It hit me yesterday that someone is going to have to feed the kids while hubby and I are in Phoenix. Normally, that wouldn’t concern me too much (the grandparents have been warned not to feed Mister anything with MSG in it…if they do, well, it’s their own fault.) because my parents and my in-laws are well experienced in feeding children. But, when you throw in Special Dietary Needs, well it gets a little more complicated. So, I decided to make some meals and freeze them as well as round up or make some GF snacks to make it as simple as possible for those caring for the kids while we’re away for a few days.
The kids and I brainstormed over lunch, and here is the menu plan…which, of course, is subject to change.
Breakfasts:
- eggs and fruit (starting to be our go-to breakfast meal…)
- GF oatmeal (twice, they LOVE oatmeal)
- yogurt and fruit
- Pumpkin Pie Quinoa Breakfast Bake (FINALLY!…only I won’t get to try it…boo!)
Lunches:
- GF quesadillas and veggies/fruit (assuming I can pull off making GF tortillas)
- GF sandwiches, either grilled cheese or PB&J (assuming I can pull off GF bread)
- Celery and peanut butter, GF crackers, string cheese and fruit
- Homemade vegetable soup and GF sandwiches or crackers
- Scrambled eggs and fruit or yogurt (my kids LOVE eggs!)
Suppers:
- Spaghetti and meatballs
- Chicken, broccoli and rice casserole
- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and broccoli
- Millet casserole (containing some kind of meat and most likely broccoli. They love broccoli, too!)
- Noodley beef and mashed potatoes. This is essentially Beef & Noodles, but with ground beef instead of chunks of beef. One of those quick, budget-friendly things I whipped up one day that was a big hit.
Snacks and beverages:
- Lots of water, some juice
- GF crackers with peanut butter or cheese
- Veggies and fruit
- GF cookies
- Yogurt
This may be a tad ambitious, I don’t know. Looks good on paper though, and since the kids had input they are more likely to not have a problem eating “special meals” when everyone else is eating something that might contain gluten.
This is definitely new territory for me…for one, I’ve never been away from the kids for five whole days, several states away and for two, we’ve never really had to deal with a special diet before (aside from NEVER, EVER, EVER GIVE MISTER MSG OR RED DYE. EVER.).
How about you? How do you handle travel, other people caring for your kids, relatives and the gluten-free thing?
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