Packed Lunch Ideas -Gluten Free and Dairy-free - please help!

[ChateauRouge]

DD is suffering from a really bad flare-up of IBS, and cannot currently tolerate wheat or dairy products [weep]

Please could someone give me ideas as to what on earth I can put in her packed lunches? I'd almost got my head round gf, but dairy-free too? I am clutching at straws, as everything seems to have dairy in somewhere.

She's got a decent palate, and will try anything. She does have quite a big appetite, as she's growing, and is pretty active generally. She's 12, just going into Y8.

Thanks!

Fear not! It can be done. Maybe try some of Deliciously Ella’s books which are all dairy and gluten free.

Sacla free from pesto is lovely - how about gluten free pasta salad with pesto and chopped veg (and chicken if you eat meat) olives, sundried tomatoes.
Potato salad? Proper mayo has eggs but not dairy. Cold meats are also easy to pack. Stick a cold pack in with it.
Tesco’s own brand free from yogurts are nice and not expensive.
Rice salad with chickpeas and veg.
The BFree gluten free wraps are nice and easy to fill.
Nuts and dried fruit. Whole fruit salads.
Fruit and nut bars like Nakd bars or various own brand ones (Aldi’s are good) are easy to throw it.

Thank you istherain, some really good ideas there! She would definitely go for most of those suggestions, just the wraps she hates (gf bread products have been such a disappointment... I'd just found a recipe she liked for flatbreads, but it's made with yoghurt so now can't have it )

Really helpful, thanks.

I usually have one of the following for lunch...

1. Deliciously Ella 'pesto' made from olive oil, roasted almonds, lemon juice and basil with buckwheat pasta and olives. (Could add chicken or tuna in too if you eat meat and fish.)

1. Homemade hummous/guacamole with either tortillas chips or Lazy Cat Kitchen buckwheat crackers. Could also have vegetable crudites as well.

1. Simple tomato sauce with buckwheat pasta and olives stirred through and plenty of black pepper.

1. Overnight Oats with fruit.

Very basic but easy to make/prepare/transport so these are my staples!

Deliciously Ella also has a really nice recipe for coronation style potato salad which has a few more ingredients/prep time but it is lovely and makes a bit vat!

GF bread is generally crap, you’re right. The BFree sweet potato ones are the only ones worth a go. There are loads of dairy free/gluten free flat bread recipes around so do look, could you use plain dairy free yogurt in the recipe you have maybe? But it is perfectly possible to do without any bread subs, just takes a bit of different thinking.
I had fried rice with beans, green beans, spring onion, salmon, soy sauce, sesame oil and some sweet chilli sauce for lunch. It was lovely and would be lovely cold too.
Humous or guac and chopped veg is a good one too. Gluten free oatcakes are a good, filling option.

Koko do a dairy free yoghurt you could use for your flatbread.
Violife have extended their range of cheeses.
We use coconut cream in curries etc.

I've tried and tested loads of dairy free alternatives and these are the ones that actually taste good and don't cost a fortune-
Tesco / Asda dairy free cheese spread
Vitality spread
Tesco dairy free chocolate
Alpro yoghurt

Loads of stuff in the Tesco free from range is dairy free and gluten free.

I make little chicken meatballs using an Annabel Karmel recipe (you don’t need the flour) and keep in the freezer.
Brown rice pasta from Waitrose is good.
Colder weather is coming up so you could put hot food in a good flask. Mine often take soups and stews.

If you still want to make the wraps she likes try and use soya based yoghurt instead, you can buy it from most supermarkets.

Oh thank you! This is all so helpful. I hadn't realised there was plain soy yoghurt- I got the alpro ones which she quite liked, but I'll have to have a better look. I had heard that the vegan cheese was horrible, but I should have known I could have relied on MNers to taste test everything.

I shall have a look for a deliciously Ella book too, as we seem to be in for the long haul with her diet, poor thing.

There are loads of recipes on the DE website and the app - both cheaper options to see if you like the food first!

I wouldn't recommend her first book but like 'Every Day' and 'With Friends'. Be warned - most recipes make a huge amount of food! She also uses a LOT of sugar (maple syrup in everything) which my tummy can't cope with but recipes usually work okay without 😁

greek meatballs - pork mince and grated potato with herbs. you will find a recipe easily.

chicken drumsticks, cold sausages ( make sure they are gluten free), or any other leftover cold meat

If you can get a food thermos then warm food is easier. you could then send various chunky soups, casseroles, bolognese and free from pasta, or rice. All can be batch cooked into portions so just need to be thawed and warmed in microwave in the morning. I love sausage and lentil casserole like this.

Send various nuts as good protein source and calories if she needs them, plus filling.

Fruit is easy

The meatballs sold as Swedish Meatballs (I get mine in Asda, but they have them in other places too) are GF/DF and are really nice cold. And as they are ready cooked, v convenient.
New pots, Hellmans mayo, sweetcorn and cooked chicken (check ready cooked for dairy) or tuna
Rice salad
GF pasta salad - mixed veg and cubed ham or chicken and mayo
Sushi rice with avocado and chicken. If you feel like it, maki rolls are much admired by Ds's peers of the same age and you can put all kinds of things in them
GF/DF savoury muffins
Thick soup in a flask - I find if I add dry pasta to boiling soup in the morning it is cooked by lunchtime

Thanks CMOT - I had assumed the Swedish meatballs had gluten in, and not bought them for ages. Though I would have expected you to suggest a sausage in a bun or onna stick!

Loads of salads are wheat and dairy free. Mixed grains with lots of veggies, olive oil and balsamic vinegar - add animal protein if possible. Eggs in any combination. Rice cakes. Cold sausages but check there's no wheat fillers. All fruits.

What about gluten-free oatcakes? Or Nairns do a gluten-free flatbread (based on oats), which is quite nice. Plus Waitrose do a corn couscous which might be useful for a couscous salad?

Other things we find transportable are frittata or Spanish omelette/tortilla. If you're especially pressed for time, Tesco do a surprisingly good ready made tortilla, which is both gf and df.

Slices of frittata made with potatoes and broccoli/sliced green beans/chopped bacon etc.

Salade Niçoise, tuna, boiled potatoes, egg, green beans is filling.

Homemade three bean salad with cold roast beef or pork.

Hi op, how do you know it’s just gluten and dairy that are causing the problems?

We don't
Wheat was identified by the paediatrician, but the dairy is new over last few months. Her symptoms have been worse after yoghurt, milk, and cheese. There could well be other things, but there were very strong correlations between her eating dairy and having problems.
No idea what else to look into though, so very open to ideas

Schar GF and lactose free bread and rolls is the best GF bread I’ve come across. The rolls and paninis are particularly ok. Good range in Sainsburys and more limited in Asda and Morrisons, not sure about Tesco.

I'm wondering if your dd is sensitive to FODMAPs as it's not uncommon in people with IBS, and both fructans (found in wheat) and lactose (found in many dairy products) are FODMAPs. The plus point to this is that many dairy products do not have high levels of lactose, and also you can also take a lactase supplement to help digest the lactose if that's the issue. The down side to FODMAP related digestive issues is that your dd may well have other intolerances, most commonly in things like onions, garlic, stone fruit, mushrooms and honey.

If it's just wheat and dairy that are the issues then one option for her lunches one possibility could be a bento style Japanese lunches. These are mostly rice based, with lots of little side dishes. A bit of work to get set up but a really fun approach to lunches.

Yes, I was also going to suggest looking into low fodmap.

I found schar bread to be quite awful btw!

Very few gluten free products are nice at all IME, and from a FODMAP point of view many have other problematic ingredients. I tend to use alternatives where I can (ie rice noodles instead of spaghetti, millet instead of couscous, polenta or gnocchi, instead of pasta shapes etc) but I'm also lucky in that I can eat a small amount of wheat so can just have small portions of nice things (eg I can do one slice of bread, or about 1/3 of the amount of pasta I'd actually like to eat). I just bought lots of different non wheat flours to experiment with for bread and cake/ biscuit making and hope to be able to make products that are at least a bit cheaper as well as nicer. Just too frustrating when it feels like your only options are expensive, not very nice, full of weird ingredients and may well give you gut ache anyway.

@ihuntmonsters (and hmmwhatatodo)
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I looked up low-fodmap diet, and we have now done five full days....and she has had no stomach aches, cramps, bloating or upset bowels!

Amazing. DH is still sceptical, until it's been seven days, but after another good day, even he is beginning to believe there's something in it.
Such a difference in her

That’s great news Chateau! Remember that you don’t do the low fod map elimination it forevermore. I think it’s 6 weeks and then you start to introduce things so you see what does and doesn’t work for you.