Affordable ways to pack allergen-free snacks as kids head back to school

Schools and day cares are increasingly strict about keeping allergens out, and for good reason: The prevalence of food allergies has been on the rise for decades, and 8% of American children have at least one food allergy.

Many can have a severe or life-threatening reaction if exposed. So suddenly the treats parents might have dug out of their own childhood backpacks years ago aren’t allowed, or aren’t advisable, given the likelihood at least two kids in every classroom have some kind of food allergy.

The “big nine” allergens, which food companies have to declare on labels, are: eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, sesame, shellfish, soybeans, tree nuts and wheat.

So Reese’s peanut butter cups are a no go, but just packing carrot sticks doesn’t seem like a very kid-friendly option.

“I want something that fills them up and something they want to eat,” said Krista Arnold of Minnetonka. “You can put cucumbers or different things in the lunchbox you as a parent think are healthy, but they don’t touch them, and it doesn’t fill them up either.”

Arnold’s go-to lunchbox extra for her kids are mini meat sticks called Snack Mates, which makes sense because she’s the vice president of marketing for the New Primal, the company that makes the low-sugar, allergy-free snacks.

Depending on what you need to or want to avoid, there are dozens of products made specifically to avoid allergens. The food industry has quickly followed the trend toward allergen-aware classrooms and will often label nut-free, gluten-free or dairy-free prominently. Now comes the hard part: figuring out which snacks kids will actually eat that are also healthy(ish).

“There are lots of [allergen-free] bars, but they have a lot of sugar and not much protein,” Arnold said. “You’ve gotten rid of allergens, but you’re filling them up with carbs and sugar.”

You don’t have to join or start a food company to find easy, healthy, allergy-friendly snacks for kids. Here’s advice from two more people who did just that on what you can send with your kids to school this year without spending a fortune.

Small brands and many natural “better-for-you” products have a reputation for being more expensive, which can put extra strain on grocery budgets when those products offer some of the easiest solutions for allergy-free shopping.

“Research has shown that oftentimes, alternative foods to avoid top allergens are higher cost and carry a heavy burden on food-allergy families,” according to the nonprofit Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE).

There are ways to offset the higher costs:

Laura Meemken founded All Clean Food in 2021 after years of making staples like bread and crackers from scratch for her kids who have food allergies.

“We don’t have snacks yet, but some families make our pastas for warm lunches or cold pasta salads,” she said.

For now, Meemken has a ready roster of other homemade or store-bought options for snacks.

“For allergy-friendly school snacks, we often stick to veggies with healthy meat sticks, jerky or cheese sticks,” she said. “Popcorn is always great, too.”

She recommends 88 Acres seed butters (sunflower, pumpkin seed or even watermelon seed butter) with celery, crackers or rice cakes. The brand also makes allergen-friendly granola bars.

Other go-to brands include Made Good, Enjoy Life and Partake Foods. For “more adventurous kids” Meemken recommends Brami lupini beans, which have a lightly pickled flavor and big protein.

Augie and Wendy Hinnenkamp launched Clo-Clo in 2020 to give their daughter Chloe a seat at the table on pizza nights. Those restrictions have made the family pros at packing allergy-friendly foods.

Of course, pizza is good anytime.

“We bake our pizzas and cut [them] into small slices before school and place the slices in a Stanley- or Yeti-type of thermos to keep the pizza warm leading up to lunch time or snack time,” Augie Hinnenkamp said.

He also recommended bagged popcorn, like Boomchickapop or SkinnyPop Mini Popcorn Cakes, which are free of the “big nine” allergens. If you haven’t had a rice cake recently, the crispy snack has seen a resurgence in recent years amid gluten-free diets and can be topped with seed butters and other spreads or eaten plain.

Fruit is a Hinnenkamp favorite. Pick from clementines, small apples or bananas. You can also look for unsweetened applesauce or single-serve fruit bowls. Frozen grapes or frozen mango slices are a hit with Chloe, too.

Dried fruit like raisins, apricots, apples, mango and pineapple can satisfy a sweet tooth, but watch for added sugars.

“Fruit kebabs are a great way to get creative and fun for Chloe: Skewer strawberries, melon cubes, kiwi slices and grapes,” he said.

Here’s what the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the nonprofit behind many allergen labeling pushes, recommends for snack day: “When in doubt, play it safe. Most whole fruits and vegetables are safe for most people, while many processed snacks, like chips, cookies and snack cakes, contain one or more of the big nine allergens.”

For the parents going that extra mile with homemade snacks, watch the ingredients in popular recipes and adjust as needed.

“Hummus without tahini and dips made with allergen-free yogurt take only a few minutes to whip up,” the nonprofit said. “Many ingredients can be omitted from recipes to make them friendly for kids with food allergies or substituted with a different ingredient. Think raisins instead of tree nuts or gluten-free oat flour instead of whole wheat.”

Other ideas for prepackaged snacks: veggie chips, freeze-dried vegetables, jerky, pretzels and pitas, kale chips, seaweed, rice Chex, seed and fruit mixes, and yogurt.