I need gluten and caseine free lunch ideas please!

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One of the ways we treat our 12 year old son's Asperger's is with a gluten and casein free diet

He has suddenly decided to try new foods for lunch. yaay! Please give me some ideas for lunch for school.

Thank you!

Greetings to you , it seems we hear more about glutein -free diets for our children.. There is testing finally being done to test if it is genetic as well..A friendly neighbor has a daughter who was just diagnosed with celiac disease, she is about your son's age.. Each morning, she rises at 4:30 am to prepare homemade bread that her daughter eats daily... It is costly to accomodate her dietary needs, but it is also so important. She has also lost memory due to celiac disease, and I am glad to hear you are active with your son's diagnosis... There is a higher end store, Buehler's, which hosts many products for glutein -free eating, I hope you find what you need... Look online and see if perhaps you could order from a company specializing in casein-free and glutein -free items... Best of luckk to you and your family...

check out your local health food store for gluten-free & casein free products. there's some really good gluten free brownies out there, yum!

depending upon how fussy your child is, you could use rice cakes as an alternative to bread...you could also use lettuce leaves as an alternative to bread as well....celery with peanut butter dip....

I've been making a lot of tacos. I will try some of these. I have begun adapting his favorite foods. It's interesting.

It seems to help him a lot with aggression and bowel issues .

I don't believe his body is able to process gluten or caseine. I know it is different for all children.

Thank you for these ideas.

Do you have a food processor? I love mine I make homemade peanut butter all the time - just roast the peanuts for a few minutes, add some canoila oil, and puree until peanut butter consistancy.

For myself, I eat most things but am currently testing a gluten free diet on myself to see if it helps with my allergies any.

For lunch, I like the Handipack pudding thingies (they're cheap, not sure if they're casein free), a yogurt (organic), and either a salad or some sort of fruit. Applesauce travels well and so does corn tortillas with cheese (just heat up a pan, oil, throw down a toritilla and keep flipping for a few minutes, add filling [I like cheese, but meat also would work], cook until melted, roll up or fold and serve).

I finally figured out how to make decent chicken nuggets. I found gluten free bread crumbs at Whole Foods and added about 1/2 cup of that with a Mrs. Dash extra spicey (use whatever seasoning your song likes).

Potato sticks are good. Slice a potato, toss with olive oil, add pepper and whatever seasoning you like, bake for 15-20 minutes on 350. Flip half way through.

Hard boiled eggs are good. I like tossing them with Italian cheese, glutein free pasta, basil, and toasted pine nuts (they have them at bulk in Whole Foods - I got mine last year from the Farmer's Market).

Nuts are also good (if he doesn't have an allergy to them, of course). Toss with some glutein free panda puffs (or whatever his favorite cereal is), add some chocolate candies and/or dried fruits for a tasty trail mix.

I've had to get creative with my diet - budget is tight and shopping at Whole Foods is expensive (I usually plan to spend $100 there for a month's worth of food, eeeech). Next, I'm looking forward to actually baking homemade glutein free breads.

Let me know if you need more ideas

- Serenity

anything with teff/amaranth flour (we're still working on how to make good muffins that way).

Rice pilaf.

Quinoa - make sure you add sea salt to it. You can also mix vegetables in it. I prefer it plain with spaghetti sauce.


Mochi - just finding a filling he likes for it. I suggest starting with honey and not teling him its made from rice. The way it looks/taste he could easily interpret it as being a pastry if he doesn't know any better

spinach salad.

Homemade vegetable soup

Also call the school and explain the situation. Tell them you are willing to pack his lunch so they don't ahve to do anything special, but ask if they can put it in the refrigeratore and heat it up for him (or have him do the same in the teachers lounge). Most schools will say yes and that will enable you to send a wider variety of things such as chicken, duck, steak.

I prefer using acorn squash for this recipe (it tastes a million times better than butternut)

*Do not add this when making it for your son. I left it in the recipe though because I couldn't say for certain whether or not you are still supposed to roast the casserole for another 5-10 minutes. This way you can decide on your own

That sounds good! When I do my grocery shopping next time, I'll have to pick up some acorn squash and walnuts!

My son likes uncured hot dogs with buns from Kinnikinnick. They also make hamburger buns that are somewhat decent.
Let's see, what else? Any kind of meat with brown rice & veggies on the side.
Peanut butter & honey or jam sandwiches, we get the gluten free bread at Whole Foods Market in the freezer section.
Pancake (gluten free mix with rice milk) & fried egg sandwiches.
Peanut butter and banana pancake sandwiches.
Ian's makes several gluten casein free items like chicken nuggets, fish sticks, corn dogs...
Soy yogurt (we try not to have that much soy, but he doesn't like rice yogurt)
tacos with avocado or guacamole instead of cheese- Bearitos makes a really great seasoning mix without any preservatives.
Taquitos (read label- there are some corn tortillas that are made from only corn, lime, and salt.)
Boiled egg.
Corn tortilla chips, potato chips.
Glutino pretzels.
Any kinds of fruits and veggies.
My son likes a lot of frozen fruits & veggies- berries, grapes sliced in half before freezing, frozen peas,...
sushi (except for immitation crab meat, which has gluten)
salted edamame- soy beans, if you do it in small amts, look in freezer section

I have been hearing a lot that cutting out sugar and giving probiotics is actually a long term solution to the gluten casein problem. Our allergist told us to cut out sugar as well as gluten and casein, and we've seen remarkable results.

Thank you!!

These are excellent.

I feel inspired.

What's the recipe for the gluten free hot dogs? That sounds interesting. I don't eat hot dogs, but sausage (that's all natural - I've actually found some sausages that have high fructose corn syrup in them, eww!)

I have to say, I really admire your commitment to this. My son and I have talked about trying the diet, and he is totally willing (it won't after all, change who he is, but could make him feel better), except that I look at these lists and don't see much that he would currently be willing to eat and, well, it seems so DIFFICULT. I have a hard time getting it together to keep us all fed as it is, lol! Still, I am considering it ... It definitely falls in the "couldn't hurt" category and it wouldn't surprise me if food was an issue for him - my son already has constipation issues that we've had difficulty solving.

Sorry for not having any ideas to contribute.

I wish there was some way to know before hand if either product was really an issue for a particular child. If I KNEW it would help him with the things that bother him, the work would be worth it.

For now, we are trying to eliminate preservatives, food dyes and other additives. We'll see how that goes.

Some days we stay completely gluten and caseine free, other days it doesn't quite turn out like that.

baby steps are good .

A few "snacky" lunches:

Salads/Veggie sticks are usually a good item.

Brocolli, baby carrots, celery and cucumbers are quite easy, and can be served with a nut butter, such as almond or peanut for extra protein.

A lot of grocery stores in canada are starting to carry gluten free bread in the freezers in the health isle. These are great for sandwhiches, but are high in calories.

Rice crackers made into a PB + jelly is quite nice, too. My nephews love them with cashew butter and honey.

dw a mom,
For the constipation, try eliminating, or at least cutting down on, sugar first. I think there is a sugar/yeast connection that can cause digestive problems that can lead to the whole gluten/casein problem in the first place.
Plus it really solves any weight issues, if there are any. I have always been on the normal to slim side, but since we started the gfcf-sugar-free diet, sooo many people have commented on how fit and young I look, and I really don't have time to exercise. I really think that that is due to cutting out sugar.


The hot dogs are just bought from Whole Foods- they are uncured, so they don't have the sodium nitrates or nitrites.

Interesting points, Lap. We've been trying to eliminate some of the bars my son enjoys eating, figuring that even though they are organic and made for kids, it really is a composition of things that aren't very "close to the earth." But the question has become what to replace those with, in his school lunches. He really isn't a sandwich eater, so I've been trying things like whole wheat crackers, raisins, increasing fruit servings (but he rarely eats it), etc. Still, what he eats is heavy on the cassein and gluton, since most of the time what he will have consumed for his lunch is his organic chocolate milk (I know, sugar, ugh, but he won't drink the boxed white milk), a few crackers, and the raisins. But it is a little closer to the earth, I THINK, than the Cliff kid's bar, chocolate milk, and raisins he was eating ... That really is the most difficult time of the day, lunch. He is so picky, and what he can reasonably take to school is limited.

For breakfast he is currently on an oatmeal kick, which I like.

Our local grocery carries hotdogs and bacon that are uncured. Our doctor has been gently keeping us off nitrates since the kids were born, but we aren't perfect about it.

I think it will be a slow process, cleaning up his diet.