Packed lunch ideas for teens

Sharing a few of my favourite lunchbox concepts for teenagers!

Hello buddies! How are you? I hope that you simply’re having a beautiful morning up to now. I’ve packed this week with podcast interviews and shopper calls – right here we goooooo – as a result of the Pilot is residence and may take over homeschool duties.

For immediately’s publish, I wished to share some lunchbox concepts for youngsters. I make the women’ lunches each day, and I really like placing them collectively. Liv’s faculty provides sizzling lunch, which is takeout from totally different quick meals eating places, however it’s tremendous costly (like $20 for Chick-Fil-A) they usually don’t even preserve the meals heat earlier than serving it to the youngsters. So for high quality and value causes, I preserve making their meals right here at residence.

Final yr, I might generally open Liv’s lunchbox to clean it, and fairly a little bit of it will nonetheless be sitting in right here.

“Why didn’t you eat lunch? Aren’t you hungry at lunchtime?”

“I’m just a little hungry however generally I don’t actually desire a bagel or a sandwich… I’d love a meal.”

“A meal? Like what do you imply?”

“Like ramen, or hen, or salad or one thing like that.”

This blew my thoughts. I used to be nonetheless sort of packing her “little child lunches.” Don’t get me incorrect, they nonetheless seemed good and had a lot of tasty and wholesome parts, however she wished an precise meal as a substitute of a bagel or PB&J. It was an enormous lightbulb second for me as a result of I’d really feel the identical method. I don’t like consuming the identical chilly issues each day, and for lunch, I typically favor a *meal* as a substitute of a bagel or PB&J.

[And for the friends out there who might be wondering why she didn’t pack her own lunch, she was dancing 10+ hours a week last year across town and had hours of homework each night. It’s also one of those things that I’m happy to do for them – I enjoy it!]

I began asking her for lunch concepts, and taking her to Costco and Complete Meals with me to pick issues that look good to her. Now I make her *meals* for lunch which are nonetheless simply as quick as making a PB&J or bagel, however they’re extra satisfying and fulfilling.

Listed below are a number of the issues which are within the rotation:

Packed lunch concepts for teen

Important course:

Pasta salad

That is the best pasta salad in the world and you may make it prematurely to get pleasure from all through the week.

Chopped salad with do-it-yourself dressing

Liv loves a chopped salad and I’ll normally add various kinds of greens, a protein (like leftover hen or sliced deli turkey), garbanzo beans, edamame, poshi artichokes or asparagus, grated cheese, olives, veggies, and a homemade dressing.

Jennifer Aniston salad

We all LOVE this salad and it’s really easy to pack for lunch with grilled hen on prime.

Egg bites

These will also be made prematurely and frozen. All of us love these Mediterranean Egg Bites or these Starbucks copycat egg bites.

Ramen or Buldok

She loves ramen and doesn’t thoughts consuming it chilly/room temperature, so I’ll make it the evening earlier than and preserve it in a glass container.

Sliced grilled hen with dipping sauces and rice

I’ll typically meal prep hen or meatballs and pack these in her lunch with ranch or BBQ sauce to dip.

Ravioli with olive oil and grated cheese on prime

Pre-cook the ravioli, drizzle olive oil on prime and grated parmegiano reggiano.

Pizza

It’s really easy to wrap up and pack a few items of pizza

Leftovers

It’s humorous as a result of I used to hate leftovers as a child, however the women love them. Typically after dinner I’ll ask Liv what I can pack her for lunch and she or he’ll ask if we now have leftovers from our meal. If we do, I simply pack them as much as go. Issues like lasagna, enchiladas, papusas, chili or floor beef, and stir fries are all choices that she’s wished to pack up and take for lunch.

Greek bowls with pita bread

Rice, hen, hummus, Greek salad, grape leaves, and pita

Sides:

Homemade energy balls

Fruit

I’ll wash, chop up, and prep a ton of fruit for the week since all of us love snacking on it. I normally purchase what’s in season, so recently it’s been berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries), grapes, a number of varieties of melon, and a pineapple. I soak the berries in vinegar and water for 2-5 minutes and allow them to dry fully earlier than storing in glass containers. I additionally chop the melon and pineapple and retailer in glass containers.

Jerky

Chips – Boulder, Siete, or Jackson’s are the go-tos however she additionally loves Taki’s every so often or the Dealer Joe’s copycat Taki’s

Dried fruit or fruit strips

Poshi veggie packs

Sliced veggies with hummus

Cheese

Yogurt with fruit on prime

Selfmade cookies, brownies, bars, or some chocolate for dessert

I’m trying to reduce the amount of pacakged snacks we buy, however we nonetheless get snacky issues and pantry staples at Thrive Market < — my hyperlink saves you 40% in your first order.

So, inform me, buddies: what do your teenagers prefer to eat for lunch? What’s the recent lunch situtaion like at your faculty?

At Liv’s preschool in San Diego, that they had the BEST sizzling lunch choices. You can order sushi (!), acai bowls, Caesar salads, soups, sandwiches, it was ridiculous.

xo

Gina