How to Survive a Nut-Free Classroom or School

Okay, so you’re probably in panic mode because you just realized your child’s classroom is a nut-free room.

Or maybe, your entire school is peanut free? Tree-nut free?

I know that there are many opinions out there like, “This isn’t fair to the rest of us.” And, “Do we really have to abide by this if your classroom doesn’t have any nut-free kids?”

And the contrary, “Kids attending a peanut free school shouldn’t even eat peanut butter at home.”

I’ve heard it ALL in my 11 years of teaching!

So, let me share how I cope in hopes of helping you navigate this tricky aspect of back-to-school; whether it’s a first for you or you’re just looking for fresh ideas.

Be Considerate

Let’s first just get a little perspective here and think outside of our own conveniences.

1. Please remember, if it were your child who had a potential life-threatening allergy, you would want others to be considerate of their needs. Be considerate of the rules and policy in your school or classroom.
2. Do not let your children hear you complain about the policy or specific student(s) with the allergy. This creates conflict and potential behavior that is negatively directed toward the child with the allergy. Not fair, considerate, or appropriate.
3. It’s okay when you make a mistake and send that one item unintentionally those couple of times, but please don’t do it on purpose. It’s embarrassing, and sometimes upsetting, for your child.
4. If you are in a Christian school, please think of this as one way that we can love our neighbor as ourselves. It’s another way to build community and create an inclusive environment loving others for their uniqueness.

Whether you agree with the policy or not, let’s shift our thinking toward positive reasons why and how we can do this.

Check Your School’s Nut-Free Policy

First of all, to answer all the questions about ingredient labels, etc., it’s important for parents to read the info put out by their particular school.

Our school has a parent handbook and everything is clearly stated in that handbook.

For example: Our school policy is that there are no peanut or tree-nut products in any classrooms or school, no exceptions. Homemade foods are allowed but parents are requested to pay attention to their ingredients (no nut products in their homemade goodies).

Also, parents are informed that packaged goods should not contain nuts in the ingredient list. However, our policy also clearly says, “This does NOT include products that contain the warning that the item was made in a facility that produces nuts.” Thank goodness!

So, maybe your school is like mine, maybe its guidelines are less, or more. Please read the information put out by your school so that you are aware and have answers to those questions that are particular to each school.

Is Coconut Nut-Free

Is it just me or is this a common question? I sure thought that coconut was safe to bring to my nut-free school. But, in reading up on it, coconut, although botanically unrelated to tree-nuts, is considered a tree-nut by the FDA.

Here is an interesting read about allergies and cross-reactivity between various nuts (and seeds).

“Healthy” Nut-Free Snack Ideas

I want to share more on peanut-butter alternatives, but let’s quick cover some “healthy-ish” nut-free snacks that you can buy in the store.

Here’s what I’ve seen as a classroom teacher and many that I use for my own child:

1. Made Good Granola Bites (Costco is where I get them)
2. Cascadian Farms Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars
3. Any nut-free granola bar
4. Applesauce pouches
5. Boiled Eggs
6. Meat sticks (preferably with few preservatives and no MSG)
7. Cheese sticks
8. Dried fruit and seed mix (check your seeds for peanut oil)
9. Packaged cookies or crackers (not healthy but if they are nut-free, I succumb).
10. Cheese and crackers (nut free crackers)
11. Yogurt Stick
12. veggies
13. fruit

I’m sure there are many more ideas out there, but these are my go-to nut-free options for my 5 year old.

Nut-free Alternatives on the Market

I know that the biggest battle isn’t finding peanut butter alternatives so much as finding something your child will actually eat.

It’s simply the reality that some kids are pickier than others. They like their particular familiar foods and, it seams, that peanut butter is one of them.

Because of my nut intolerances, we always have sun butter in the house (and nut butter). Thus, my kids have been exposed to peanut butter, sun butter, and almond butter. Sun butter is their favorite. I feel pretty lucky about that.

Well, I’ve put together a little recipe/concoction for you to try if sun butter or WOW Butter has your kids turning up their noses. I’ll share that in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Jump to Recipe

Here is a quick list of peanut butter alternatives on the market.

Peanut Butter Alternatives

• WOW Butter– A soy product. A similar texture and flavor to regular peanut butter. Most groceries carry this product.

• Sun Butter– Trader Joe’s has unsweetened and sweetened and there is a Sun Butter brand, as well. I’ve also purchased another brand at Aldi but it’s not consistently available.

• Granola Butter – Kween is the brand. It’s a new product, to me, but it contains collagen which boosts the protein content to be similar to PB. I found it on Amazon and I’m waiting for a sample to arrive. It is nut-free.

• Chocti – 4th and Heart is the brand. It’s a popular brand in the Keto, Paleo, Whole 30 space. I first saw this at Family Fare (who has a really great Paleo game going these days) for $14. Thus, I haven’t tried it but I’m super curious. The ingredients are: dates, cacao, and ghee. It seems to be more of a Nutella alternative if you ask me. I’ll bet it’s delicious.

Sugary Nut Butters

I thought I’d quick burst all of y’alls little bubble and mention how much sugar is in nut-butter!! Yep, unless you check your labels to ensure you are getting the unsweetened version, you/your kids are consuming a ton of sugar (especially if they are eating it by the spoonful).

Sun butter is also sweetened with sugar but can also be purchased “unsweetened.” Just something to watch for if that is important to you.

Now, I’m aware that this peanut butter alternative recipe (below) is also pretty well sweetened since I added honey to the recipe. Sometimes, you just pick your battles, and I get that.

My Peanut Butter Alternative “Recipe”

My hope was to come up with something chocolaty and completely different than peanut butter because most kids can’t say no to chocolate.

The rich brown color is too tempting not to, at least, try.

However, in the process, I determined I really just like it without the cacao powder, although, you could make it both ways depending on your kids’ preferences. Thus, I’m including cacao in the recipe but it is great both ways.

(It is not “low in sugar,” however you could try something like Lakanto: Monk Fruit & Erythritol to sweeten instead of honey if that is important to you)