mommydama | (no subject)

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?

Threaded | Flat

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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