This week, I challenged myself to put together gluten-free vegan lunchboxes, as I thought people out there might find ideas for 5 days of lunchboxes useful. I remember how lost I felt when my little girl was diagnosed with allergies, and how tough it was not to know where to find simple ideas to cater for an exclusion diet.
If you have to deal with allergies, intolerances, Coeliac disease, whether you are on a vegan diet, trying to get more healthy after binge-eating over the festive season or are simply trying to fill your lunchbox with a bit more fruit and veg, these tips and lunchbox ideas are for you!
Two of my children take lunchboxes to school. Although it can be a chore to pack their food when the fridge is bare, I love putting them together when I have given myself a bit of time to think about them and planned ahead.
Since I had a very specific aim in mind with my gluten-free vegan lunchboxes, I carefully planned what would go in each of them before going shopping as I wanted to make sure I had everything in one place and could pack two days’ worth at a time.
My friend Grace recently came up with brilliant Yumbox Lunch Planner printables and they make my life so much easier! Check them out here: you can download them for free.
I thought it might be useful if I shared my shopping list for this week’s lunchboxes. Some of the ingredients were also used for my own lunches, and quite a lot of fruit was used in smoothies and at snack time. We also have a lot of crackers, cereal bars and other treats left over for next week.
This is what I used in more than one lunchbox:
- Organic houmous
- Great Food Aromatic Moroccan Falafel
- vegetarian sushi
- Fruit: strawberries, raspberries, satsumas, mango, pineapple, green grapes, red grapes and blueberries.
- Vegetables: Kalettes, peppers in a range of colours, baby plum tomatoes, beetroot, carrots, cucumber
- Schär Deli Style Bread
- Pure Dairy-Free Sunflower Spread
- Violife Prosociano Dairy-Free Cheese
- Organix Goodies Soft Oaty Bars (note that these are wheat-free but not using certified gluten-free oats)
- Tropicana Little Bottles (apple & orange)
I just wanted to show you the variety of convenient food and snacks you could get out there for fuss free gluten-free vegan lunchboxes. Some of those ingredients have ‘may contain’ notices so use your own judgement before eating them or giving them to your little ones. Also note than in some of the recipes, oats are used so they might have traces of gluten (if not gluten-free certified).
Accessories used in more than one lunchbox:
- 2 Yumbox Bento Boxes
- littlelife Penguin Lunch Pack
Here is what was in the lunchboxes this week:
Monday: The Rainbow One
To brighten up a grey Monday, we went for a vibrant rainbow lunch.
A few weeks ago, I spotted a recipe for rainbow tortilla wraps on my friend Grace’s site and I decided to make a gluten-free vegan version of the same thing, using houmous and BFree Quinoa and Chia Seed Wrap with Teff and Flax Seeds. They were delicious!
I also included rainbow fruit and vegetable skewers in there, more houmous, a cereal bar and dairy-free natural coconut yoghurt topped with a rainbow (small teaspoon of strawberry jam, apricot jam, agave nectar, lemon & lime marmalade & homemade blackberry jam) as well as a small bottle of apple juice.
Tuesday: The Space One
- ‘Cheese’ sandwich made with Schär bread, sunflower spread and dairy-free cheese
- Fruit & vegetable rainbow ‘rockets
- ‘Clouds’ (Organix Goodies Banana Puffcorn)
- Houmous
- Organix Goodies Carrot Stix
- Organix blackcurrant and apple stars with Space Alien Picks
- a small bottle of orange juice
Wednesday: The Cat-Themed One
On Wednesday, we went for a silly one by attempting a cat-themed lunchbox.
I somehow managed to lose half of the animal cutters I bought for Wriggly as a Christmas present, so my first attempt at sandwich art is clearly not the best ever, but hey! I spread some houmous on Schär toast, added paper thin slices of carrot and topped with a cat’s ‘face’ (ahem).
The Cat & Fish Mini Food Containers were too cute not to be used so I added two pepper sushis to one with a bit of soy sauce, Wriggly would use child-friendly chopsticks to eat them.
I filled the other with fruit (halved red grapes and satsuma)
I added halved baby plum tomatoes and cucumber, made into a long strip.
as well as a little treat pot (small cereal bar, BEAR Mango Pure Fruit YoYo & Organix Goodies Raspberry & Apple Moos) and a small bottle of apple juice.
She also had Animal Face Fork Picks to eat the fruit and snacks.
Thursday: The Moreish One
Who doesn’t like a bit of a treat? That is what Thursday’s lunchbox was all about: moreish, chocolatey, gourmand. Shall we start with dessert? Berries, pineapple and mango are my children’s favourite fruit so they were pleasantly surprised to get them at this time of the year (they only get bananas, apples and satsumas in January normally). There was also a Little Choc Pot by the Coconut Collaborative and an Organix Raspberry & Apple Moos.
Like most children, my four love crackers so we went for Schär’s Saltí. They also had houmous with falafels, which were bursting with flavours, as well as vegetable strips, pre-dipped in houmous in a handy little Sistema Box as well as a small bottle of apple juice.
Friday: The Protein Booster
On Friday, I packed more falafel, houmous, a small salad made with Kalettes, cucumber and baby plum tomatoes, nairn’s Gluten Free Oatcakes topped with with sunflower spread and dairy-free cheese, a fruit salad (mango, red grapes and green grapes) and a cereal bar and nairn’s Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Biscuit Breaks.
What else would you have in no fuss gluten-free vegan lunchboxes?
Other posts about lunchboxes:
- What Should I Pack in My Child’s Lunchbox? – Includes a nice visual lunchbox builder
- Healthy Lunchbox Ideas for Busy Parents
Nice ideas. Worth noting though that Goodies Oaty Bars are not actually gluten free.
Thanks Lolly, I did spot that as I was packing the lunchboxes and mentioned it in the article. We use them as they’re wheat-free.
Superbe, ça donne envie ! Ca fait plusieurs fois que je regarde les Yumbox, j’adore le concept, mais moins le prix ;-).
Pour moi, c’était pareil pour la Yumbox! Je les ai regardées de loin pendant plus d’un an, me disant qu’elles étaient beaucoup trop chères, puis ma copine Grace (à qui appartient le magasin en ligne) m’en a offert une pour mon petit bonhomme en septembre et franchement, c’est génial! Je voulais la même chose pour Wriggly qui mange à la maternelle une fois par semaine et sur le site de Grace, c’était le même prix qu’Amazon (Grace a toujours plus de choix et beaucoup de choses qu’on ne trouve nulle part ailleurs). C’est un investissement ces Yumbox et tout ce que j’ai acheté (en gros, la plupart des petits trucs qui ont des liens sur cet article) a été le Noël de Wriggly. Elle n’a que 2 and 1/2 donc ça ne la dérangeait pas de ne pas avoir de poupées ou jouets. Elle s’en est servi comme dinette pendant les vacances et maintenant, elle emmène tout ça à la maternelle et elle adore!
Aren’t your children very lucky to have such exciting lunchboxes! Thankfully I don’t have to do lunches but some great ideas here, and the Nairns biscuit breaks are very popular here!
If I had to take lunch with me, I’d use these lunchboxes for myself. They’re that good! I love it when ‘free from’ brands make biscuits / stuff that looks like what my other children like eating. Now Jumpy has her own ‘Belvita’ and I also found some Schär biscuits that are just like Oreos. She’s always so happy when she can try something new!
I want these and I want those lunch boxes!! Seriously if my kids had a lunch box like that they’d think that something was seriously wrong with me! Their packed lunches are abysmal!
I have the same lunchboxes as you as well as these Yumboxes. I had my eyes on them for ages and hesitated because of their price but they’re seriously worth it. Emma mentioned them too in her latest video about flying with allergies 🙂
Those look so appetising! And the lunch boxes are great.
Thanks Ali!