Milk/nut allergies and preschool snacks - help!

[dules]

Our preschool requires that each family provide snack for a week at a time. A couple of kids just joined DD's class in January and on the schedule for snacks we rec'd a cryptic note that says to be aware of allergies:

Nuts
Milk Products (cheese, butter, whey)

It used to say Peanuts (for my DD).

I have to send snacks next week and I'm thinking the safest things will be fresh fruit, soy yogurt, and (maybe) crackers, depending on what's in them.

I'm guessing that items made on shared equipment are out, as I don't know the extent of these kids' allergies. I will ask the teachers but IME the school is not very good about knowing these things (as well as I think they should).

We are going to Trader Joe's today so will definitely see what they have.

Any suggestions or brands etc. from BTDT moms greatly appreciated.



Mary

[JBaxter]

What about baby carrots or raisins ( or dried fruit)

[C99]

If you are trying to avoid allergens, I wouldn't shop at TJ's. There is precious little there that is not made on shared equipment (soy, nuts, dairy).

[punkrockmama]

Mary, you may know this but Soy Baby yogurt says that it may contain traces of dairy. The Silk yogurt for sure won't, I assume. But I just wanted to put that out there. We get the Yo Baby all the time and once I checked out the Soy version and read that on the label.

I have a friend that buys a lot of Enjoy Life brand stuff at Whole Foods. They make cookies and snack bars and stuff that are free of any allergins.

But I also vote for baby carrots, little boxes of rasins, etc... I would think that fruit is the way to go in these types of situations. As you probably know from your little girlie.

[dules]

as you said, Caroline, not much there that's not made on shared equipment. Got some chocolate soy milk boxes, juice boxes (bleh), clementines and apples. I'll try to check for that brand at Whole Foods this weekend for some crackers or not too sweet cookies - thanks for the tip, Sheila.

Carrots are a good idea, but I'll have to send them in cold, steamed since the kids are 2.5 - 3.5 and concerns over choking on raw carrots remain.

As I thought, I asked the teachers today why the change from nuts to peanuts and they didn't know. They also said no to shared equipment, and then in the same breath said just send whatever, we have alternatives for the allergic kids - which I won't do because if shared equipment is a problem, what if one kid has traces on her hands or mouth and then touches the other child, or touches a surface which the other child then touches?

Allergies are so scary. I can't imagine how mamas with kids who have severe allergies handle the stress of sending them to school :(



Mary

[almostamom]

Mary, obviously your dd can have chocolate. My DS is allergic to nuts and we've been told to avoid chocolate. Just curious. TJs has been a big ol' bust for us with DS' allergies - everything there is made on shared equipment :( Our snacks around here tend to revolve around exactly what's already been mentioned - dried and fresh fruit, crackers, pretzels, and muffins that I make. FWIW, I'm dreading sending DS to school for exactly this reason!

[DrSally]

Yes, enjoy life is great. My good friend's husband owns the company. They sent me some "snickerdoodle" cookies among other things and they were soooo good! It's really hard to find processed foods without some sort of milk product in them.

[dules]

Linda, we don't give DD peanuts because of family allergies. Neither DH nor I is allergic and we will introduce peanut products gradually; I just asked that peanut/nut snacks not be sent in to preschool since I want to monitor what she's had. (Even knowing that nuts were on the list, one mom sent her kid with a PB&J sandwich on the one day that the kids stayed for lunch, argh).

So yes, DD gets chocolate. Not Reeses, but I'm not concerned about shared equipment since we had her tested at 2 and she did not test positive for the allergy at that time.

If you want, I can ask my sister which chocolate brands she gives to her kids, as they do have nut allergies.

I'd love to see some muffin recipes - maybe on the cooking forum? :)


Mary

[DrSally]

I made the applesauce cake that was listed in the cooking forum for DS's birthday. I added shredded carrots and substituted veg. shortening for the butter (milk allergy). It was quite moist and very good. They can be made into cupcakes. Also, I sprinkled with powdered sugar.

[Tondi G]

My thoughts would be

Carrot sticks maybe dipped in Hummus?
pretzels
crackers (you could bring cheese cubes for those dairy eating kiddos)
fruit.. apples, clementines, bananas
Bagels (maybe with soy butter instead of Peanut butter/ or jelly)??
My kids love the Sembei Rice crackers from TJ's and also the snap pea crisps.... they might be ok?!

I wonder if the kids dairy allergies are limited to butter and cheese but can maybe eat products cooked with it ie Breads/muffins etc. definetly ask!

ETA how about those mini rice cakes that are apple cinnamon flavored? apple sauce cups or diced peaches cups?

Good luck

[lmintzer]

Joshua's allergic to dairy and eggs (and peanuts). Luckily, he isn't super sensitive--seems to need a lot of exposure to react--so we haven't had to be as careful about the shared equipment problem.

But we have had to do preschool snacks, which is hard. Some things he can eat area:

*cinnamon graham crackers
*baby carrots or pita and hummus
*fruit
*bagels (with margarine or plain--you can find dairy free, but it's very hard--sometimes, whey or casin (sp?) are ingredients--those are milk proteins. Joshua can eat milk proteins if they are 5th or lower on an ingredient list
*soy yogurt (vanilla is Joshua's favorite)
*raisins
*pretzels (again--you can find some that are produced in peanut-free environments)
*Cheerios (Joshua's class loves nibbling on these)

For birthdays, he eats "Tofutti Cuties". These are incredibly good-tasting soy ice cream sandwiches. Now I really don't like the taste of soy, but I DO love these. They are dairy free, egg free, and yummy! Sometimes, we get vegan brownies from Whole Foods when they have them.

[sidmand]

I was just going to second some of these. We have a little boy in our playgroup who is very allergic to many things (I know milk and nuts for sure) and a little girl who just found out she has a tree nut allergy and everyone was surprised that the little Honey Maid or cinnamon or regular graham crackers were fine. If you don't mind characters, the "Scooby Snacks" I found in little kid size bags have calcium added to them and the little boy's mother was looking for added sources of calcium, so that worked well. Also "O" cereal (Cheerios, Trader Joe's Os). Both of those seem to almost always be (most) allergen free.

Debbie
http://b2.lilypie.com/BI7Tm5.png

[miki]

There are kids with severe allergies to peanuts, milk, soy, and a bunch of other things at DD's school. The safe things that I know the kids get regularly are fresh fruit and veggies, rice cakes, and Terra chips.

[ilovetivo]

Most dairy allergic people cannot eat baked goods w/ dairy. Lots of kids avoid shared lines and shared facility (we do) as recommended by our allergist. It's possible complete avoidance of all traces may help kids outgrow the allergies.

I also think many parents of food allergic kids give them their own snacks to bring. you might be just providing food for the others and need to make sure that they're safe should they touch each other... make sense?

I think these may be ok but you have to read the label
Teddy Grahams
gaks snacks www.gakssnacks.com
celery sticks
some dried fruits (all TJ's fruits are cross contaminated w/ nuts or something)
Enjoy life snacks
Cut-up grapes, apples, bananas, pears, peaches, etc.
Stretch Island fruit leathers
whole foods 365 organic apple sauce
Barnum animal crackers
canned/fresh fruit
CBK cupcakes
IM Healthy soynut butter on saltines
Rice Crispy treats (use Mother's margarine, Earth Balance Soy Garden or safe oil like Crisco canola with Erewhon or Rice Krispys
homemade popcorn
Ener-G pretzels

Another FA kid, on my kidswithfoodallergies.org message boards, w/ dairy, peanuts, treenuts uses:
dry cereal (Corn Chex, Rice Chex, Life, Cheerios, Rice Krispies, Kix)
Ritz Sticks
Honey Maid Low-Fat Graham crackers
Honey Maid Graham Sticks
Teddy Grahams
Scooby Doo Graham crackers
Nabisco Premium Oyster crackers
fresh fruit
diced fruit cups
Gerber and Wal-Mart brand freeze-dried fruit and veggies


More junky stuff:
Oreos (some have milk--need to read very carefully)
Handi-Pack Oreo Sticks
Fritos
Pringles (some have milk--need to read very carefully)
Tostidos Bite-size Corn Chips
Corn Puff Delights