8 Kid-Approved Dairy Free Lunch Ideas
Is your child lactose-intolerant? Or, are you trying to have your family avoid dairy because of the negative health effects associated with it?
Whatever your reason is for avoiding dairy, you’re probably wondering what you can feed your children for lunch. After all, a lot of lunchtime staples like mac and cheese, grilled cheese, and ham and cheese sandwiches all contain dairy.
Plus, dairy is hidden in a lot of other foods like crackers, potato chips, and granola bars.
So, if you’re avoiding dairy, what should you feed your kids?
Check out this guide to discover the top dairy-free lunch ideas for your kids’ packed lunches.
1. Food On Sticks
Let’s face it, everything is more fun when it’s on a stick, which is why your kids will love any sort of kebab or skewer you pack in their lunch sack.
But, instead of adding cheese cubes to the skewers, we suggest adding little slices of meat and veggies. If they want something delicious to dip it in, try hummus or a dairy-free dip that’s made with almond as the base.
For side items, you can pack some sliced mangos, pretzels, or rice.
2. Cheese-Free Quesadillas
Yes, we understand that the cheese is what makes the quesadilla a quesadilla, but your kids don’t need to know that!
Instead of filling your quesadillas with cheese, fill them with fiber and nutrient-rich black beans and salsa. For some extra protein, you can add some shaved chicken or beef to the quesadillas.
Then, instead of giving them sour cream as a dipping sauce, pick up some avocados and make some homemade guacamole as a dipping sauce.
To make these quesadillas extra healthy, you can even sneak in some peppers, onions, spinach, or sweet potatoes. And, you can swap the white tortilla out for a whole-wheat tortilla.
Also, if your kids love having breakfast for lunch, then you can start making them breakfast quesadillas as well. For this, you can keep the black beans in the recipe, but swap out the meat for eggs.
To keep this lunch from getting too messy, cut the quesadillas up into tiny slices.
3. Spring Rolls
When people think about kid-friendly meals, spring rolls often aren’t the first thing to come to mind.
But trust us, these are usually a fan-favorite. To make kid-friendly spring rolls, you’ll need some rice paper wrappers or large lettuce leaves. If you’re packing these for lunch, we suggest going with the rice paper wrappers to prevent things from getting too messy.
Then, all you have to do is pack the wrappers with some rice noodles, shrimp, tofu, veggies, or pork. You can also make a delicious peanut-based dipping sauce for the side using peanut butter, soy sauce, Sriracha, and garlic.
4. Bistro Box
You know those bistro boxes that they sell at Starbucks and the grocery store that are oh-so-tempting but also oh-so-expensive?
Well, instead of wasting your money buying these from the store, make them at home using reusable lunch boxes.
For the main protein, you can pack in sliced chicken, sliced turkey, or hardboiled eggs.
Then, for the side items, you can pack in veggies and hummus, apple slices and peanut butter, grapes, crackers, trail mix, or sliced pita bread and hummus.
These boxes give you a little bit of everything, which is why kids love them.
5. Vegan Pancakes
When most people think of pancakes, they think of fluffy stacks drowned in butter and syrup and dolloped with whipped cream.
While these certainly taste good, they’re not exactly the healthiest thing to feed your child for lunch.
Instead, we suggest making vegan pancakes. These are super simple to make and only require a couple of ingredients.
All you need to do is mash up one banana and then add in one egg. Whisk the ingredients together, and then fry them gently on low-medium heat for a few minutes, then flipping to cook the other side.
Then, you can pack healthy toppings for your child to add to their pancakes, such as berries, honey, or finely chopped nuts.
6. Fish Sticks
The frozen fish sticks you buy from the store are anything but healthy.
However, you can easily make healthy fish sticks at home that your kids will love just as much.
To make healthy fish sticks, you’ll need:
- Cod fillet
- 3 egg whites
- 1/2 lemon, squeezed
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Then, to make the skin you’ll need:
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
- 1 cup plain Panko crumbs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
To make, preheat the oven to 450 and then combine the mustard, lemon, salt, pepper, paprika, eggs, and mustard in a bowl. Then, combine the dry ingredients into another bowl.
Next, dip the fish into the egg mixture, and then dip it into the crumbs and place it on a baking sheet. Then, bake the fish sticks for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
7. Soup
Soup is the perfect lunch to pack for your child on a cold, rainy day. While there are a lot of soups that are cream-based, there are plenty of soups that you can make without dairy.
Here are some dairy-free soup ideas you should check out:
- Minestrone
- Black bean soup
- Vegetarian chili
- Quinoa vegetable soup
- Lentil soup
- Vegan potato leek soup
- Lemon and garlic wild rice soup
Serve the soup with a side of crackers, and your child will be one happy camper.
8. Cold Cut Sandwiches
Cold cut sandwiches have been a staple in kids’ lunchboxes for a long time, and for a good reason.
Cold cut sandwiches are super easy to make, and the ingredients are usually quite affordable. However, if your kid can’t have dairy (click here to learn about lactose intolerance more), it can sometimes be tough to figure out what to put in the sandwiches.
Here are some ideas for a healthy cold cut sandwich:
- Nut butter and banana sandwich
- Cold meat sandwich with hummus and veggies
- Tuna sandwich with a bit of mayo, celery, and tomato
- Chickpea “tuna” sandwich (Basically, the same ingredients as a tuna sandwich, just substitute mashed chickpeas for the tuna)
- Veggie and hummus sandwich
Are You Ready to Try These Dairy-Free Lunch Ideas?
As you can see, there are a lot of delicious dairy-free lunch ideas out there.
If you enjoyed reading this post, be sure to check back in with our blog for more recipes and tips.