How To Meal Prep With Food Sensitivities
As summer days draw to a close, the days get shorter, and the kids prepare to go back to school. Whether you are heading back to college or are a parent who has school-age children, planning a back-to-school routine is an integral part of preparing yourself and your family for academic success. Planning your back-to-school routines can be even more complicated if you or a family member has food sensitivities.
Planning and Prepping Meals for Success
The school year usually means busier schedules and less time for cooking. Meal planning not only saves time but is also associated with: [1]
- An improvement in the variety of foods you eat
- An improvement in the quality of your diet
- Decreased risk of being overweight or having obesity
Meal Planning Tips
Meal planning involves thinking ahead and mapping out your meals for the week. One way to plan is to look at what you already have in your home, freezer, cabinets, and refrigerator, and to decide what you want to prepare for the week. [2]
Once you’ve decided what you’re eating, you can plan your grocery list for the week, allowing you to make fewer trips to the store and potentially saving you money.
Planning your meals allows you to ensure that you and your family get a well-rounded diet. Consider planning healthy recipes that are easy to make, store, and repeat.
Meal Prepping Tips
In addition to planning your meals for the week, you can also prepare your food in advance. Meal prepping helps you shorten the amount of time you spend cooking on days when you are busy.
Prepare grains and vegetables ahead of time on days when you may be less busy, such as during your weekend. Having less prep work to do on a busy evening means you can cook your meals faster. Meal prepping allows you more time with your family to enjoy eating the meal and talking with your family.
Meal planning and prepping also allows you to cater to the unique tastes of your family. With these strategies, you can have a variety of prepared ingredients available to meet the needs of each member of your family, whether they have food sensitivities, allergies, or particular tastes. Picky toddler? Leave out the foods that they don’t enjoy.
Addressing Food Sensitivities and Allergies
If your child has a food allergy or sensitivity, sending them back to school can be scary. However, there are things you can do to set them up for success this school year.
Speak With Your Child's School
Communicating with the schools, caregivers, and teachers is imperative to ensure your child isn’t exposed to foods that could cause a reaction. [3] Many schools require paperwork to document any food allergies or sensitivities. This paperwork usually requires a signature from your child’s healthcare provider. The paperwork can help the school plan alternatives to meet your child’s food needs.
Schedule an appointment with your child’s teacher or school nurse to discuss your child’s unique needs. [4] You can offer suggestions for alternative foods, or you may choose to supply your child’s foods for the school day to avoid exposure to foods that your child is sensitive or allergic to.
Tell the school about the steps they should take to treat your child in the case of a food allergy emergency. If your child has a food allergy, medications may be necessary, and additional steps may be needed to ensure the classroom is safe. Educate the teachers and school about how your child may respond to exposure to foods that they are allergic or sensitive to.
If your child has a severe food allergy, consider a medical alert bracelet, and teach your child not to accept any foods that haven’t been cleared for their consumption by an adult who is aware of their unique needs.
Consider Food Substitutions
Many food substitutions are available in the case of common food sensitivities or allergies. Non-dairy alternatives are available for milk, butter, yogurt, and other dairy products. Applesauce, banana, and flax seeds are all alternatives to eggs. [5] Other nut butters are options to substitute for peanut butter, and your child can enjoy seed butters if they have an allergy to tree nuts.
Schedule an Appointment with Your Child’s Healthcare Provider
Prior to the start of the school year, consider making an appointment with your child’s healthcare provider. It’s a good time of year to do your child’s annual wellness exam. The healthcare provider can also fill out any paperwork for the school. If your child participates in any sports or extracurricular activities, the school may require a sports physical.
Sports physicals, or preparticipation exams, are a tool to ensure your child is healthy enough for sports participation.
A sports physical may not be covered by insurance, but many offices will coordinate the sports physical with routine health maintenance. [6] A sports physical consists of a history and physical exam.
The physical exam usually includes a vision screen, so if your child wears corrective lenses, bring them to the appointment. If your child’s healthcare provider identifies any abnormalities on the exam, additional testing may be required, so don’t wait until right before practices start to schedule this important exam.
Learn More About Food Sensitivities With Everlywell
If you have or suspect food sensitivities or allergies, getting more information is one way to help you take more control of your health. At Everlywell, our Food Sensitivity Test can help you determine what foods you should avoid. This test measures your body’s immune response to 96 common foods. Our Food Sensitivity Comprehensive Test measures your body’s immune response to 204 foods.
Food sensitivity testing is the first step to taking control of your dietary health. This testing is used in combination with a two-part elimination diet. At Everlywell, we’re here to help you figure out what you might be sensitive to and also to guide you through the process of determining whether those foods are impacting your health.
References
- Ducrot, P., Méjean, C., Aroumougame, V., Ibanez, G., Allès, B., Kesse-Guyot, E., Hercberg, S., & Péneau, S. (2017). Meal planning is associated with food variety, diet quality and body weight status in a large sample of French adults. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1). Medical Citation URL.
- Meal Planning | MyPlate. (n.d.). https://www.myplate.gov/tip-sheet/meal-planning
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Managing food allergies in schools. In The Role of School Nutrition Professionals [Report]. Medical Citation URL.
- Communicating with the School Community to Create a Culture of Food Safety | Food and Nutrition Service. (n.d.). Medical Citation URL.
- MacDonald, J., Schaefer, M., & Stumph, J. (2021, May 1). The preparticipation physical evaluation. AAFP. Medical Citation URL.
- Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE). Substitutions for common allergens.; 2017. Medical Citation URL.