It’s always a challenge to figure out what to take to school or work or on a picnic that will make a satisfying and tasty lunch. But if you throw in the challenges of a special diet, it takes some extra thought and planning. Let’s sit down together and talk about it, shall we? Limitations can serve as blessings in disguise, and if we look at it that way we see that SCD lunches are going to be more interesting, wholesome and delicious than the usual, because they are going to be home made and produced with fresh, healthy ingredients.
Plan ahead by gathering various useful containers. You’re likely to take soup and salads, as well as various kinds of finger foods, so a good soup thermos and a few larger plastic lidded boxes will be perfect. Small containers will hold dressings and dips. Sandwich bags and ziplock snack size bags will be just right for lots of items, from sandwiches to carrot sticks and apple slices. Stores such as Target carry every kind of container you’ll ever need!
If you’re able to think a little bit like a general planning a campaign, I suggest that you visualize the campaign as providing yourself with lunches for two weeks to a month at a time. Plan to have at least two sandwiches per week and dinner leftovers at least once or twice. Lunch planning and preparing will become routine if you keep the big picture in mind.
In our own family, the best way for me to plan menus has always been a month at a time. This way I can think through the calendar, taking into account various holidays, schedules, events and any other considerations. I can buy enough of the right ingredients so we can eat an interesting and varied menu for quite a while! For example, if we’re going to have meals with beans, I can soak and cook one whole package, providing enough for two more meals later in the month. Or if I’m cooking a pork roast, I can purchase a larger one, so some of it can become lunch time leftovers. Cooking this way is a low-stress way to feed people and is economical too.
So in your lunch planning, figure out how many sandwiches you’ll probably want to have, then make a big batch of Easy Sandwich Bread that will last all month in the freezer! If you’re making meat loaf, double the recipe, providing leftovers for lunches. Do this with all your dinner entrees!
Buy boneless skinless chicken breasts and poach several.* Cut up the meat and freeze it in baggies, ready for you to take as is or make into a salad or sandwich for lunch. Hard boil enough eggs to last a couple of weeks if you like egg salad or deviled eggs for lunch.*
Once a week, cut up lots of cheese cubes to use for snacks or to round out a lunch. Make a bowl of tuna salad* for sandwiches that will last 2 or 3 days. Make soup, then freeze the leftovers in lunch size portions for later in the month. Every few days stuff a plateful of dates with pecans and put them in the fridge. They make great snacks or lunch treats and can be carried around unrefrigerated all day.
Always keep legal nut butters on hand to use as a dip for apples, carrots or other veggies. You can make great sandwiches with peanut butter along with honey or raisins or sliced bananas. If you’re cooking bacon, prepare extra to be frozen and used later in a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. (You can eat bacon once a week.) Make nut candy or sugar plums to provide delicious and satisfying desserts. Check all the recipe sections of NoMoreCrohns.com, looking at each recipe to see if it could be used for lunches. Make note of any you would like to use in the future and then plan them into your monthly shopping and cooking plans.
You can do it! It’s totally worth it because choosing to walk down this road will lead to normal health and the chance to have your life back! Let us be the first to congratulate you and encourage you to go for it!