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In response to my question about gluten-free pizza to serve to an incoming first grader.   I got the following responses.  I'm eliminating duplicates, and including longer posts about school lunches in general at the end.

Thank you to every one
I'll be signing off this address for the summer but will still be part of this group at home.
Ellie
New Hampshire
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Amy's and Food's by George two frozen ready to serve pizza's mentioned. This is what we were looking for.  I tried Amy's over the weekend and it wasn't as large as I remembered or unfortunately as good....  Need to try Foods by George.

but easy and quick pizzas I've done for myself are sauce/cheese on GF bagels (which can be kept frozen) wrapped in corn tortillas, even on GF crackers like a 'Lunchable'.  Or you could get individual pizza dough - Whole Foods sells them and freeze them at school

Foods by George have frozen gf personal pizza and also frozen pizza shells. These just get popped in the oven. The plain ones can be topped as you chose. There are many GF hot dogs that can be wrapped in Cheese or a corn tortilla and hamburgers or cheeseburgers can be served without the buns.

the only things that i can think of that worked were nachos, chalupas, frito pie (if they knew ahead of time so they could take out a portion and thicken with cornstarch).we got the school to allow my daughter to place a microwave in a supply closet in the cafeteria.  this way she could bring whatever she wanted from home and go in and warm it up.  

corn tortillas are a God send!!!!  You can make turkey rollups and
'lil pizzas and tacos, of course, etc.  They would also be something that wouldn't drive the cost of food preparation up a lot.  They are more healthy for everyone really, so you could use them for everyone, except that flour tortillas are more tasty

I make pizza crust using masa dough.

I buy the boxes of dry Taco shells and use them to make piazzas.  Schools often serve piazzas to children.  They can be heated in an oven or microwave.  The ones that are already bent can be snapped in two.  The bent ones can also have sandwich spreads or fillings tucked in, wrapped well, microwaved and they turn out as sandwiches. Try it at home to see if your first grader will like them. A small amount of soup made from dried onion soup can have some vegetables and meat added to make casseroles or soup. 

Roben Ryberg has wonderful recipe book called "The Gluten Free Kitchen". She uses only cornstarch and potato starch so the cost is much less than other GF flours. Of course you still have to use xanthan/guar gum.



Main items:
*Hamburger patty
*Hot Dog
*Taco Salad
*Deli Meat
*Spaghetti - GF noodles and sauce
*Meat Loaf - I use GF Instant Potatoes (Betty Crocker's Potato Buds) as the
binder
*Pizza made with Roben Ryberg's crust - I put in Italian seasoning in the
crust to make it more tasty
*Pork Chops - broiled
*Chili - gf chili seasoning
*Broiled/Baked Chicken

Sides:
*GF Chips
*Green Beans - season with butter, salt, pepper, GF chicken bouillon, dill
*Corn
*fresh fruit - banana, apple, orange, etc
*fruit cups (Del Monte)
*applesauce
*yogurt
*cheese slices
*pudding cup
*instant mashed potatoes (Betty Crocker Potato Buds)
*Rice
*carrots
*mixed veggies

Is the Mom not willing to send leftovers from their family meal the night
before? That would be the most logical - and safest. I choose to bring
Emily's food everyday because I know that no matter how well the intentions
of the cook is, they are extremely busy and mistakes can happen


Gluten Free Pantry worked well with the food service director, setting up an account and making it easy to order food.  For some items, like pizza, they went to our local health food store and got the premade pizza crusts, I think it was Glutino which are individual sized.  For soups they got Progresso. I worked closely with them in the beginning, checking the menu as it came out each month, determining which meals could be adjusted and which were impossible. I also brought in things like pancakes (they had breakfast for lunch meals) cake, brownies,
etc individually wrapped and labeled which were kept in the freezer and
taken out when needed. Also, we took his school picture and laminated it. On the back we wrote his name and what he could not eat.  This was kept in the kitchen and put on his tray so all the lunch ladies would know which tray was his.  We had only 1 mistake all year.  

Chebe bread mix (order on the web at the Chebe site) makes great pizza 
crust.  

There's a book you may find helpful -- maybe your school could get it - called "Kids with Celiac Disease:  A Family Guide to Raising Happy, Healthy, Gluten-Free Children."  Not only does it have a lot of menu/snack/school lunch ideas, but it has EVERYTHING else, too -- the long list of things they CAN and can't eat, ideas for school birthday parties, how to handle bullies, the emotional implications, the medical explanation of the conditions that benefit from a gluten-free diet, etc.
 
We do a lot of rollups with corn tortillas. Hot dogs in a roll. Basic Boars Head cold cuts are all GF.
For pizza we make our own at home with Gluten free pizza shells and 3/4 cook them. Then heat it up in a closed pan till done. It can be reheated in tin foil also. We use plain Hunts sauce.

As a kid I had special microwave privliges also and I was very thankful. An easy thing to make is chicken or cheese tacos with corn tortillas. You can also make quesadiallas.  There is also a top ramen that is a thai rice noodel that are sold everywhere and not much more money than real top ramen. Or you can have the mom store a few wheat free frozen dishes in the freezer
for easy microwaving.

what I did when my son was younger, I used to duplicate the menu as much as possible with gluten free version and send it with him, he would take it to the lunchroom before school in his cooler - when it was lunch time they would have it warmed up on the tray just like the rest of the kids - then after lunch he would go get his lunchbox and take it to his room.

try to prepare something similar to the days menu, bring it from home and heat up.  Other than the days we serve Mexican meals, corn chips, taco meat, and fixings for tacos, there are not allot of meals that the schools provide that are GF.  The hot dogs we order are GF, and the beef patties for hamburgers are 100% beef.  So these items are safe eaten alone or with GF bread of some kind.  There is a product called a Chalupa (again Mexican) that is premade and just baked the happens to be GF.  

Ball park hotdogs are supposed to be gluten free. Hamburger patties would be okay. Baked beans are sometimes gluten free.  Some chili is okay.  Fruit is good.  Be careful about some catsup.  Supposedly, corn tortillas can be used to make pizza crust.

A company called Amy's makes a rice crust frozen gluten free cheese pizza.  I buy this at Whole Foods

The cooks have been wonderful and the school districts
has been very understanding.  I make the GF Pastas and
baked goods at home. The cooks don't have the time,
equipment, money  or ingredients for just one serving
or the means to save leftovers. So, I provide them
with frozen pizza, mac n' cheese, GF taco meat,
muffins, cake, brownies, corn bread and chili and
homemade bread ( She did not like store bought
bread)(finally got a bread machine). The district
provides canned soups, chips, luncheon meats, corn
tortillas, yougurts, chicken, potatoes and gravy,
butter, GF sausages and frozen waffles ( from the
health food section of a large grocery store.). She
can eat the plain canned or fresh fruits and veggies.
 

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *