Gluten Free Options For Kids

If you are a parent, you know how picky kids can be about what they eat. If you have a child with celiac disease or gluten intolerance, or even if you are just concerned about the effects gluten may have on your child, that makes meal and snack planning even more challenging. To make it a little easier, I have a few food ideas to share that are delicious gluten free options for kids.

Breakfast seems like a huge challenge, since it is so common in our society to eat toast and cereals, however there are some tasty options that are child-friendly. Puffed rice cereals, grits, rice flakes, eggs, yogurt, various fruits such as apples and bananas, juice, milk, or gluten free (GF) toasts with margarine and jelly are all great gluten free options for kids. You can also buy GF ingredients to make your own muffins or buy them at specialty bakeries.

For lunch you might consider serving turkey or ham sandwiches on GF bread, carrot sticks or celery with natural peanut butter, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (on GF bread of course). A colourful pasta salad made with bell peppers, tomatoes, rice pasta, GF dressing, and any other healthy veggies you can sneak in, is also a gluten free option for kids, or for you!

For dinner, chicken or beef in a corn tortilla, baked chicken or fish, green beans, and sweet potato are some gluten free options for kids. Soups can also be a great choice as long as you are careful that they don’t have gluten-containing items, and that they are not roux-based, as roux is made from flour.

Snack options for kids can include rice cakes or cracker, natural applesauce, sliced apples with natural peanut butter, cottage cheese, or cheese strings. On the sweeter side of things, treats such as plain Hershey bars, skittles, three musketeers, plain M&Ms, junior mints, candy corn, tootsie rolls, red hots, or GF cookies are great gluten free options for kids.