Gluten Free Snacks and Lunch Ideas for Back to School
I know how hard it can be to find Gluten Free Snacks and Lunch Ideas for back to school, so I have created this post to share with you. what gluten free snacks and lunch items I love for my kids and where to grab them!
Like most families with food allergies, we can’t just head to one supermarket each week and be done with our grocery shopping. We have multiple food allergies and intolerances, so I often have to go to 2-3 stores each week and I rotate them.
We are all gluten free, but my daughter and I are also lactose intolerant. She also has issues with almonds, so all of her food needs to be almond free. My son is also corn free, so a lot of his snacks are grain free options, which likely contain almonds. Then in addition to avoiding gluten and dairy I also can’t tolerate cassava, so that makes many of the grain free foods not an option for myself.
You can image all of these different items can make shopping difficult and expensive, so when I can find something that we can all have, or both of the kids can- I literally become loyal to these brands.
In this post I will share with you the different stores I shop at and what I buy there. I will bounce around to find the best prices and when there are sales on our favorite items, I always stock up!
Stores we shop at for Gluten Free Snacks and Lunch
Gluten Free at Target
Target is where you will find me the most. I have to be mindful because I often break our budget here. The Target in California had some options, but I have found the Colorado Target to have way more safe pantry items that both of my kids will eat.
One thing I like about our Target is that they carry a lot of the individual pack options. I think this is new because a lot of the brands are just launching these items. I don’t buy the individual packs all of the time because they are expensive. However, I do pick them up on occasion for my convenience and the kids like them too.
Here are the gluten free items I love to get at Target…
- Cookies: Both of my kids can eat Partake, so I will grab those often. Good Love Foods is a brand they can both have as well, so I buy all of their products. My kids like the cookies, granola bars and crackers.
- Crackers: My son loves Simple Mills, so I will grab those for him. Claire likes Crunchmaster (my favorite too). You can usually get these at Costco and Sam’s Club too, so I will often buy there and just get the fun flavors here.
- Chips: My son loves Siete chips, so I often buy them here or Costco and I loved that they had the snack packs, so I grabbed some for him.
- Bars: The kids like the Made Good Foods bars, Kind Bars, Lara Bars and the Annie’s Gluten Free Granola Bars. I always have these on hand and these are what I stick in their backpacks for snacks.
- Bread: Canyon Bakehouse is the only easily accessed bread brand that my entire family can eat and Target carries it at the best price. The other other place that beats Target’s price is our Costco that carries a double pack for under $10. I believe only CO Costco’s carry them though and I wish that would change!
- Fruit Snacks: They have tons of these if your kids like them.
- Frozen Items: For our restrictions I don’t buy very much frozen items at Target, but they do have some good ones to choose from if you aren’t avoiding as many ingredients as us!
- Other items: They have veggie sticks and popcorn in regular bags and individual packages too.
If you want to see the video I created as part of this series you can check it out on my Instagram HERE.
Gluten Free at Sprouts
Where we used to live in CA we didn’t have a Whole Foods, but we had a Sprouts. Sprouts became my go-to for all of the items I couldn’t get at my regular shopping stores.
Sprouts can be very pricey, so I tend to only buy sale items and stock up when there is a good one. There are some items I am willing to pay full price for when I have to.
- Baked Goods: I have found Sprouts to have the best gluten free baked good selection than any other store! You can find Red Plate Foods cupcakes and muffins (my local store is always sold out), tons of Flax 4 Life options, Jacks Paleo Cookies, Freedom Gluten Free Donuts and during the holidays they even have Little GF Chefs Gingerbread house kits!
- Pantry Items: The cookies and crackers are usually expensive here. I almost never buy bars or any little boxes of snacks because the prices are way too high. Sometimes they have 2 for 5 sales on boxes of crackers and I will stock up. They recently came out with their store brand of gluten free cookies, both kids can eat them and the price is good. The kids did like them.
- Freezer Items: This is my favorite part of the store because I am able to find the foods the kids love and that make them feel normal. They have their own line of grain free chicken nuggets and chicken tenders that we love, there are frozen pizzas, pizza bites, corn dogs, donuts, ice creams and more. Most of the items I buy here are not safe for both kids, so they each get their favorites.
- Chips: The store brand chips are good and reasonably priced. They carry The Good Crisp which I love and they have some other grain free puff chips that James likes too. When I shop here I will always browse the chip aisle, but only grab stuff when it’s on sale.
On occasion Sprouts has BOGO sales and that is when you will see me grab all the things!
If you want to watch the video I made about Spouts you can see on my Instagram page HERE.
Gluten Free at Sam’s Club
Even though we are new to Sam’s Club, I have been finding myself there often. Mostly because it is near my house and I have to drive 30 minutes to get to Costco. Sam’s Club doesn’t have a lot of organic options like Costco does and the prices are comparable to Costco even though the items at Costco are organic. So, if I have to choose, Costco would be my first choice.
I do really like to grab pantry and snack items here though. There are not a lot of gluten free frozen options, but I will take what I can get. Here is what I like to buy gluten free at Sam’s Club…
- Produce that is available: I will buy fresh and fruit and veggies for lunch boxes and snacks.
- Juices and beverages: My son likes Prime hydration and we like sparkling water.
- Chips and Crackers: You can get a huge family size bag of chips here for the same price as a regular bag of chips at Walmart. They also carry Siete chips which is my go-to for my son. I love the Crunchmaster Crackers.
- Made Good Foods: They have the huge pack of granola bars here at an amazing price. My kids take these to school everyday for snacks.
- BoBo’s: My family likes the original Bobo’s, but the boys in my house really love the pb&j bars. Great price here!
- Feel Good Foods: A huge box of spring rolls! These are so yummy and I love them. You can air fry them and pack them in a thermos for the kids too.
- Frozen Pizza: The cauliflower crust pizza isn’t dairy free, but my son who can have dairy loves these.
- Freeze Dried Fruit: My daughter likes these for snacks.
- Laughing Cow: I put these in my son’s lunchbox with simple mills crackers.
- Beef Sticks: These are the perfect high protein snack for those growing kiddos.
Check out my Instagram video of all of our finds HERE.
Gluten Free Walmart Finds
Walmart is one of my favorite places to find our gluten free and dairy free foods. They have the best prices for what is available. Our Walmart in CO has way more options than our CA Walmart. Here is what I get at my local Walmart:
Dairy Free “Dairy” Items: I buy our dairy free butter, cream cheese, milks and yogurts here when available. They usually have vegan cheese, but I had a hard time finding it during this visit.
Bars: They have everything, Larabar, MadeGood, Kind, etc.
Gluten Free Section: You can find cookies, bread, mixes, pasta, everything here. I buy cookies and any snacks they have on hand.
Siete Chips: They have several flavors to choose from.
Simple Mills: They are the only place other than Whole Foods that I have seen the individual sized Simple Mills packages.
You can watch my Instagram video of what we found HERE.
Gluten Free Costco Finds
Costco is my favorite store until I check my bank account after I check out. But, they have an awesome gluten free section and buying in bulk is the way to go.
Produce: I buy fresh produce for their lunchboxes.
Crackers and Chips: I buy all regular potato chips, Siete Chips, Hippeas, Siete Chips and Crunchmaster.
Nut Butters: They have peanut butter, almond butter and sunflower butter.
Madegood: Granola bites are available here.
Bobo’s: They have Bobo’s here too, so I can always grab them in bulk.
Dried Fruit and Seaweed: Such an awesome healthy snack.
Siete Tortillas: These are the best price anywhere!
Lunchmeat: I buy ham and turkey here for the entire family.
Frozen Pizza: There are a few options, but none are dairy free.
Chicken Strips: I believe it’s Feel Good Foods. These are not dairy free, but a great gluten free option.
Canyon Bakehouse Bread: These are only available in CO, but Costco needs to have these at every Costco!
You can watch my Instagram video of what we found HERE.
I hope this helps you on your gluten free back to school journey! Having multiple food allergies/intolerances is not easy, but stores like these make it a little bit easier!
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