Lunch
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Eating at home is easy. You can just heat up some leftovers or throw something together out of the refrigerator. I prefer a hot lunch to a cold one any day of the week. But when you work or you have to pack a lunch for your child, things can get complicated. You don't always have access to a microwave or a refrigerator when you are away from home. So creativity and good containers are a must!
I love my tupperware. You can safely heat up food in it, it is spill-proof and it comes in all shapes and sizes. I highly recommend that you have at least a few key pieces in your cupboard.
Hot Food:
If you have access to a microwave, you can heat up any kind of leftovers. You can warm up hamburger or turkey burger patties or you can heat up a baked potato and add the toppings that you like. You can also bring a can of soup. I have a desk drawer at work with some cans of Progresso soup (check their website for GF options) with pop-top lids. Whenever I don't have time to pack a lunch, I just heat up some soup and add a cheese stick for some protein. It is also a good idea to invest in a good Thermos so that you can bring leftovers or heat your soup up at home before you leave.
Cold Food: Salads are always a good thing but most Celiacs are tired of salads since that is one of the few items that you can safely order in a restaurant (along with a plain chicken breast or a plain hamburger). But chicken or tuna salad with GF crackers or some rolled up lunch meat with some veggies and dip make a nice lunch.
Kids lunches:
Here is the real dilemma. There is a very wide variety of GF bread available, however if your child does not like GF bread, don't be discouraged because there are a lot of other Gluten-free options. I try very hard to create a variety in my daughters lunches. Here are some options that you might find helpful:
Make your own GF lunchables by putting some ham and some small pieces of cheese in snack-size tupperware, some GF crackers in a little bag, and a pudding cup or a jello cup.
You can also make your own chicken BBQ dunkers by putting GF BBQ sauce in a small container and letting them dip chicken strips or GF chicken nuggets into the sauce.
Some other ideas are: individually wrapped slices of cheese, fresh vegetables such as sliced cucumbers, baby carrots or celery with some ranch dressing on the side, chicken salad or tuna fish with crackers or celery sticks, baby pickles, chips and salsa, hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, yogurt cups, gogurt, fruit by the foot (check with company to make sure that it is GF), fruit cups, peanut butter and rice cakes or GF crackers, or rolled up slices of lunchmeat and deli cheese.
I love my tupperware. You can safely heat up food in it, it is spill-proof and it comes in all shapes and sizes. I highly recommend that you have at least a few key pieces in your cupboard.
Hot Food:
If you have access to a microwave, you can heat up any kind of leftovers. You can warm up hamburger or turkey burger patties or you can heat up a baked potato and add the toppings that you like. You can also bring a can of soup. I have a desk drawer at work with some cans of Progresso soup (check their website for GF options) with pop-top lids. Whenever I don't have time to pack a lunch, I just heat up some soup and add a cheese stick for some protein. It is also a good idea to invest in a good Thermos so that you can bring leftovers or heat your soup up at home before you leave.
Cold Food: Salads are always a good thing but most Celiacs are tired of salads since that is one of the few items that you can safely order in a restaurant (along with a plain chicken breast or a plain hamburger). But chicken or tuna salad with GF crackers or some rolled up lunch meat with some veggies and dip make a nice lunch.
Kids lunches:
Here is the real dilemma. There is a very wide variety of GF bread available, however if your child does not like GF bread, don't be discouraged because there are a lot of other Gluten-free options. I try very hard to create a variety in my daughters lunches. Here are some options that you might find helpful:
Make your own GF lunchables by putting some ham and some small pieces of cheese in snack-size tupperware, some GF crackers in a little bag, and a pudding cup or a jello cup.
You can also make your own chicken BBQ dunkers by putting GF BBQ sauce in a small container and letting them dip chicken strips or GF chicken nuggets into the sauce.
Some other ideas are: individually wrapped slices of cheese, fresh vegetables such as sliced cucumbers, baby carrots or celery with some ranch dressing on the side, chicken salad or tuna fish with crackers or celery sticks, baby pickles, chips and salsa, hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, yogurt cups, gogurt, fruit by the foot (check with company to make sure that it is GF), fruit cups, peanut butter and rice cakes or GF crackers, or rolled up slices of lunchmeat and deli cheese.