Help! Protein classroom snacks for kindergartners, without dairy or nuts

August 7, 2023 4:00 PM

I have always been impressed with the collective culinary skills of MeFi, so give us hope! A good friend has a new kindergartner. She is responsible for sending a classroom snack multiple times throughout the year. At home, the family eats incredibly healthy, well-balanced, tasty meals, mostly “real” foods (e.g., not processed) with an eye to making sure there’s some protein somewhere in the mid-day snacks. Friend was just informed that there is a dairy allergy AND a nut allergy in the class. She is not opposed to a bit of at-home baking or prepping to achieve this goal, but most of her go-to kid snacks include either dairy or nuts. What are some other kid-friendly options?
posted by Silvery Fish to Food & Drink (24 answers total)

Chickpeas baked/air fried until crispy and then seasoned would probably work--you can buy them premade or make them on your own, and they're quite healthy with both fiber and protein.
posted by foxfirefey at 4:11 PM on August 7, 2023 [5 favorites]

Sunflower nut butter is, I think, safe for nut allergies. She could make a baked oatmeal/ granola type thing.

There are kid friendly dairy free muffin recipes out there using minimal or no added sugar. The protein would come from the egg or sunflower butter.

Chicken or salmon finger sandwiches? A healthy egg salad? (Or even a whole lot of hard boiled eggs?)

Personally, I would just do a bag of oranges or a tray of cut fruit, though. No protein, but does it matter for a few times a year?
posted by redlines at 4:12 PM on August 7, 2023 [4 favorites]

Seconding roasted chick peas if you really wanna do the protein thing. But I also agree with redlines that maybe not insisting on protein would be easier and just going with a tangerine for everyone or something.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:13 PM on August 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

Smoothies with ice cubes, banana, chocolate non-whey? protein powder and (rice? oat?)/ milk
posted by noloveforned at 4:16 PM on August 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

If there's a nut allergy that kid won't be allowed to eat home-made foods. You can't trust there wasn't contamination (parents I know of nut allergy kids will phone manufacturers to make sure no nuts are in the facility) or even just outright nuts put in. Have they checked if they're supposed to be buying prepackaged snacks, or if the kids with allergies have a separate snack source?
posted by Dynex at 4:16 PM on August 7, 2023 [17 favorites]

Yeah, I was going to say, if the school is requiring provision of snacks and forbidding certain types, they should also be telling you which snacks are okay. I'm sure the parents of the kids with the allergies don't want you guessing!
posted by praemunire at 4:18 PM on August 7, 2023 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Have they checked if they're supposed to be buying prepackaged snacks, or if the kids with allergies have a separate snack source?

I don’t know but I’ll pass on the question. Thank you!
posted by Silvery Fish at 4:20 PM on August 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

Apples with whatever kind of butter is allowed (sunflower, etc). Do a nut-free ants on a long with celery, hummus or other non-nut spread, and raisins on top.

Pita chips or pita squares with hummus.

Can you roast pumpkin seeds this fall?
posted by bluedaisy at 4:20 PM on August 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

Morning glory muffins are dairy free , and could be made without nuts. Also, they are delicious.
posted by SLC Mom at 4:32 PM on August 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

If there's a nut allergy that kid won't be allowed to eat home-made foods

This has always been our experience. One of my daughter’s friends is gluten free and doesn’t even eat packaged GF products unless her own parents provide them. They had some experiences where foods were labeled GF but had enough cross contamination to cause problems. The best thing to do is ask the teacher - they should be able to say whether the kids with allergies bring their own food or not.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:33 PM on August 7, 2023 [4 favorites]

If the family typically has nuts and nut butters that they cook with or snack on, kids with severe allergies shouldn't eat anything coming from that kitchen because of cross contamination... it might not even be a good idea for them to come over because of peanut dust or peanut butter residue.

Also, some people with peanut allergies are also allergic to chickpeas, both are legumes.

The Good Bean and other companies make roasted Fava beans which I think are so so delicious, so look into roasted beans, roasted soy beans, roasted peas. But are young kids gonna eat that?? It's worth trying, but don't be upset if they don't love it.

Some kind of tofu jerky snack for protein? Chicken jerky (if it's soft and not crazy chewy, and watch out for nitrites/nitrates)?
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 5:04 PM on August 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

Fruit on sticks is great, easy, healthy and kids love it. You could get some non dairy yogurt cups to go with it for protein but I think that may run a bit expensive based on classroom size. Siggis has a coconut based one with a decent amount of protien in it, but you would have to make sure coconut is okay, as it generally is ok for peanut allergies but not for treenut allergies.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:54 PM on August 7, 2023

I had a kindergartner who was gf/df in a no-nut school. When we provided snacks, they weren't the healthiest but they got eaten. Rice krispie treats, boba brand muffins (individually wrapped), organic fruit leathers, clementines, real fruit popsicles when that was allowed. Also chips and veggie sticks. Costco is honestly amazing for this.
posted by luckdragon at 6:29 PM on August 7, 2023

Daiya makes “cheddar” and “mozzarella” sticks. Will kids like them? Maybe! Are they expensive? Definitely!

I would consider single-serving boxes/cups/pouches of non-sugar cereal (Cheerios, e.g.—as finger foods, not with milk). Not a lot of protein, but not zero…
posted by staggernation at 7:21 PM on August 7, 2023

Some "allergy friendly" snack brands to look into are Enjoy Life, Made Good and Partake.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 10:52 PM on August 7, 2023

i'd just do hard boiled eggs
posted by PinkMoose at 1:05 AM on August 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

Summer sausage cut up or mini sausage sticks if they must be prepackaged. Boiled eggs are not a bad idea if you quarter them and pre-salt-and-pepper them. I would bet maybe 1 in 10 kids at best will even try egg salad.
posted by Kriesa at 5:04 AM on August 8, 2023

Most of the stuff mentioned is illegal in my school - too much sugar, no smoothies (nothing that has to be refrigerated) - so things like goldfish, triscuits, wheatthins, etc are the only options allowed.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:15 AM on August 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Our school also does not allow home-made snacks, even for bake sales anymore. More than one parent has had the experience of investing money and time just to be told no.
Your friend can get individual servings of Sunbutter pouches and pass it with pretzels or crackers to dip.
posted by lesser whistling duck at 7:45 AM on August 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Another for Hummus. With cucumber slices to dip in it (learned that from someone on Mefi).
posted by bluesky78987 at 7:52 AM on August 8, 2023

Ah yes, the snack dilemma. +1 not sending in homemade items for nutfree/dairyfree school. Sucks to cook and have your cooked items be turned away. Unfortunately, it means prepackaged snacks for protein. I usually send in a whole bunch of fruit and veggies and ignore the protein as kids make that up in their meals. I send in giant bags of apples, mini cucumbers, blueberries, mini bananas, mini sweet peppers, basil, cherry tomatoes, etc.

But if she must have protein in her snacks, I recommend the following of which many are processed but not really all that bad once in awhile as sometime foods.

- Sabra hummus minis (they come in packs)
- Sun butter individual packets (they come in packs)
- Chippeas mini bags
- Hard boiled quail eggs (not sure if the school would allow it but these mini eggs are so cute and protein packed and kids love them!)
- Soy yogurt packs
- Lentil chips and other chip bags of alternative protein items
- Mini packages of sausages individually wrapped
posted by ichimunki at 8:06 AM on August 8, 2023

The packaging made this tough for us eventually but we used to send nori packets (once our preschool also banned homemade baking/cut up things.)
posted by warriorqueen at 8:40 AM on August 8, 2023

I was thinking tofu based treats? Lots of those in Chinatown if you want pre-packed, but they tend to be savory. Fried tofu cubes can be served with all sorts of dips if you want to DIY, or just sprinkle some seasoning on them.
posted by kschang at 12:08 PM on August 8, 2023

It's not clear to me if this is a snack to share or just for the one kid to eat, and what type/degree of allergies there are, so I'm going to answer the question as posed looking for homemade things: options that come to mind for "real food" snacks are hard boiled eggs, rice balls, and fruit/veg (halved grapes or tomatoes or carrot sticks)
posted by Lady Li at 4:14 PM on August 8, 2023