Alpha-Gal Safe Lunchbox Ideas
Back to school is just around the corner! For me, school begins on August 1st. I’m excited to get back to teaching my wonderful students.
But, due to my Alpha-Gal Syndrome, I have to start to thinking ahead about school lunches. What can I pack? That’s a great question and I have some yummy answers.
Muffin Tin Ideas
I love to meal-prep for the school week on the weekends. One of my favorite ways to meal-prep is to make foods that can be baked in muffin tins.
It might sound strange. But there are actually a lot of meals you can make in muffin tins!
My usual muffin tin meals include mini meat loafs, mini tacos, mac ‘n cheese muffins, mini corn dog muffins, pepperoni pizza bites, mini quiches, and mini salmon patties.
I usually make a full recipe, which fills between 12 -24 muffin cups. I have found that lining the muffin tins with reusable silicone baking cups makes this system much easier.
Of course, all of my muffin tin meals are completely made from scratch. That way, I can be sure that I am using safe ingredients. Once the mini meals are baked and cool, I label baggies and pre-package them in serving sizes of 1 or 2 items per baggie. Then I freeze the bags, giving me pre-prepared meals for the rest of the school week.
I can pack the frozen minis in my insulated lunch bag and they will be thawed by lunch. I don’t have access to a microwave at work, and often just don’t have time to heat my food. But these minis are perfect for eating at room temperature. These muffin meals are a great alternative to sandwiches!
Substituting Ingredients to Make Alpha-Gal Safe Meals
Most muffin tin recipes I come across are not Alpha-Gal Friendly, but you can make them Alpha-Gal Friendly just by substituting a few ingredients.
Any recipe that calls for ground beef is switched to an Alpha-Gal friendly meat like ground turkey, ground chicken, or ground emu. For Mac ‘n Cheese muffins I use dairy-free cheeses and add egg to hold them together. You can also buy the Banza brand of dairy-free boxed mac ‘n cheese (check for your personal triggers before buying), then add egg and extra vegan cheese to add staying power. I personally use the tried and true Better Homes and Gardens homemade mac ‘n cheese recipe that my mother and grandmother use—just taking care to substitute Alpha-Gal safe ingredients.
Pepperoni pizza bites are made with Hormel turkey pepperoni and vegan cheese. Same with my mini quiches. I use vegan cheese, turkey bacon, non-dairy milk, and eggs. You can change up the flavors, but I like quiche Lorraine or apple and swiss quiche. If I can’t find vegan swiss cheese, I use vegan mozzarella.
I use Pillsbury brand crescent rolls and pizza crust for the breads in the muffin tin recipes. They have been safe for me. Be careful when choosing to use a premade pie crust because some of those are made with lard. Always double check your ingredients.
The mini corn dogs are made with Oscar Mayer natural turkey hot dogs and made-from-scratch cornbread mix. I substitute non-dairy milk products and vegan butter. Lastly, I choose corn meal that is plain and not enriched.
Bento Box Ideas
Bento boxes are another good idea. Pinterest is my favorite place to look for Bento box ideas. Here are a few of my favorites.
Chicken salad: This bento box is filled with homemade chicken salad, baby dill pickles, ritz crackers, apple slices, and grapes.
Tuna Salad: For this box, use homemade tuna salad, baby pita bread, vegan cheese rounds, veggie sticks with vegan ranch, and blueberries. Maybe add a hard boiled egg for extra protein.
Greek: This bento box is filled with a Greek salad (lettuce, cucumbers, dried cranberries, pecans, and vegan fetta), crockpot shredded chicken (or grilled chicken), veggie sticks, and homemade dairy free tzatziki sauce. (Click here for the recipe.)
Protein Cookies for Your School Lunchbox
We all like having something a little sweet in our lunchboxes! Protein cookies are a way to add some sweetness to your meal, while also making sure you are getting enough protein.
My daughter taught me about these. She has other food allergies than mine, which required her to live vegan for a while. She needed to add protein to her diet, but wanted something different than store bought protein bars. So we started making protein cookies from scratch.
She has a couple of favorite recipes, and you can find many recipes on Pinterest. Just make sure to sub your Alpha-Gal friendly protein powder for any non-safe protein powder. (Most protein powders use mammal ingredients for the protein.)
One of my favorite protein cookie recipes uses bananas, peanut butter, coconut sugar, vanilla extract, pea protein powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, and Alpha-Gal safe chocolate chips. Click here for the recipe.
These would be good for a quick breakfast too!
Hopefully this has given you lots of ideas! I know that Alpha-Gal makes life more complicated but I’m certainly glad we still have options. It may take a little time and effort, but yummy lunchbox meals for work and school can be made simpler by meal prepping on the weekends.
Best of luck!
If you’re looking for more food ideas, click here for some of my favorite Alpha-Gal safe recipes.