Ask a Dietitian

Back to school lunches can pose many challenges for parents when deciding what to make.   Not only do you want it to be nutritious but you also want your kids to eat it.  If peanut butter sandwiches were your good old standby, what do you send in a peanut-free or nut-free school?  There are lots of alternatives out there!  See a nutrient comparison below:

Peanut Butter: Pure natural peanut butter contains 200 kcal/2 Tbsp, 16g fat (2 saturated), 6g carbs (2 sugar and 1 fibre), 8g protein.

Wow Butter: a soybean butter with a touch of added sugar and salt.  200kcal/2 Tbsp has 15g fat, 7 g protein, 8g carbs (2g of which are fibre and 4g sugar)

No Nuts Golden Peabutter made from brown peas, canola oil, icing sugar, modified palm oil and mono-and diglycerides, citric acid.  2 Tbsp contains 180kcal, 14g of fat (2 saturated), 12g carbs, (2 g sugar and 2 g fibre), 4g protein.

Sunbutter: Sunflower Seeds, Evaporated Cane Syrup, Palm oil to prevent separation, Salt and Natural Mixed Tocopherols (vitamin E) to preserve freshness.  2 tbsp contains 200 kcal, 16g of fat, 2 g saturated fat, 7g protein, 7g carbs (3g sugar, 4g fibre).

Nutella: made with hazelnuts and some milk but lots of sugar and fat.  200kcal/2 Tbsp, 12 g fat, 22g carbs (22g sugar), no fibre, 2 g protein.  Obviously not an equivalent to nut and seed butters so use it sparingly and consider treating it like a jam added to a nut butter.

Jam: 100kcal/2 Tbsp, 26g sugar, 0g protein, 0g fat.

Other great options for spreads either alone or with added ingredients include: Cream cheese, guacamole, salsa, cream cheese, hummus, vegetable purees like red pepper and spinach, dean dips (black bean dip or refried beans and salsa), other nut butters such as almond, cashew and hazelnut, sesame tahini or tapenade.

Ideally if there wasn’t any added sugar or salt the above spreads would compare to natural peanut butter but they may not taste as great.  Since the added sugar and salt is relatively low for all I think they can all be good substitutes.