Dairy-free folks--give me your lunch ideas!

scatterbunny

New member
I'm trying to compile a recipe list so I can make up weekly menus and be better prepared to handle Hayley's dietary needs.

What do you all feed your kids for lunch on a regular basis?

We've cut out dairy as well as artificial colors, flavors and preservatives.
 
ADS

southpawboston

New member
we do a lot of PB&J sandwiches, using organic unsweetened preserves (which are sweet enough anyway) and organic PB.

organic hummus with bread

curried chick peas (yes she likes them, strangely!)

organic mushroom-filled raviolis
 

scatterbunny

New member
I do PB&J a lot, with homemade peanut butter, but I can't find organic unsweetened ANYTHING, believe it or not. The only organic jam/jelly around here is Cascadian Farm, and it is sweetened! So I buy Smuckers 100% Fruit jam, even though it's not organic, it's just pure fruit.

We can't stand hummus, and I tried two different kinds. :( I really wanted to like the stuff.
 

scatterbunny

New member
Oh, and what do you serve with the main lunch dish? Veggies/fruit? Cooked or raw?

Just looking for some new ideas! Hayley's so picky we tend to get stuck in a rut.
 

rlsadc

Senior Community Member
We can't stand hummus, and I tried two different kinds. :( I really wanted to like the stuff.

im with you here...i eat it occasionally when its in the fridge (which almost never happen) but i really want to like it...lol..a nice great healthy snack
 

cpsaddict

New member
im with you here...i eat it occasionally when its in the fridge (which almost never happen) but i really want to like it...lol..a nice great healthy snack


Oh, gosh, so with you there! I tried so hard to like hummus because it seems so healthy, but I just can't do it! :shrug-shoulders:
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
We make fancy salads -- with all kinds of veggies, fruits, nuts, goat cheese (it has a different protein than cow & that's what makes the difference for me/us) with just oil & vinegar, salt & pepper....

Other than that I stick to what I learned waitressing at the "hole in the wall Mexican" restaurant in Cali -- shredded meat with beans & homemade salsa: which includes almost every vegetable possible (very colorful, LOL) + avacado & lemon juice....

These are our most basic meals, but I'm hypoglycemic, too, so we do quite a bit of pasta & bread as well since for some reason I can only find potatos in HUGE sacks & they gross me out when they start growing "eyes" (BLECH)
 

Gypsy

Senior Community Member
When I was dairy free (and free of a lot of other allergens too) this is what I ate for lunch & gave dd for lunch (she drank milk with meals & had dairy at other times, but I made no meals with dairy).

beans & rice
bean salad
nitrite free hot dogs or lunch meats
home made chicken nuggets
soup
chili
bagel w/sunbutter
celery stuffed with sunbutter
spaghetti

I was egg free too, but these would be good options for your dd
hard boiled egg
pita stuffed with tuna salad
chicken salad sandwich



ETA: Every lunch had a protein, a veggie and a fruit -- some also had a grain
 
Last edited:

LEAW

New member
i frequently roast a whole turkey breast for a weekend dinner and then we make sandwiches all week - a nice sharp knife makes some thick deli-ish slices of meat.

Soups.. mmm soups. Soups w/o dairy freeze very well into single size portions.
Same with BBQ pulled pork - I make one in the crock pot and shred it and freeze in muffin tins, instant sandwich.

We make "beans" a lot - 2 avocados mashed and a big scoop of your favorite salsa make decent guacamole, add a can of black beans and make burritos or eat with chips. That's usually enough for dh, dd, and I for lunch.

Lunch today was sausage sandwiches... though it's harder to find dairy free sausage. You can find dairy free hotdogs too.

BLT, egg sandwiches, tacos w/o cheese, we make "pizza bread" - use any bread, sundried tomatoes, seasonings, veggies, BUT no cheese.

Pasta w/red sauce, gnocci (you can usually find it in the pasta aisle in an airlock type package), breakfast for lunch, etc.

What were you eating before? I can offer ways to modify just about anything but mac'n'cheese.

We always have something else to munch on, but it ends up being a morning snack.. veggies, fruit, etc.
 

scatterbunny

New member
We make fancy salads -- with all kinds of veggies, fruits, nuts, goat cheese (it has a different protein than cow & that's what makes the difference for me/us) with just oil & vinegar, salt & pepper....

Other than that I stick to what I learned waitressing at the "hole in the wall Mexican" restaurant in Cali -- shredded meat with beans & homemade salsa: which includes almost every vegetable possible (very colorful, LOL) + avacado & lemon juice....

These are our most basic meals, but I'm hypoglycemic, too, so we do quite a bit of pasta & bread as well since for some reason I can only find potatos in HUGE sacks & they gross me out when they start growing "eyes" (BLECH)

Mmm, the fancy salads sound great to ME, but Hayley wouldn't eat it. She's really picky about stuff mixed together.

And she loves mashed pinto beans/refried beans, but won't touch rice or lettuce or most meat, so it's hard. I end up feeding her tortilla chips and beans, or plain bean burritos. She won't eat avocado.

She loves potatoes, if they're fried breakfast-style. Baked or mashed, no way.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
LOL, yeah, Leila only started enjoying my salads when Moise had her help him build a garden -- all the digging, planting, watering, watching it grow ... that got her to enjoy what went into the salad & now they're her favorites :) I'm soooooo not a greenthumb, though, so at this point she's running on merely fond memories, LOL
 

scatterbunny

New member
When I was dairy free (and free of a lot of other allergens too) this is what I ate for lunch & gave dd for lunch (she drank milk with meals & had dairy at other times, but I made no meals with dairy).

beans & rice
bean salad
nitrite free hot dogs or lunch meats
home made chicken nuggets
soup
chili
bagel w/sunbutter
celery stuffed with sunbutter
spaghetti

I was egg free too, but these would be good options for your dd
hard boiled egg
pita stuffed with tuna salad
chicken salad sandwich

I really need to try to get her to like rice! How do you season yours (or do you?) ? Hayley loves refried beans/pinto beans, but the rice bothers her, I think it's the texture. :(

I found some nitrate/nitrite-free lunchmeat the other day, by Hormel (at least, it sounded really healthy and said it was nitrate/nitrite-free) for about $8/pound, and some organic nitrate/nitrite-free hot dogs (that must remain frozen, not refrigerated, due to the lack of preservatives) that we haven't tried yet. Hopefully she likes them!

I need to experiment with some homemade chicken nugget recipes. How do you do yours?

And do you have any homemade bean w/ bacon soup recipes? That is one canned soup Hayley was guaranteed to eat, but the ingredients are scary, so I'd like to make my own. She'll eat ramen noodles, but those are probably chock-full of MSG and all kinds of other bad stuff, so I'll try making my own with noodles and fresh broth.

What is sunbutter?

She won't eat hard-boiled eggs, but loves scrambled eggs. She loves tuna salad, but with ONLY mayo, no veggies (but she'll eat the veggies on the side with soy ranch dressing).

I'll have to try chicken salad for some variety (and because I don't like giving her tuna that often because of mercury concerns).

And I really need to try to budget for organic meat. :( It's so darn expensive, but meat is so full of hormones and antibiotics that I'm afraid to eat it!
 

scatterbunny

New member
LOL, yeah, Leila only started enjoying my salads when Moise had her help him build a garden -- all the digging, planting, watering, watching it grow ... that got her to enjoy what went into the salad & now they're her favorites :) I'm soooooo not a greenthumb, though, so at this point she's running on merely fond memories, LOL

We're thinking of doing a few planter boxes with veggies, but don't know where to start. I bet if Hayley helped grow stuff she WOULD be more willing to eat it. :p
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
I mix goat cheese & shaved veggies into our scrambled eggs....

Does Hayley help prepare meals? Leila's big sis stopped being so picky when I gave her some wooden/plastic cooking utensiles, etc. & her own drawer -- ownership, I guess ;)

I hated rice as a kid till someone brought sticky rice balls to school & they were so unusual that I found them irrisistable, LOL! Leila only likes plain rice with lots (I mean lllllooooooooootttsss) of butter or sweet/sour sauce.
 

Gypsy

Senior Community Member
I really need to try to get her to like rice! How do you season yours (or do you?) ? Hayley loves refried beans/pinto beans, but the rice bothers her, I think it's the texture. :(

I found some nitrate/nitrite-free lunchmeat the other day, by Hormel (at least, it sounded really healthy and said it was nitrate/nitrite-free) for about $8/pound, and some organic nitrate/nitrite-free hot dogs (that must remain frozen, not refrigerated, due to the lack of preservatives) that we haven't tried yet. Hopefully she likes them!

I need to experiment with some homemade chicken nugget recipes. How do you do yours?

And do you have any homemade bean w/ bacon soup recipes? That is one canned soup Hayley was guaranteed to eat, but the ingredients are scary, so I'd like to make my own. She'll eat ramen noodles, but those are probably chock-full of MSG and all kinds of other bad stuff, so I'll try making my own with noodles and fresh broth.

What is sunbutter?

She won't eat hard-boiled eggs, but loves scrambled eggs. She loves tuna salad, but with ONLY mayo, no veggies (but she'll eat the veggies on the side with soy ranch dressing).

I'll have to try chicken salad for some variety (and because I don't like giving her tuna that often because of mercury concerns).

And I really need to try to budget for organic meat. :( It's so darn expensive, but meat is so full of hormones and antibiotics that I'm afraid to eat it!

Have you tried different varieties of rice? white, brown, basmati, jasmine? I seasoned with garlic, onion, cumin, chili pepper & diced tomatoes.

Oscar Mayer is now making all beef, nitrite free hot dogs in the refrigerator section, they are really, really yummy! Loaded with salt, but still, in a pinch they are nice to have on hand!

Chicken nuggets, I use a tenderizer hammer to flatten chicken breast, then cut into chunks & dip in canola oil (lightly) and roll in a breading mix of bread crumbs, wheat germ, & spices, bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

www.allrecipes.com has a feature that allows you to search by wanted and unwanted ingredients, let me know if you can't find it and I will direct link you to it.

Sunbutter is www.sunbutter.com our home is 100% nut free, dd can't even be around nuts without going into anaphylaxis.

Mayo is probably dairy free, so using it for egg, chicken, or tuna salad should be fine.
 

scatterbunny

New member
i frequently roast a whole turkey breast for a weekend dinner and then we make sandwiches all week - a nice sharp knife makes some thick deli-ish slices of meat.

Soups.. mmm soups. Soups w/o dairy freeze very well into single size portions.
Same with BBQ pulled pork - I make one in the crock pot and shred it and freeze in muffin tins, instant sandwich.

We make "beans" a lot - 2 avocados mashed and a big scoop of your favorite salsa make decent guacamole, add a can of black beans and make burritos or eat with chips. That's usually enough for dh, dd, and I for lunch.

Lunch today was sausage sandwiches... though it's harder to find dairy free sausage. You can find dairy free hotdogs too.

BLT, egg sandwiches, tacos w/o cheese, we make "pizza bread" - use any bread, sundried tomatoes, seasonings, veggies, BUT no cheese.

Pasta w/red sauce, gnocci (you can usually find it in the pasta aisle in an airlock type package), breakfast for lunch, etc.

What were you eating before? I can offer ways to modify just about anything but mac'n'cheese.

We always have something else to munch on, but it ends up being a morning snack.. veggies, fruit, etc.

I have been planning on roasting a whole bird (chicken or turkey) for awhile now, and freezing leftovers for quick meals, thanks for reminding me. :) I just need to watch the sale ads.

What kind of soups do you make that (picky) kids will like? :p Hayley loves bean w/ bacon, but I can't find an acceptable canned version, so I need to try to make my own that tastes similar. Textures are a big issue with her (sensory issues), so she won't eat rice, or soup with chunky stuff in it. Which Mark and I, of course, love.

I love the muffin tin idea with the pulled pork, for perfect sandwich portions. I always do meat loaf in muffin tins so it cooks faster and it appeals to Hayley more.

I can't get her to eat salsa, even mild salsa, but she does love beans! I just feel bad only feeding her chips and beans when Mark and I are eating all kinds of good stuff!

I did find dairy-free organic hot dogs (no preservatives, only a few good-for-you ingredients, must remain frozen until ready to cook), but so far no luck with breakfast-style sausage, only keilbasa-style.

BLTs are an absolute NO for Hayley. :( Too many tastes and textures all at once, I think. I've never tried egg sandwiches; she likes scrambled eggs and she is coming around to sausage and bacon, so that's an idea. Maybe I can find some goat cheese that's hard and slice-able.

Tacos, I wish she'd eat them! Mark and I LOVE Mexican food, but Hayley will only eat the tortillas, chips and beans. :(

Pizza bread might go over well, depending on what we put on it. What seasonings do you use? I'd have to use sauce, not sun-dried tomatoes, and I'm not sure what veggies she'll eat, since she usually only eats raw veggies, one type at a time (never mixed together like in a salad--did I mention that she's PICKY? :p ).

Pasta with red sauce, we can do, Mark adores pasta and Hayley likes it, too, as long as I don't have chunky veggies or meat mixed in. If I make meatballs, fine, but if I mix ground beef in, no way she'll eat it.

We tried some Amy's frozen soy cheese macaroni and cheese, and it was really gross. I don't think there's a suitable replacement for mac n cheese. Surprisingly Hayley hasn't complained about missing cheese that much, even though she was a dairy fiend before.
 

scatterbunny

New member
Have you tried different varieties of rice? white, brown, basmati, jasmine? I seasoned with garlic, onion, cumin, chili pepper & diced tomatoes.

Oscar Mayer is now making all beef, nitrite free hot dogs in the refrigerator section, they are really, really yummy! Loaded with salt, but still, in a pinch they are nice to have on hand!

Chicken nuggets, I use a tenderizer hammer to flatten chicken breast, then cut into chunks & dip in canola oil (lightly) and roll in a breading mix of bread crumbs, wheat germ, & spices, bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

www.allrecipes.com has a feature that allows you to search by wanted and unwanted ingredients, let me know if you can't find it and I will direct link you to it.

Sunbutter is www.sunbutter.com our home is 100% nut free, dd can't even be around nuts without going into anaphylaxis.

Mayo is probably dairy free, so using it for egg, chicken, or tuna salad should be fine.

We've tried white rice and brown rice, no other kinds yet. I'll keep experimenting! And I'll try seasoning it like you do and serving it with beans, that I know she likes, and see what happens. She JUST recently came around to tomatoes in small quantities, so it might work.

I will have to look for the Oscar Mayer all-beef dogs you're talking about, it would be nice to have something refrigerated for those quickie meals.

Thanks for the chicken nugget idea, I'll try it soon!

And wow, I've never heard of sunflower seed butter. Does it taste good? Hayley loves peanut butter. It took her awhile to get used to my homemade kind, it's much thicker, and of course not sweet, but now she likes it.

I've never searched allrecipes.com, thanks for the idea. I have used recipezaar a few times, though.
 

Gypsy

Senior Community Member
I posted on your other thread, but you might not have seen it. 94% of people allergic to cows milk are also allergic to goats milk. Goats milk and cows milk both have casein which is the most likely protein in cows milk to produce an allergic reaction.

Sunbutter tastes a lot like peanut butter, but dd knows that it is not peanut butter and that she can never eat anything that looks like that unless mommy, daddy or another trusted adult gives it to her. I took some to dd's school on her snack day and the kids devoured it! They were eating it with their fingers! They all said it's better then the peanut butter they eat at home (her school is nut free :2thumbsup: )
 

LEAW

New member
Jenny, is she helpig you make lunch? I posted this on the other thread by accident, but making lunch (and eating it while you assemble it) is one of the ways we get my 8 yr old niece to eat anything... so we make a big party of it, and she makes plates for everyone, and snacks on the veggies as they get put on the plate, eats spoons of beans, etc.

I think if you give her a little more time she'll widen her tastes to include more foods.

MMM subutter is good, we also use almond butter here, but we're ok with most nuts, well at least we've tested almonds as safe.
 

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