<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

In our personal correspondence, Karen asked for kids lunch and
snack ideas.  As I started writing a reply, I thought other
parents might be interested ...

At 06:12 PM 1/22/97 -0500, Karen Mahoney wrote:

>Thank you for your reply to my letter, I am trying very hard to keep her
>gf, and plan to do that...I just hope she conitnues to be happy and
>healthy..If you have any good suggestions on school lunches, cereals,
>and snacks, I would greatly appreciate it..Thanks again for your
>time..Karen Mahoney

With loving parents, I'm sure she'll be happy and healthy.  As a
matter of fact, I have found that since the GF diet, my 6 yr old
son and toddler daughter are healthier than any of their peers.  My
son has not missed a day of school or day care since on the GF
diet.  As the toddlers pass colds and flu around, my daughter
never gets them.  The teachers have commented on the healthy
foods my kids eat, mostly fruits, vegetables, cheese, yogurt,
rice, compared to all of the prepared foods full of nebulous
ingredients that the rest of the kids are eating.  I've even heard
from parents of my son's friends that they want to be on a diet too,
because Arthur's food looks so much better than theirs.

I pack lunches and snacks for both kids every day.  Some ideas:
Cheese - slices, grated, or individually wrapped string cheese
GF Bologna, GF ham, tuna fish
  (Using cookie cutters, I make cool designs with the cheese
   and bologna for a special treat)
Just pack the stuff you'd put in a sandwich w/o the bread
Rice cakes can be used to make great open faced sandwiches
or mini pizzas.  Just spread on some pizza sauce and mozerella,
pop in the microwave, and the kids will love it (these don't pack
well because the rice cake gets soggy).  For lunches, I melt the
mozerella on the rice cake and put the pizza sauce in a little
tupperware container for dipping.
Fruit - fresh fruit or indivually packed fruit cups
Vegetables - my older one loves fresh veggies like tomatoes
    cucumbers, carrots, celery
    Both of the kids eat vegetables cold from the refrigerator
    the toddler loves canned green beans and corn.  The older
    one prefers peas and carrots, asparagus, brocolli (we told
    him they are little trees), beets
A cheese tostada lasts well for lunch, just sprinkle grated
   cheese on a corn tostada shell, microwave to melt it and
   put it in the lunch box.
Yogurt - beware of low fat varieties
Nuts - pistachios, peanuts, cashews
Raisins
I pack a lot of left over dinners from the night before including,
pizza, macroni & cheese (corn pasta with melted velveta works great),
potatoes, rice, hamburgers, ...
They both love cereal for snacks...some of their favorites include
Malt-o-Meal Corn Pops, Post Fruity & Cocoa Pebbles, Puffed Rice,
Kelloggs Crispix, Frosted Flakes, Puffed Corn.  I always have a
couple of baggies filled with cereal for snacks.
Rice crackers (in the oriental section of the supper market) with
Cheese Wiz.
Popcorn and Carmel Corn
Rice Crispy Treats
For school parties, I always volunteer to bring some of the snacks,
the most popular to date are jello jigglers.  (Most of the kids
prefer these to the cupcakes brought by other Moms).  Once I
brought mixed nuts and a nut cracker for the 4 year olds, many
had never used a nut cracker and thought it was wonderful.

One consolation I take is that with my kids diagnosed so young,
they are not developing a taste for gluten laden foods.

Debbie, Colorado, USA