Navigating a Nut-Free Lunchbox

Tips for bolstering a kid’s lunch without going nuts yourself

It's very annoying how everyone needs to eat all the time. Lunchboxes in particular are the 9pm bane of my life.

There are so many things to consider when assembling a vegan kiddo’s lunch. Will it fuel them all day? Can it sit without going slimey? Will it make an epic mess? Is it a choking hazard? Does it satisfy food regulation rules? And the real kicker - will they actually eat it?

All that is a tall enough order, yet when my Little Miss began kindergarten, the real hurdle was yet to come. Like many schools and centres, her kindy is completely nut-free. The horror! Peanut butter is the glue that holds our lives together, how could we possibly go without? As vegans, we rely heavily on the humble nut: so wonderfully nutritious, packed with energy, protein and good fats. To imagine systematically removing all nuts felt like stripping out all the joy. But you know what's definitely not joyful? Anaphylaxis and some poor poppet having life-threatening medical event. No thanks.

So I rolled up my sleeves, pushed the PB jar away, and got busy learning new and creative ways to provide nut-free, nutritionally dense, high-energy foods with a good punch of protein and iron. You wouldn’t believe the trickery that goes on in our kitchen. We hide lentils in muffins. Chickpeas get whizzed into cookie dough. We make mini quiches with chickpea flour. Roll up brown rice and quinoa balls. Throw together bean or pulse pasta salads with hemp seeds. Chia puddings flavoured with frozen fruit. Buckwheat and chickpea flour pikelets. Hummus by the bucketload. Salted edamame beans. Cold vegan sausage sticks. Marinated tofu or tempeh bites. Banana, carrot, or apple cakes get a sneaky helping of oats (or oat flour) added in.

Supermarket convenience options make plugging gaps easy too: we opt for snacks like lentil carrot chips, soy yoghurt, dried pea snaps, no-nut bliss balls, veggie straws, roasted fava beans and chickpeas. Sandwiches are still on the table, even without the classic PB & J. Options like vegan cream cheese and jam, Marmite and dairy-free cheese, or pumpkin seed butter with a smear of apple sauce (or vegan hunny if you're fancy). As far as jazzing up food goes, shape cutters are my friend. Instead of boring cucumber sticks, it's a galaxy of cucumber stars. Regular old sandwich squares? No, it’s a puzzle-piece sandwich. You get the idea.

Whenever I feel like revolting on the whole lunchbox construction palaver, I remind myself that we're an advertisement for thriving on veganism. I want Tiny Tyrant’s lunchbox to be looked upon with curiosity and salivation. It's worth the effort to keep it varied, colourful and healthy, as far as practical and affordable. Of course, there are plenty of days that the odd Oreo, cassava chip, or handful of pretzels is included, and that’s fine too. Keeping it real. As far as I’m concerned, whatever plant-based, nut-free, box-ticking lunch you’ve got on your hands by that 9pm home stretch is a reason for a pat on the back. And maybe a cheeky celebration spoonful of peanut butter.

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