Your kitchen is the danger zone, not the lunch box.

An allergy-safe lunch is less about fancy products and more about how you run your kitchen.

The basic rule: clean everything first. Wash your hands, wipe the counter like someone just spilled milk on it, and use a cutting board and utensils that haven’t touched the allergen since their last trip through the dishwasher. Don’t pack lunch on the same counter where you spread peanut butter toast that morning. You think you wiped it well. You probably didn’t.

Read the label every single time, even if it’s the same brand you bought last week. Food companies change recipes and factories without changing the packaging much. The “contains” statement is your friend. Don’t trust your memory.

It helps to have dedicated gear for the allergy kid — one cutting board, one spoon, containers that either get used only for their food or go through a seriously hot wash. And here’s the routine hack: pack the lunch before you start making everyone else’s food, not after. That way the peanut butter jar is still in the pantry.

Send the lunch box already sealed, tell the school your kid is not to share food, and make sure the lunch box is washable enough that you can give it the same treatment every night.

A little paranoia keeps the routine honest.