Packed Lunches for Hungry Teen Boy
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Anonymous
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I think many responders may be confusing two things: who actually packs and what is purchased to be packed.
Both of my kids have been packing their own lunches since about third grade. BUT all of us still struggle with coming up with ideas for new and different lunches for my to buy the ingredients so that they can pack. We get in a rut. The question here is not really any different than people asking about "good salads to take to the pool" or "healthy plant based meals." Nobody responds to those threads by telling OP to have the family cook for themselves. Dang ya'll are mean. |
Anonymous
I do not think this is true, but the answer is that the teen is supposed to be learning how to be an independent adult, not waiting to transition from parent to spouse. |
Anonymous
| Nature valley protein bars. |
Anonymous
Goodness. Would it be acceptable to you if the teen is making dinner for the entire family three times per week, but the parent packs the lunch? Maybe parent works late and the teen contributes to the family through dinners, or housecleaning, or yardwork, or laundry for everyone. And parent gets up early and likes to do some stuff for the famiyl before leaving for work. I am a STRONG believer that independence is important and that we should be focused on raising functional adults. But that does not equate to doing nothing at all for the child. In fact, modeling a shared distribution of duties and acts of kindness for eachother is also part of that. Each family can find the right balance for themselves. So many assumptions on this thread. |
Anonymous
| Protein powder (choc/coffee/salted caramel) that he can mix with water for dessert. Huel has some great flavors |
Anonymous
That is so processed. If OPs kids will eat natural foods, that is always better. |
Anonymous
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He could
Add baby carrots and hummus Add little tubs of guac (Costco sells them) to go with the chips Add full-fat yogurt Add a salad with cheese Don't just add empty calories to fill him up (although some empty calories are fun, so go for it, a little). He'll feel better if the lunch he packs had more nutritious ingredients, not just more heft |
Anonymous
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- Giant burritos? You can make a bunch and freeze (leave out the avocado and sour cream) and then warm up the morning of.
- Sesame peanut noodles using whole wheat noodles with chicken or tofu and dumplings. I buy the big frozen bag of dumplings and they can be cooked in the morning and then both the noodles and dumplings can be eaten at room temperature. - Falafel wrap with cucumber salad and tahini sauce, hummus or baba ganouj on the side and chickpea cous cous salad |
Anonymous
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In NY the Halal Guys is a super popular lunch food truck. You could make a big batch and portion out lunch for 2-3 days.
[url]https://www.seriouseats.com/serious-eats-halal-cart-style-chicken-and-rice-white-sauce-recipe [/url] |
Anonymous
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These salad kebabs would make adorable sides and look filling:
https://www.momontimeout.com/six-easy-lunch-kabobs-for-back-to-school/ |
Anonymous
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We just heat up and throw leftovers in a thermos - fried rice, leftover chinese food, pasta, taco meat, etc. and whatever fixings he might need to go with it. My husband makes a pulled pork hash that is to die for and that makes an awesome lunch. Once in a while I will pick up a potbelly sandwich as a surprise.
as others have said, have a variety of fruit, cheese, yogurt, veggies, olives, pickles, chips and dessert options for kid to pick from. |
Anonymous
BS I definitely never packed my lunch and functional as a normal adult |
Anonymous
Unless he is contributing to the family household in other ways, such as cleaning the house, shopping for food, doing the family wash (as spouses generally share in doing), he needs to make his own lunch by 14. Seriously, my 11 year old does it. |
Anonymous
+1. Get Rotisserie chickens and poultry shears. Cut up the chicken into quarters and you'll get four big meals. Figure out which stores have the biggest ones. Where I live Sam's Club has ones that are signficantly larger than the ones at the supermarket. Even if you buy then at one of the Peruvian chicken places for like $22 for a whole chicken, that's still under $6 per serving. Instead of chips, get some granola bars or a large bag of trail mix and make ziplocs of trail mix. The peanuts make it filling and he can eat some and put the ziploc in his pocket and eat the rest later if he gets hungry afterwards. |
Anonymous
We do this with brown rice-more filling- lemon and olive oil and some spinach or other vegetables mixed in. |