What are allergy-friendly alternatives to peanut butter?
My three-year-old son is starting a summer camp, and we need to pack him a lunch. He loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (PB&J), so we were all set for that to be a staple of his summer lunch diet, but unfortunately another child in the camp has a peanut allergy. So, PB&J is off the table (so to speak).
I'm wondering if there's some close substitute for peanut butter that would still work well in a sandwich with jelly, but is safe for those with allergies. (Analogous to soy milk for those who're lactose intolerant, I suppose.)
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My son's camp is the same way. A friend recommended SoyNut Butter.
We haven't tried it yet, but so far no peanut butter substitute has been palatable to him. We'll probably try this one, but I don't have high hopes.
For nut free lunches, we've opted for cold cuts mainly. You could also try cream cheese and jelly, or just jelly, although that's not a super healthy or filling option.
try making your own tahini by frying sesame seeds till slightly brown. once cooled blend them till powder like and mix some olive oil to combine and salt to taste. im addicted to it!
Depends on the kinds of foods your child likes, these days at least in the US pretty much most schools say don't even bother sending in anything with Peanuts - nut allergies seem to be on the increase. Some options we give to our kids:
Honey and Banana sandwiches
Maki Rolls, my wife makes vegetable maki rolls for the kids, one of them loves roasted eel and gets that sometimes
Bread Rolls, we buy some from the asian bakeries that have fillings, they do hot dog rolls too
If your kids don't mind cooled hot dogs, you could wrap them in biscuit dough or something similar and send them off
Hot foods in a thermos, well not hot burning, but warm so they'll still eat it
Never seen a good enough peanut substitute since anything similar, like Almond Butter, still sort of falls under the no nut rule some schools institute.
Humous makes for an awesome sandwich spread. If he likes veggies you can make all sorts of interesting combos... humous and sprouts, humous and zucchini slices, etc. Try also with raisins or crasins (I'm not sure how far around the world those have spread yet, they're raisins made from cranberries... very awesome, though sometimes over-sugared.)
Another option is a cheese sandwich or quesadilla, grilled or melted ahead of time. Even cold those tend to be quite nice, combined with a small thermos of tomato soup to dip them in and you can almost ignore them being cold.
Sunflower seed butter!
Seriously, I was also in the "what do you mean my kid can't have peanut butter" camp, but no kidding, this stuff is a very reasonable substitute, I even make sandwiches with it myself.
We used Almond Butter, it looks and tastes comparable but contains no peanuts.
But the camp might have problems with that too, although they are generally made specifically as peanut-butter substitute and are thus safe for peanut allergies.
There is also non-nut butters avaialable, like pea butter or soy butter (both made from lentils). This usually works fine, except when caregivers assume it's peanut butter because it looks similar - so you may have to label it to be on the safe side.
Also you could try banana and honey sandwiches, or egg salad to get some protien, or tuna salad (not quite as easy but still quick and less likely to fall apart then meat with lettuce). Also grilled cheese (which will cool in the bag) is still yummy hours after making it.
happy lunching.
Use sunbutter or wowbutter and jelly. They are peanut butter substitutes that are supposed to taste exactly like peanut butter, but are both 100% peanut free! I have a peanut allergy and I eat it all the time.
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