Now that summer is here that means sending our Gluten Free kids to summer camp. As a parent this can be very stressful. Our Gluten Free three year old twins are going to a summer camp
that includes two snacks and lunch five days a week.
We have had a number of conversations with the director and the kids’ teachers. We decided it would be best for us to provide all the food for the twins to avoid any issues. If they only eat what I send then I know the food is safe.
How this plays out is that we send the kids with lunch daily. The menu for the camp is the same every week, so we are trying to match the twins lunch to that of their classmates. Monday – mac and cheese, Tuesday – turkey sandwich and so on.
When it comes to snacks we took the long drive to the closest Whole Foods and loaded up on Gluten Free snacks. It was the first time I let them put almost anything they wanted into the cart. They loved it!
This is what $82 of Gluten Free snacks for three year olds looks like. I’m hoping this will last a month, but we’ll see.
I decorated a plastic container with the words “GLUTEN FREE” on one side and their names on the other. We filled the box up with all the snacks and sent it to school. Their GF box is on the snack cart for their class. The teachers know to pick a morning and afternoon snack out of this box and they can’t eat anything from the school. Again we tried to get safe snacks that mirrored those of the rest of the kids in the class: animal crackers, cookies, pretzels, snack bars, etc.
So far things are going well and everyone seems happy. Luckily the kids are used to having their own, separate food, so this has not been a big deal yet.
Fingers crossed we will survive the summer with no Gluten incidents!
How do you handle sending your Gluten Free / Allergy kids to camp?
These snacks will definitely ‘fit in’ among the typical goldfish fare. I think it’s great that you have prepared a separate bin for their snacks. My only recommendation would be to ‘separate’ small portions of the snacks into little baggies that the camp staff will hand out to them. There is a chance of cross-contamination if the staff is handling wheat, etc. filled snacks–and then opening your boxes. Just something to consider-unless there is a person specifically in charge of handling their food.