!

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Drop off went fine! Weird kid.

[mimima.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain - while I totally understand and get why we don't send nuts to school, since it's not something I have to be aware of, it is difficult for me to think "no nuts" always.

[justamy.livejournal.com]

i think you should ask the TEACHERS to ask the nut-free kids PARENTS to send a list of appropriate nut-free snacks home with everyone. i totally get why you can't put nuts near this kid, but it's also a huge responsibility to drop on parents who aren't familiar with the issue. not only is it a lot of work for you, but you have no t been educated by his doctors the wyat his parents undoubtedly have. you can't be held responsible if something accidentally goes in there all nutty. :)
this is especially true if they also have health stipulations on snacks, as i know you do, too.
and luci is, essentially, allergic to dairy. so special accomodations need to be made for her, too, you know?

we have a few wheat free and nut free kids at school, and their parents send home lists with their classmates. it works beautifully.

[thais.livejournal.com]

Granola bars can't be that hard to make from bulk, maybe you could find a way to make your own? It's inconvenient but you could probably make a week or two's worth in advance.

[moobabe.livejournal.com]

How about something like this and maybe pop a little brewer's yeast in for protein. You can just leave out the nuts.