Sharing a few of my favourite lunchbox concepts for teenagers!
Hello associates! How are you? I hope that you just’re having a beautiful morning thus far. I’ve packed this week with podcast interviews and consumer calls – right here we goooooo – as a result of the Pilot is dwelling and might take over homeschool duties.
For right this moment’s put up, I needed to share some lunchbox concepts for youngsters. I make the women’ lunches day-after-day, and I like placing them collectively. Liv’s faculty presents scorching lunch, which is takeout from completely different quick meals eating places, but it surely’s tremendous costly (like $20 for Chick-Fil-A) they usually don’t even hold the meals heat earlier than serving it to the children. So for high quality and price causes, I hold making their meals right here at dwelling.
Final yr, I’d generally open Liv’s lunchbox to scrub it, and fairly a little bit of it could nonetheless be sitting in right here.
“Why didn’t you eat lunch? Aren’t you hungry at lunchtime?”
“I’m somewhat 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 type of packing her “little child lunches.” Don’t get me mistaken, they nonetheless appeared good and had a lot of tasty and wholesome parts, however she needed an precise meal as an alternative of a bagel or PB&J. It was an enormous lightbulb second for me as a result of I’d really feel the identical manner. I don’t like consuming the identical chilly issues day-after-day, and for lunch, I usually choose a *meal* as an alternative 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 select 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 pleasurable.
Listed below are a few of the issues which are within the rotation:
Packed lunch concepts for teen
Major course:
Pasta salad
That is the finest pasta salad on the planet and you may make it prematurely to take pleasure in all through the week.
Chopped salad with do-it-yourself dressing
Liv loves a chopped salad and I’ll normally add several types of greens, a protein (like leftover hen or sliced deli turkey), garbanzo beans, edamame, poshi artichokes or asparagus, grated cheese, olives, veggies, and a do-it-yourself dressing.
Jennifer Aniston salad
All of us LOVE this salad and it’s really easy to pack for lunch with grilled hen on high.
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 hold it in a glass container.
Sliced grilled hen with dipping sauces and rice
I’ll usually 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 high
Pre-cook the ravioli, drizzle olive oil on high 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. Generally after dinner I’ll ask Liv what I can pack her for lunch and he or she’ll ask if we’ve got 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 needed to pack up and take for lunch.
Greek bowls with pita bread
Rice, hen, hummus, Greek salad, grape leaves, and pita
Sides:
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 these days it’s been berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries), grapes, just a few kinds of melon, and a pineapple. I soak the berries in vinegar and water for 2-5 minutes and allow them to dry utterly 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 high
Selfmade cookies, brownies, bars, or some chocolate for dessert
I’m attempting to scale back the quantity of pacakged snacks we purchase, however we nonetheless get snacky issues and pantry staples at Thrive Market < — my hyperlink saves you 40% in your first order.
So, inform me, associates: 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, they’d the BEST scorching lunch choices. You can order sushi (!), acai bowls, Caesar salads, soups, sandwiches, it was ridiculous.
xo
Gina