Here's how your kids can still eat 'peanut butter' and 'Nutella' at school

A lunchbox gamechanger!

March 26, 2021, Nama Winston, Kidspot

If your child has a nut allergy (or they just really love peanut butter and want to be able to have it at school), you're going to want to check out this mum's nut-free spreads discovery.

I’ve found a school lunchbox hack that will make a lot of us very happy.

 If you’re not an allergy parent, looking at the list of food exclusions schools send out every year can be super annoying. I get it. I’ve heard that no Nutella or peanut butter for sandwiches is a particularly frustrating one, because it’s one of those things that many parents know their kids will eat.

As an allergy parent myself, I’m so grateful for those who make the effort to send safe lunch boxes. I’ve seen my son have an anaphylactic reaction to foods several times, and it’s terrifying.

There's a 'randomness' to allergies

The thing about allergies is that there’s a randomness to them. My son, Winston, for example, who’s now 13, spent the first three years of his life scoffing peanut butter toast and Nutella sandwiches.

Then, after an anaphylactic reaction to pistachios, we were advised to stay off all nuts. A year later, he had reactions to peanut butter and Nutella. It was sh*t advice. Yes, it was the advice at the time, but it meant Winston to this day remains anaphylactic to all nuts. (Maybe that would have happened anyway, who knows!)

He’s also allergic to eggs and shellfish. His allergies do exclude a lot of foods, but we roll with the punches - there are many far worse conditions and diseases - and Winston seems to not be too fussed on foods he misses out on. We make it work. It can be challenging to find allergen free protein.

Well, so I thought.

I recently brought home a new range of non-allergenic foods called VGood (and no, this is not a sponsored post!).

VGood’s PeaNOT Butter (Crunch and Smooth) and HazelNOT Choc Spreads are made using chickpeas - and had me at the clever, clear names. At only $6 - $7 dollars a jar, packed with allergen free protein, I thought they were worth a go.

I laid the jars out on the kitchen bench, and Winston honed in on them as soon as he walked in after school. Eyes lit up, he opened the HazelNOT Choc spread, took a big sniff and said “Oh, my childhood!”

(As if he’s been deprived all these years - which I guess in terms of choc spread, he has been.)

Yes I tried the spreads, too. Yes they are delicious. And yes they taste very similar to the non-allergy friendly versions.

Nut, egg, and dairy free - no more giving up the childhood staples other kids eat.

I’m so impressed with them, I had to share.

Suitable for school lunchboxes, and for making allergy free protein bars.

But also, the range is suitable for non-allergy kids to safely eat at school - solving some parents’ lunch box dilemma about respecting other students while feeding their child.

I think that’s a really big thing. In January, I was so dismayed by seeing parents’ frustration in online groups about not being able to send some foods which their kids will eat, out of respect to allergies. Now, there’s an excellent (aka nutritious) alternative and it’s desperately needed.

I’ve also realised these spreads are a gamechanger in the kitchen. The VGood Instagram shares some awesome recipes, my favourite is the allergy free protein bars, and ways to incorporate the products in cooking and preparing food or the whole family - not just kids.

I’m thinking this has arrived just in time for Easter baking…

And it’s something I’ve been waiting for, for a while. I love that Winston’s ‘got his childhood back’!