A Week of Lunches

Back To School time may seem a long way away, but it’ll be here before you know it. And as I’m sure you can imagine, packing a GFCF lunch is a whole different ballgame from cooking dinner, due to the obvious heat and refrigeration issues. So here’s a week’s worth of lunch ideas to get you started.

Now what, you may ask, is that ingenious little lunchbox contraption I have going on there? It’s a Laptop Lunch by a company called Obentec. I am completely in love with them! Not only are they environmentally-friendly (no more ziplock baggies, and the plastics are all PBA-free) but it presents the food in such a visually appealing way that I find all the kids are enticed to eat more of the food than they would otherwise. It’s sturdy, easy-to-clean, and keeps all the food neatly compartmentalized so none of it can touch, which is a critical feature for some of the eaters in this household. For what it’s worth, I think it also helps with the transition onto the diet, to get a shiny new lunchbox to go along with the new foods. But enough pandering to my favorite companies and products. On to the food! (I hope you’re all taking notes, because there’s going to be a short quiz next period.)

Monday!
–Homemade GF waffle, spread with plum jelly and folded like a sandwich. It’s room temperature by the time the kids eat it, of course, but they don’t seem to care.
–Mott’s Healthy Harvest applesauce. Comes in half a dozen different flavors.
—Terra sweet potato chips
–Central Market Organics lightly-salted popcorn

Tuesday!
–Mandarin oranges. The little tub on the upper-left is the only one with an actual lid to hold wet food items, the rest of the containers are just held tightly in place by the top of the closed outer box. You can order extra sets of the containers if you have multiple wet things you want to include in a single day.
–Fritos
—Veggie Booty
–Half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on Food For Life white rice bread (found in the freezer case of the health-food store)

Wednesday!
–Peaches
–Jumbo raisin medley (check that your brand of raisins aren’t dusted with flour to prevent sticking)
–Lay’s plain potato chips
–Half a turkey sandwich on rice bread (Hormel Natural Choice oven-roasted turkey, Hellman’s mayonnaise)

Thursday!
—Snapea Crisps
–Honey Nut Chex (make sure it’s the new box, labeled “Now Gluten Free!” Some stores are still offloading the older boxes with gluten in them.)
—Stretch Island fruit leather
—Glutino pretzel sticks
–Applegate Farms GFCF hot dog, stuck with toothpicks like a mini-corndog.

Friday!
—Terra Chips original
–Green grapes
—Kinnikritters animal cookies
—Enjoy Life sunbutter crunch bar

Don’t forget to check out part two, Another Week of Lunches.

Happy Eating!