If it says it contains peanuts or tree nuts, or it is processed in the same facility or on shared equipment with tree nuts or peanuts, keep it for an at-home meal or snack.įortunately, seeds are on the safe list! This leaves you sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, chia, baru and many other tasty options. If you’re including packaged goods, always read the label (even if you’ve purchased it before – products change). Don’t forget that this can include peanut and nut oils - for example if you’re frying chicken in peanut oil or drizzling a salad with a macadamia oil dressing. If you’re working from whole ingredients, you can leave out peanuts, peanut butter, and any of the tree nuts. Your child’s teacher or aid is likely not trained to evaluate items for food allergens and she or he probably won’t have time to police everything coming it the door. Nutella), hickory nuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts. Common tree nuts include almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts (ie. Be sure to check or, if in doubt, avoid both. Your classroom or school may be peanut-free, tree-nut-free or both. Don that superhero cape, because you might be saving a life! What parents should know about packing nut-free lunches and snacks Although it can be really hard, especially at first, to transition to a nut-free lunchbox, it’s important to put a face on why you’re doing it every morning. These families send their children off to school each day knowing that food allergies are unpredictable and with each exposure can grow in severity. They fear that someone may ignore the rules or accidentally forget to omit nuts one morning when packing snacks and lunches in a rush. With very serious allergies, even airborne particles can cause a reaction.Īs the aunt to two nephews with severe peanut allergies, I know that behind every statistic is a child with a worried family. A nut-allergic child can encounter a surface with trace amounts, touch their face and have a severe reaction. Children don’t always wash, they roam around, they run their hands over everything and some are liable to use just about anything as a napkin. Tree nuts can be dusty and we all know how sticky peanut butter is. That’s a scary stat!Įspecially with young children, it can be hard to keep nuts isolated in a sack or lunchbox (or a kid’s mouth).
And peanut allergy is the #1 cause of death by food allergies in this country. ! Reports show that 18% of kids have had an allergic reaction to something they’ve eaten at school. This means, on average, there are at least 5 kids with peanut allergies in every school building in the U.S.
.jpg "kindergarten lunch ideas")
Today 4-8% of children have food allergies, and 1-2% of these are peanut allergies. No one knows for sure why, but food allergies are on the rise. Why parents should cooperate with nut-free schools This could be your moment!Īs a dietitian, classroom Mom, and lunchbox expert, I find that concerns about nut-free schools and classrooms fall into a few key areas. You’ve been meaning to go beyond the PB&J, or heck, even beyond the sandwich. Just getting your kiddos out the door with a healthy lunch each day entitles you to wear a superhero cape and maybe you’re not sure you’re ready to earn the nut-free badge to go with it. What will you make for your child if you can’t rely on PB and Ritz on Friday mornings when the fridge is getting bare? And just how strict do you need to be? You don’t know everything about the in’s and out’s of food and nut allergies. Whether it’s a nut-free school, a nut-free classroom, or just a nut-free buddy table in the lunchroom, you may be having mixed feelings – and that’s okay! The one that says your child is now part of a nut-free school zone. You’ve got the ALDI stockpile of snacks-to-last-until-the-end-of-the-world. Plus, I have suggestions for economical nut-free protein alternatives and 10 days of delicious nut-free lunchbox ideas. Looking for Nut-Free School Lunch Ideas? Read on for the how’s and why’s of nut-free lunchbox packing.
0 kommentar(er)
