Creating a Delicious Gluten Free Kids Meal

Creating a gluten free kids meal that Lydia will actually eat is a continual challenge in our home.  Not only are kids notoriously picky eaters, when you throw the requirement for gluten free kids meals, things get more complicated. To make our personal situation a little more challenging, Lydia refuses to eat meat, gah!

In our home, we tend to have 4 types of meals. They are either; quick, less than 25 min, long prep, or eating out.  More on preparing each type and options for a delicious gluten free kids meal for your home.

Quick

Creating a super quick gluten free kids meal tends to happen on days when we are running to sports activities shortly after school and won’t be returning until late evening. When preparing these quick meals at home, we typically chose a protein, veggie, fruit and main.  Examples would be cheese, strawberries, cucumber and tomato soup. These quick meals take maybe 5 minutes to prepare and are perfect for days when we have to be out of the door after school and on the way to an activity within the hour.

Less Than 25 Minutes

This is my favorite type of meal and I would have my entire diet fall within this category if I could. To make a semi quick gluten free kids meal in this category, I would make carnitas, zucchini boats, pasta and sauce, quesadillas, taco salad, chicken Caesar salad, grilled cheese and soup, bbq’ed burgers with either gluten free buns or lettuce wrapped, fajitas, chicken taco soup, white chili, or a rice paper rolls.

You can find links to our recipes on these here:

• Zucchini Boats
• Quesadillas
• White Chili
• Rice Paper Rolls

Long Prep

This is the type of meal Josh loves and thrives at cooking. These longer preparation times do lead to a delicious meal that is also a great gluten free kids meal. Josh loves to take time prepping food and pulling out complex and layered flavors. Some of the favorite kids meals he creates are:

• Cheesy risotto
• Pulled Pork – Josh cooks a full pork shoulder on our Kamado Joe. He smokes it for 8-10 hours on a low temperature and we enjoy a full feast at the end with coleslaw and gluten free cornbread muffins[LB1] . We then bag up the leftovers into Ziploc baggies and freeze them meal sized portions for quick meals like carnitas tacos.
• BBQ roast chicken and corn on the cob – we also use our Kamado Joe cooker to put on a full chicken and also roast corn on the cob. Kids love this gluten free kids meal as the chicken is juicy and delicious and corn on the cob is always a kid favorite. Sometimes we add some fries cooked in our air fryer or a quick garden salad

Eating Out

I love eating out, but it becomes more challenging when eating out with Josh and Lydia as they are both celiac and very sensitive to cross contamination.  If we are looking for a gluten free kids meal for Lydia, we tend to pick the following types of restaurants:

• Vietnamese or Thai – Rice or Noodle based dishes usually work for a gluten free kids meal
• Mexican – the food is often made with corn based tortillas and a lot of Mexican food is naturally gluten free
• Indian food…rice and a mild butter chicken
• Pizza – this one can be a bit more tricky. We have a local pizza establishment that takes great care to avoid cross contamination. There is a higher risk when ordering pizza of gluten cross contamination. We also double check all toppings to ensure they are gluten free
• Local restaurant – we have a lovely local family restaurant that offers a large variety of gluten free options. We use the Find Me Gluten Free App in each city to try and find the gems like our local restaurant.

There are so many options for both home-cooked and eating out when you are trying to ensure you have a gluten free kids meal for your child. Lydia has been gluten free for 6 years now and we rarely have issues with finding her a gluten free meal as long as we plan ahead and think through the amount of time required to prepare. Shifting to a gluten free diet for your kids is a transition that takes time to master, but it will be second nature before you know it.

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Posted By: Kate · In: Kids, Meals