Sometimes dye free is a hassle

It seems so often that little things come up that should be easy but somehow seem harder when you try to stay dye-free. This week it was that party at day care. I really do have to say I am blessed by the wonderful daycare for my kids. My kids only go 2 days a week since I work part time. And luckily my kids can go year round for summer camp, and for preschool and after school too. That way I only have one place to train the staff about keeping all 3 of my kids dye free. Well, school is another story.

But this week it was the party for my boys who played piano and cello in the day care talent show. The director let me know last Thursday that they would be having ice cream sundaes for a special snack today. I was appreciative of the notice. That let me pack rice ice cream for my GFCF boy. I also supplied dye free sprinkles (look for the clown bottle, I think it's called Mr. Sprinkles). I obsessively checked the ice cream and chocolate sauce myself to make sure there there were no dyes in either product. So it was extra planning and stress to make sure I remembered the extra items early this morning. I had to spend a few minutes looking over the ingredient labels in the day care kitchen. But all in all it worked out great. My boys had a treat like everyone else, but one that meets our family's food requirements. I'm sharing this so you can get ideas on how communicating with others helps you keep things normal for the kids, but without the draw-backs of dye induced behavior.

Tomorrow I'll embark on another dye-free baking frenzy to get ready for Valentine's Day parties.

dealing with dyes in school snacks

It's hard enough to avoid the food dyes at home and at restaurants. They are hidden in products you would never expect. It's an even more complicated mess to try to keep my kids from eating all the tempting colored treats at school. Ben has gotten tired of having the "melt downs" after eating red so he's pretty good at avoiding things, or asking about ingredients before eating things. At the "meet the teacher" night we explained that our son cannot have food dye and other parents seemed interested. I told the teacher that safe treats are white cakes without the sprinkles, glazed donuts, and chocolate or chocolate chip cookies.

Last week, one parent contacted me to check what Ben could have. She happens to be a former colleague so that may make her more willing to go the extra mile. She decided to make white cup cakes, but her daughter was really hoping for some chocolate sprinkles. I emailed back to leave a plain one for Ben, but also added that if she was shopping for sprinkles anyway, that the Mr. Sprinkles clown bottle is dye free. I heard back from that Mom today that while others were running around the store restocking milk and meat from the massive power outages, they were looking for the clown sprinkles and found them! How blessed we are when someone is willing to go out of their way to include my son so he can eat what the rest of the class eats. If you read this, Thanks Laura!

For the times when other treats are sent in, I have supplied the teacher with individually sealed cakes that don't have dye. Most "Little Debbie" snacks are fine, but it's best to read the label.