This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 10:42 am and is filed under Soymilk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
It’s back to school time now for most of the United States. If you have dairy-free kids going into school for the first time, you should be prepared for the issues that may come up with school lunches.
The Food Pyramid at Work
In nearly every school in America, milk is a standard part of the lunches that are served in the cafeteria. Because of USDA regulations, schools are required to provide foods from all of the standard food groups - including dairy. That means that in addition to the dairy-heavy food (think pizza, macaroni and cheese, and yogurt), your child’s school lunches will probably be required to have a small carton of milk included.
Come With a Note
Some schools are more progressive than others and offer the option to substitute soy milk for dairy milk. In order to take advantage of this option, you will more than likely need a note from your child’s doctor stating that they are not allowed to have dairy. However, it is still difficult to get dairy-free food from a school cafeteria that consists of anything more than a tossed salad.
If All Else Fails, Pack a Lunch
In our school district, soy substitutions are not offered. If we provide the school with a doctor’s note, our lactose intolerant daughter would be allowed to drink juice instead of milk with lunch. However, they do not offer any accommodations for the food in the lunches.
In order to keep our daughter safe and healthy, we’ve opted to send her to school with a packed lunch every day. We invested in a good-quality insulated drink container, and she takes it to school every day full of delicious homemade soy milk.
A Happy Ending
Although lactose intolerant kids can’t share in a lot of the school treats that other kids will have, they can bring along their own treats. Packing a lunch every morning with your child can be a great opportunity to spend some extra time with them. Give your child some input into their lunch and they won’t feel cheated because they can’t eat what the other kids are eating.
Every morning, I remind my daughter that she is very special because she gets to choose what to take to school instead of eating what’s on the menu. She loves showing off her tasty dairy-free food to all of her new school friends!