5 Days of Gluten-Free Nut-Free School Lunches

This was a week of favorite hits! With lunch ideas from MOMables paired with popular dinner leftovers, both my girls were fans of these school (and home) lunches!

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DIY Ham and Cheese Cracker Stackers

Z's lunch: Organic plum and carrots, GF crackers, uncured ham, goat cheese

Monday, 9/15/14 - Build-your-own MOMables Cracker Stackers are always popular with my 1st grader. Ham and cheese are two of her favorite foods, and any lunch designed to let her choose how to eat it is always a surefire hit!

Toddler Basics

E's lunch: GF crackers, hard-boiled egg; organic carrots, tomatoes, plum

My little one wasn't eating ham or cheese very often back then, and never stacked them on the crackers anyway, so she got a hard-boiled egg instead.

Simple Leftovers

Z's lunch: leftover GF noodles with goat cheddar, organic grapes, organic roasted potatoes

Tuesday, 9/16/14 - Dinner the night before was something with noodles, and they usually choose to eat theirs plain or with cheese. So I tossed some goat cheddar and salt on the leftover noodles for lunch. Yum!  

(No packed lunch for E. She and I went out to eat...)

Leftover Pulled Pork

Z's lunch: leftover brown rice and pulled pork, organic carrots and grapes

 

Wednesday, 9/17/14 - Both my girls love the Kahlua Pork from a nearby Hawaiian place where E and I went to lunch once a week or so after her Little Gym class. So if I managed to hide the leftovers well enough from Dadda, the girls would get some for lunch!

E's lunch: leftover brown rice and pulled pork, organic tomatoes and grapes

 

Same thing, but in a smaller serving for Little Sis!

Leftover Sausage Cracker Stackers

Z's lunch: leftover pineapple-bacon sausage, GF crackers, organic carrots and grapes

 

Thursday, 9/18/14 - Both girls love these bacon-pineapple sausages we discovered at Costco a while ago. They could eat these all day long! So when Hubby cooks up a batch for dinner, I have him make an extra for the girls to share for lunch!

E's lunch: leftover pineapple-bacon sausage and brown rice, organic grapes and carrots

 

I still had some rice left from the pulled pork, so my little one got that instead of the crackers, which she hadn't eaten in Monday's lunch.

Gluten-Free Bagel Pizzable

Z's lunch: toasted GF everything bagel thin, pizza sauce, olives, goat cheddar, organic grapes and carrots

 

Friday, 9/19/14 -  A MOMables Pizzable is always a hit. Having more control over how they eat their lunch is very empowering for any child! Plus "making a pizza" is fun!
I found these everything-flavor bagel thins at a gluten-free grocery nearby-ish, and they are soooo goooood! Definitely a good call for a DIY Pizzable lunch, especially when toasted up a bit first!

E's lunch: toasted GF everything bagel thin with pizza sauce, GF crackers, goat cheddar, olives, organic carrots and grapes

I didn't trust my toddler with loose pizza sauce, so I pre-spread some on her bagel-thin piece (I ate the other quarter of the bagel! Nom nom!) She had fun decorating her own pizza and crackers.

Tools of the Trade

     

Since you get to see the lunches she BRINGS to school each day, I figured I'd give you a peek at Z's actual school!

Z goes to a Montessori private school that does preschool through middle school. They have a variety of pets in the different classrooms and some farm animals out in the field to help the students learn compassion and awareness for the needs of something other than themselves, and to use practical life skills to care for the animals.
Z loves to feed the goats, who are quite greedy social when people come to the fence. We save our carrot greens and wilting lettuces and such to feed them after school when we can. Chrissy here is Z's favorite. Z loves the animals (and E loves getting to see them when we pick her sister up in the afternoons,) but she is disappointed that she isn't in the other 1st-3rd classroom with the kitties. Her class pets are a turtle and some beetles (which she is nonetheless delighted by, and makes me come and meet them every time I'm in there!)