packing lunch

Just when you think you’ve got a hold on summer, school is back in session! From breakfast madness and mid-day snacking, to safe and tasty gluten-free lunches, Canyon Bakehouse has your go-to products to make this school year a little more delicious. Make school days a breeze with these fun and simple tips for crushing it at lunchtime:

1. We Checked the List and Gluten, You Aren’t On It! Write a list of all allergens, as well as approved snacks, foods and drinks, for your child’s teacher and school staff. It helps to include what they can and cannot have so those who aren’t familiar with the allergen have a quick and easy reference. You can also sit down with your child and have him/her help write out the list so they remember and have a better understanding of any restrictions. Keep it more positive than negative, focusing on all the delicious naturally gluten-free / allergen-free foods there are!

2. Think Outside the Lunchbox! Find fun reusable lunch containers to hold their sandwiches and snacks. The more fun and unique the containers, the better! You can find lunchboxes with customizable stickers, love notes or get it personalized with their name. Plus, they’re an easy way to avoid cross-contamination.

3. Smiley Faces, Happy Bellies! Playing with your food is never a bad thing! Have a little fun with lunch by topping our gluten-free breads with fruits, veggies and spreads to create Koala bears, Owls and Fishies for lunch!

4. Pack the Fun Size! Include easy-to-handle (and easy-to-open) foods that are fun and easy to eat, but also quick and easy to pack! Individually wrapped snacks like single-serve gluten-free pretzel packs or hummus and veggie sticks save time and add lots of variety to your child’s lunch.

5. Boost Their Confidence! It’s never easy for a child to say ‘no’ to sharing food with their friends, and even harder for them to try to explain what they’re going through. Help boost their confidence by practicing their ‘elevator pitch’ to explain to their peers and teachers. The more normal you make the conversation, the more normal they’ll feel in tough situations.

All this time…all those bologna sandwiches…if I had only known about Sunbutter.

My celiac has two children in his grade with life threatening peanut allergies so peanut butter has been largely discouraged as a lunch item for the brown bag set. If a kid has celiac disease, pretty much every day is a brown bag day!

When I sit back and think about all the processed cold cuts he has consumed in his kindergarten through fifth grade experience, it makes me kind of ill. I have even gone out of my way to purchase the purest, nitrate free variety, but still. When I think about all those days when the pantry was under stocked, and I couldn’t resort to a PB & J, I caused much unhappiness by packing a dreaded yogurt instead of a sandwich. Even with the ice pack, a yogurt is runny and gross by lunch hour.

All this time, a great peanut-free, tree nut-free and gluten-free alternative was right there! Sunbutter is a sunflower seed spread that smells just like peanut butter. It doesn’t taste great straight from the jar the way peanut butter does, but it tastes great on bread with jelly!

I packed my celiac a sunbutter and jelly sandwich yesterday and he loved it. He was concerned because it does smell so much like peanut butter but he just told his friends what it is.

Learn more at www.sunbutter.com. Finally, a pantry staple for those in-between grocery shopping days when I am scrambling to put together a palatable, allergen-free, processed meat-free brown bag lunch.