Back-to-School Gluten-Free Tips for Parents & College Students

It’s that time of year again – new backpacks, new schedules, and for gluten-free families, a whole new layer of planning.

Whether your child is starting kindergarten or heading off to college, keeping them safe, nourished, and included is a top priority. Today I’m sharing my best back-to-school gluten-free tips for parents and students – from packing safe lunches to navigating cafeteria lines and stocking a dorm room with quick, safe meals.

And stick around until the end for my bonus tip – it’s the single best way I’ve found to make sure my kids never feel left out at school events.

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It’s a space where you can connect with others living gluten-free, ask questions, swap tips and recipes, and get support from people who truly get it. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned gluten-free pro, you’ll feel right at home.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview
• 1:18 Tips for Parents of Young Students
• 3:54 College Student Strategies
• 9:59 Bonus Tip and Episode Closing
• 11:20 Disclaimer and Final Words

Transcript

Carrie Saunders: 0:00

Quick reminder before we get started on this episode this podcast is based on my personal experiences and isn't medical advice. It's that time of year again new backpacks, new schedules and, for gluten-free families, a whole new year of planning. Whether your child is starting kindergarten or heading off to college, keeping them safe, nourished and included is a top priority. Today, I'm sharing my best back-to-school gluten-free tips for parents and students, from packing safe lunches to navigating cafeteria lines and stocking a dorm room with quick, safe meals. And stick around to the end for my bonus tip. It's the single best way I've found to make sure my kids never feel left out at school events.

Carrie Saunders: 0:40

Welcome to the Gluten-Free Engineer podcast. I'm your host, Saunders. In 2011, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, a moment that changed everything, but I was determined not to let it hold me back. With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer the gluten-free lifestyle, breaking down recipes, safety tips, travel hacks and everything in between to rebuild a life I love. Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply choose to live gluten-free, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we simplify the gluten-free lifestyle, make it fun and prove that you don't have to miss out on anything.

Carrie Saunders: 1:18

Welcome back to the show. Today we're talking all things back to school and gluten-free and back to school can be very exciting, but it can also be very overwhelming, especially if you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or food allergies, and there are extra steps that we want to make sure that we have in place to prevent cross-contact and ensure our students have safe food. So today we're going to be talking to two groups of people. I know there are some parents who listen out here of younger kids, and there's also some college students that are living on their own and listen into our podcast. So let's first address and you know, honestly, you'll probably get tips. If you're only in one group of those, you're probably going to get tips from the other group too. But for parents with younger kids, we want to make sure we communicate really with the school what they need and how they need it. So I encourage you to talk to teachers, because usually there's new teachers every year. Talk to cafeteria staff, if necessary, and the school nurse before the first day. Let your teachers know. This is something we've always done, is we let the teachers know especially homeroom teachers or their core teacher, what their symptoms are if they get gluten so that they can be empowered to help the student and how to help them too.

Carrie Saunders: 2:35

Because for some of our kids, like my youngest for example, he would get so angry and inconsolable you couldn't really reason with him and so that's not something you usually think about. When you think of somebody getting gluten, usually think of digestive issues. So we had to let his teachers know. You know, if he becomes like odd and a bit angry and not quite himself, he's probably gotten gluten. Please give him some extra patience. Ask him if he thinks he might've gotten gluten. That usually will bring him back. You know. Ask him if he thinks he might've gotten gluten. That usually will bring him back. You know from where he was and he will get back to. You know, being a bit kinder kid and realize what's going on. So talk to your teachers about what their symptoms are and how things work If they're celiac, explain celiac or gluten intolerance clearly and emphasize what cross contact means.

Carrie Saunders: 3:23

This is very important, especially with the younger kids because of, you know, treats coming into school and things like that. And if somebody has a birthday party and brings in cupcakes or cookies, you know we want to make sure your child stays safe, and we usually recommend providing written guidance when possible, because that can really help them not forget. You know they've got you know, quite a few students. We want to make sure that they don't forget the procedures for your kid and it helps them feel confident and better, you know, able to help them. And then we want to go to safe lunches and snacks. We want to invest, of course, in a dedicated lunchbox and utensils for your kids, have them labeled very clearly. When they're young, we want to pack easy favorites like gluten-free sandwiches, fruit and veggie sticks with some safe dip that they like, cheese cubes, yogurt cups and gluten-free crackers of the like.

Carrie Saunders: 4:15

Now I will caution you, though, because a lot of times gluten-free stuff has other allergens in it, like peanuts or nuts. So also, you know, ask your teacher. Does anybody in the classroom, so you can be kind and courteous to the other students in the classroom does anybody in here have a nut allergy? So that you know whether your gluten-free crackers or snacks need to be nut-free as well to help be safe for the rest of the classmates. And then I always include a treat sometimes, so your child doesn't feel left out, because many times, you know, when they're little parents like to give a little treat in the lunchbox to make sure you are doing what you're comfortable with, but also helping them not feel left out. And then I loved to send a small stash of safe cupcakes, cookies or snacks for our teachers to store in the freezer or in the little mini fridge. We would get pre-packaged muffins that they loved and would store those in the fridge so that if a birthday celebration popped up and we weren't given a good enough heads up notice, our child always had something in the fridge for them and that way your child can always participate without this last minute stress.

Carrie Saunders: 5:22

And then you also want to educate your child. You know they are little versions of us, really, and you know. Use your best judgment, of course, as far as what they can understand at what age, but the more you educate them along the way, the more empowered they're going to feel, the more in control, the less frantic or panic they're going to feel. So talking in an age appropriate way as to why they can't share food or if they want to share food, how can they share food safely? So for my oldest, he loved to share his food with his friends. That's just who he was. So I had to teach him. You know, tell your friend that you can share, but you have to drop it into their hand so that there's no cross contact. We can't have your friend sticking their hand in your bag of gluten-free, whatever you're eating. So I would teach them to say, hey, I need to drop the food into your hand. And he got very good at that. And you can also role play at home, especially if your child's young and you're not quite sure if they understand what you mean. Do some role playing at home to see if they get what you mean. And then, as your kids get older, you know obviously they're going to be able to handle this a lot more on their own, especially if you're proactive with them when they're young. So when they transition to middle school and to high school, they're going to get even better at this.

Carrie Saunders: 6:38

Now let's flip the script over to college students. So this can be a very big, scary thing, especially if your students are going to another state or out of town. I highly recommend you contact dining services early months in advance of them coming to school, or maybe even before making the decision, ask if there's a dedicated gluten-free station or prep area that can help your student be safe. I know here at our university Ohio University here they have that. Here now they have a dedicated gluten-free area. I've eaten at it and I've been fine there. It's been safe. I also recommend meeting with a head chef or dietician, depending upon what's appropriate for that school. For us, here we have a head dietician that helps people with food allergies and celiac disease and talk with them about you know, how does the kitchen work with these things? How can I make sure my child's safe? They'll be able to get you a lot of information for you and clarify how do they prevent cross-contact, so you can feel comfortable too, and so your student can feel comfortable.

Carrie Saunders: 7:38

And then we want to make sure we're stocking the dorm room smartly. We want to have dorm-friendly gluten-free staples like instant rice cups, canned tuna or chicken, maybe some nut butter, some gluten-free oatmeal packs, protein bars, maybe some gluten-free bread so they can make a quick little sandwich if they get hungry. You can also have small appliances if they don't already include these in your dorm, like a mini fridge or microwave. Now, things like hot pots and toasters or things like that. You need to get permission because some schools don't allow those for fire safety reasons, but you know, ask what sort of appliances can you have in the dorm so that your child can have something that's, you know, completely safe and separate?

Carrie Saunders: 8:20

In case you know they're up late at night studying and they're really hungry and the dining halls aren't available at the moment and they need some food and then when eating out with friends, I recommend you research ahead of time local restaurants using an app similar to like Find Me Gluten Free, which our gluten free listeners get a $5 off a subscription there. So research local restaurants. What's safe for your child? Get in some free Facebook groups that might be local to them. I house, for example, a gluten-free Athens Ohio Facebook group here in Athens Ohio to help those in the community, and a lot of college parents and students join that to help them understand how to navigate gluten-free here in Athens. And then I also want you to make sure they document one or two safe spots that they can suggest to their friends ahead of time whenever they want to go out to eat. I know when friends get it they are super accommodating. I know my friends are and they're like, well, where can you eat? And that's where we start with on the list of where to go, so you know, empower them and have them feel comfortable and safe there. And then you want to have an emergency backup.

Carrie Saunders: 9:25

So keep non-perishable snacks, recommend having it in your backpack for days when safe food is hard to find. I recommend that for my children as well, to make sure they always have some accessible way to get to safe food. So that could be gluten-free beef jerky or turkey jerky, some sort of trail mix that's also gluten-free. Make sure you check the labels on these that they're not processed with wheat or shelf-stable cheese snacks. Make sure that those are obviously shelf-stable and that they are gluten-free. And then here's a bonus tip for school events, sports banquets or club parties. I keep something at home always that's ready either in the freezer or in the fridge, like a safe cupcake or dessert that's already pre-made, a wrapped snack ready for them. If one of my kids would have told me at the last minute that there was something coming up about a party, that they need to go to a banquet event or something like that, that way I can grab those things that I already have and have something special that they can enjoy while everyone else is eating like typical cake or pizza or something like that. It has saved us a lot from so many left out moments.

Carrie Saunders: 10:34

If you haven't already, make sure you join our newsletter. It's an every other week newsletter where I share you new podcast episodes, recipes and tips on how we live and thrive gluten-free. Just go on over to theglutenfreeengineercom and click on the newsletter link and you can sign up right there. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Gluten-Free Engineer. If you found value in this story, please share it with someone who might need encouragement on their own gluten-free journey. For more tips, recipes, resources and even links to my YouTube channel, head on over to theglutenfreeengineercom. It's your one-stop hub to make gluten-free living simple, fun and full of flavor. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss out on an episode. And we will see you next week. The Gluten-Free Engineer podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living with celiac disease and navigating a gluten-free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide a medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional for medical questions, concerns or advice specific to your health.