Toddler GAPS Lunch… To-Go!

Yesterday I felt like getting out of the house, yet it was nearing lunchtime. I called my mom, who agreed to meet for shopping and lunch. One of the toughest parts about GAPS is that most of the meals aren’t super portable, nor are there restaurants that serve GAPS-friendly meals. Sure, we could go to a restaurant and order plain meat and veggies, but that wouldn’t be very tasty, and most kids wouldn’t be happy watching everyone else chow down on burgers and fries while they eat their flavorless meat and vegetables! GAPS food need not be flavorless, but the only safe options in a restaurant would be pretty boring. That meant I had to pack a lunch for my toddlers.

The girls are now on Stage 6 of Intro, and we’re reintroducing certain AIP-restricted foods. That means they can have this GAPS “cheat” food – hot dogs! Not just any, but these Applegate beef hot dogs are actually GAPS and SCD legal. I have seen folks talking about hot dogs from U.S. Wellness Meats, but I’ve not tried them. When the girls saw me packing their lunch they thought it was strawberries, so I guess that tells you how often they get hot dogs! After heating them up, I added some sauerkraut, which I mixed in when it was time to eat. I didn’t want to destroy the probiotics in the kraut by mixing it into hot food. Normally I would give them broth as well, but they had 2 servings of carrot soup with breakfast, and I was in a hurry to get out the door, so I went with a couple of easy items for the side: my go-to squeezer pouches and a ripe banana. A thermos of water for them to drink and we were good to go!

My favorite items for packing picnics, school lunches, or any lunches to go:

Insulated Lunch Box Cooler Bag – we have been using this for over 4 years now. It’s perfect for packing bento-style school lunches!

EasyLunchboxes Bento Lunchboxes – these are my favorite containers for packing either a traditional sandwich and side dishes or bento style lunch.

Lock & Lock Lunch Container with Trays – this is probably tied for my favorite actually. You can see I used it without the inner trays for today’s lunch.

Slim Ice Packs – I usually put one underneath the food containers and one on top. They work great!