Lunch Ideas for 7 Yr Old --- Nut Free (Plus No Dairy)

Crackers with ham or tuna.
Fruit

Pretzels with mustard and vegetable sticks.
Apple sauce

Salads
Salad wraps

Tortilla with lunch meat

Tortillas filled with grilled Chicken/ Beef

Meat ball sandwiches with tomato sauce

What ever you serve him for dinner, he can eat for lunch.

Chicken and rice
Fried Rice

Pasta with vegetables and a sauce

pasta

sandwiches

left over dinner

anything goes.

I know many kids that also bring "breakfast" type foods for home lunch.
I work at a school.

Just pack what he will eat.

Just pack whatever he eats at home. My kids liked fried rice, pasta (especially pesto) and those are just fine at room temp. You can also get him a thermos if he likes warm food, like roast chicken, meatballs, soup, etc.
Is peanut butter the only sandwich he likes? My kids liked turkey, ham and even BLTs.
Round it out with plenty of fruit, veges/dip, crackers, chips/salsa, again whatever he eats at home, pretty much anything goes.

My son loves to take tacos to school. I send in a hot food thermos of taco meat (chicken or ground burger) and a few soft taco shells. If your son likes refried beans, you could do those instead of meat. And cherry tomatoes on the side. (We also put in a small container of cheese, but you can skip the cheese and have meat-only tacos).

We also use the same hot food thermos for pasta with sauce and meatballs. Or ham and in a separate container some applesauce. Or chunks of baked chicken with some fruit on the side. Or scrambled eggs with a bagel on the side. The food thermos opens up a lot of options.

What about salads? Fig Newtons? Fruit? Chick peas? Hummus? Cold Pizza?

My DD likes deconstructed sandwiches, so sometimes I'll honestly send her in with a tortilla, cold bacon and fruit. Or lettuce and some leftover roasted chicken. What about veggies? Look for a vegan dressing for him if he can't use dairy.

I agree that the thermos could be a good idea. Soups, too.

I went through all of this with my kids. They were all GFCF at one point. Now, just one is GF. Be grateful your son doesn't have to eat GF! GF is not a big deal (I am also GF, but for kids it is a big deal). Anyway, back to your question - here are some dairy free, nut free suggestions:

- Sunbutter and jelly sandwiches (sunbutter is nut free)
- dairy free yogurt, like coconut yogurt or soy yogurt
- Applesauce
- Tuna sandwich
- Turkey sandwich (but will he eat it w/o a slice of cheese?)
- Can he eat cream cheese? If he can, what about a cream cheese and jelly sandwich? My kids love that!

Too bad Nutella isn't dairy free. Kids love a Nutella sandwich. Oh well.

Otherwise, if all else fails and he won't eat any of the sandwiches I suggested, you could give him a lunch that does not contain a main item (such as a sandwich). His lunch could be a bar (Zone bars are great), fruit, and applesauce, or a bar, fruit, and coconut yogurt, or a bar, soy yogurt, and chips. Etc, etc., etc. My kids are super picky, so I have to think like this. Good luck!

The lunch I took to school most of the time when I was a growing kid was some sort of sandwich (tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, ham, roast beef, turkey), chips, a piece of fruit, and a drink.

My son is allergic to dairy and nuts, so he doesn't eat anything with those ingredients. Here are some things he brings for school lunches:

Lunch meat sandwiches (turkey, salami, ham, etc)
Sunbutter & Jelly sandwiches (we buy sunbutter at Target that is made in a nut-free facility)
Carrots & Hummus
Soy yogurt (he doesn't bring this to school, but you could)
Often times, I give him leftovers from the previous night's dinner

We make pizza with dough from Trader Joe's using Daiya brand mozzarella cheese - dairy free and sold at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and now even my regular Ralph's (aka Krogers) grocery store.

The above items are his main course/source of protein. Along with that, he usually has fruit and some kind of crackers, pretzels, chips, etc.

-wraps (ham or turkey, shredded lettuce, shredded carrots)
-leftovers of any kind (heat & put in thermos)
-sauted veggies, white rice, heat in a.m. put in thermos
-rolled turkey meat
-left over pizza (warmed in a.m., double wrapped in foil)
-soup w/crackers
-apple slices w/caramel
-mini carrots w/Ranch
-salami on Hawaiian rolls (or any bread of his choice)
-no pj&j?
-celery w/peanut butter spread in them
-lasagna (heat in a.m. wrap in foil, put in tupperware)
-leftover spaghetti (warm in morn put in thermos)
-cereal w/sm container of almond milk in thermos. insulated lunch bag,
add an ice pack
-pretzels
-chips & mild salsa
-choc almond milk in thermos
-warmed lasagna, place in thermos (the short squatty kind)
-fruit salad (make your own from diced watermelon, cantelope etc)
-chicken drumstick (again warm at home dbl wrap in foil)
-heated ground beef taco meat. send w/big lettuce leaves to fill & eat as
a taco
-sliced pastrami for a deli meat
-deli meat in a pita pocket
-granola bars
-hamburger (for my eldest, we use patties for burgers the night before,
make a few extra, heat in morning, wrap in foil, send w/bun & lettuce,
maybe even a mustard packet)
-big soft pretzels (warm in micro in morn, wrap in foil, send w/must pkt)
-fruit salad (diced cantelope, watermelon)
-chicken breast grilled (night before), warmed, wrapped in foil, sent w/bun
-chicken breast w/white rice (leftovers from night before..make extras)

Updated

-wraps (ham or turkey, shredded lettuce, shredded carrots)
-leftovers of any kind (heat & put in thermos)
-sauted veggies, white rice, heat in a.m. put in thermos
-rolled turkey meat
-left over pizza (warmed in a.m., double wrapped in foil)
-soup w/crackers
-apple slices w/caramel
-mini carrots w/Ranch
-salami on Hawaiian rolls (or any bread of his choice)
-no pj&j?
-celery w/peanut butter spread in them
-lasagna (heat in a.m. wrap in foil, put in tupperware)
-leftover spaghetti (warm in morn put in thermos)
-cereal w/sm container of almond milk in thermos. insulated lunch bag,
add an ice pack
-pretzels
-chips & mild salsa
-choc almond milk in thermos
-warmed lasagna, place in thermos (the short squatty kind)
-fruit salad (make your own from diced watermelon, cantelope etc)
-chicken drumstick (again warm at home dbl wrap in foil)
-heated ground beef taco meat. send w/big lettuce leaves to fill & eat as
a taco
-sliced pastrami for a deli meat
-deli meat in a pita pocket
-granola bars
-hamburger (for my eldest, we use patties for burgers the night before,
make a few extra, heat in morning, wrap in foil, send w/bun & lettuce,
maybe even a mustard packet)
-big soft pretzels (warm in micro in morn, wrap in foil, send w/must pkt)
-fruit salad (diced cantelope, watermelon)
-chicken breast grilled (night before), warmed, wrapped in foil, sent w/bun
-chicken breast w/white rice (leftovers from night before..make extras)

Our school also asks for no nuts, so I try to oblige (as with you not a hard and fast rule, but a request).

We have recently taken to Sunflowerseed-butter as a substitute for nutbutters, so if he likes that, it is high in energy and very satisfying.
Boiled eggs
Lunchmeat on a sandwich
Fresh fruit cut up and/or fruit cups
Tofu (fried or baked and marinated in soy sauce)
Roasted chick peas
Bean Burrito

I also almost always have either have Banana/Applesauce/Pumpkin/Zucchini Bread or Waffles that I freeze. You can easily adjust most recipes to be less sweet and more filling by adding oatmeal and/or soy flour to the recipe and reduce the sugar. It takes a bit of experimenting, but keeping it in the freezer and just adding a slice or a muffin to their lunch bag makes mornings so much easier.

Good luck.

I've got a plainer-the-better, dairy-free little boy too.

And his unbelievably, astounding boring lunch menu looks like this:

Sandwich. As in, some kind of meat (turkey or smoked salmon usually) on bread. No butter, sauce, nuttin. Just the meat on the bread.

Fruit. Several items of fruit, if I pack him a snack.

A juice box.

Sometimes, if he's going to be active, I'll pack him some Daiya non-dairy cheese. A little thingy of soy yogurt is also an option. Another good, healthy, hypoallergenic snack is a teeny tupperware full of edamame (sp?).

Try daiya cheese slices, they are dairy free and make a great sandwich. Fresh fruit, salad.

-eggs whites? my son love hard boil eggs minus the yokes. (you can copy/buy the starbucks protein meal and use the peanut butter for the snack)

-crackers with turkey and salami

-teriyaki chicken and rice

-hummus (some kids love it)

here are some things we sent for my son to school

tortilla's with turkey, ham, balogna, tuna etc
lunchables that had the little pizza crust and sauce
biscuits with egg and bacon in them
cereal and milk
waffle sticks and syrup
fruit of all sorts
mac and cheese, or ravioli in a thermos
soup in thermos
left over pasta with sauce
left over anything from supper in a thermos
or salad's kept cold by a frozen juice box