Gluten Free Lunch Ideas for Kids

If you are new to doing gluten free for your whole family you may think WOW this is super overwhelming!  What are my kids going to eat?!  I know it may seem hard and that you won't be able to come up with things, but trust me it DOES get easier!  I came up with a list of lunches for kids that are big hits in our house.  I hope this helps! Click HERE fore more adult type lunches & breakfasts.

I used to work at a day care and for every meal we had to have a protein, 2 veggies or a fruit and a veggie & grain.  Ever since then I always keep that in the back of my mind as I make my kids meals.  I don't always do a grain but I do try to have a "living" food item (Fresh produce- not cooked) with every meal for them.  Substitute the fruits and veggies to meet your child's likes.  Also I try to use my left overs, that is when  I would serve potatoes or diced chicken.  I like to make things quickly so when you are making chicken for dinner make extra for quick dicing for lunches later in the week.

*Hot dog (no bun) sweet potatoes ( mashed or cubed), peas, watermelon
*GF Bagel(Udi's) or GF English Muffin (Trader Joes has an inexpensive one) Pizzas, salad, grapes
*Sauteed Salmon (Aldi has a FABULOUS deal on Wild Caught Salmon), broccoli, berries
*Diced Chicken, green beans, apples, raw cheese
*Quesadilla, avocados, cantaloupe
*Peanut butter (or almond butter) and Jelly Sandwich, yogurt, carrots
*Raw cheese & GF crackers, Organic corn, strawberries
*Meatballs, noodles (or mash potatoes), green beans, orange
*GF Macaroni & Cheese (Annie's has a good one, so does Trader Joes or make your own with brown rice noodles, cheese, milk, butter & salt and hide butternut squash in the sauce) with or without hot dogs , broccoli, apple
*GF lunch meat, apples & peanut butter or almond butter, cucumbers
*GF Grilled cheese sandwich, peas & carrots, banana
*GF spaghetti, salad, blueberries

**Be sure to read the labels on salad dressing, most like to use soy bean oil or vegetable oil, I would highly recommend not consuming either of those ingredients and in our house we strive to not eat anything with those in them, period.  (see THIS for an interesting article on why we shouldn't consume MOST soy products)  I have started making my own, mostly vinaigrettes.  Whole foods has a good ranch dressing in their produce section that has good oils and ingredients in it, made by Cindy's Kitchen.