Lunch box ideas for teenage boys

mhoc

My sons are nearly 17 and nearly 15 and I still make their lunch boxes for school/college/days out (yes I know I am soft but at least I know then they are not going to spend the day grazing on rubbish food). They are both stick thin but have huge appetites and start eating their way through their boxes at first break. They also have love sweet things and complain if there is not enough cake in their boxes.

They have two sandwiches (four slices of thick wholmeal thread) with either sliced chicken breast meat, pork and stuffing, grated cheese or mashed boiled egg), youngest will also have salad in his sannies.

Plus a choice of 2 or 3 "cake" which could be a museli bar, small apple pie, danish pastry, some sort of home made cake or shop bought cookie

Plus a mini orange or apple, sometimes they get left out by "accident"!

They also take bottles of water.

Any other suggestions for variety? Also trying to cut down on fat and sugar content but I dont want compliants about being hungry. The youngest looks totally exhausted by home time anyway so I have to make sure he is getting enough calories.

They have to have things that fit snuggly in a lunch box and will stand being jigged around for three hours in a rucksac!

I did suggest a foil wrapped square of cheese to eat as a snack but there was no enthusiasm. The youngest is quite health consious so he will sometimes do himself some celery matchsticks or dried fruit boxes.

Anything else? Spend an hour each morning encouraging breakfast eating - cereal/toast, scrambled eggs/porridge, juice, fruit, varying degrees of success depending on how rushed for time we are

Mary

ka7e

I would recommend getting as much porridge inside them at breakfast as possible! If you leave the oats to soak in milk overnight (in the fridge) it only takes a few minutes to zap in the microwave. Tart it up with stewed fruit or golden syrup, if it gets boring. It really is a good filler.
Bananas are another good source of calories without fat or extra sugar.
Try putting in some extra portions of fruit instead of the cakes - if they are really hungry they may eat them!
Lidl do cheap cartons of pure fruit juice (5 for 79p) which give a quick sugar rush!

Mandles

Have you thought about tuna pasta with cucumber or tomato & mayonaise? My kids love it and would be easy to take in in a little tupperware type pot.

HopeElizzy

Hi, I'm just starting to do a lunchbox for my daughter (4yo) as she started school today.........does this mean in 13 years time I'll still be doing it?:rotfl:

She only needs a small amount compared to your boys but I'm putting things like: crackers & cheese, HM raisin cookies, dried fruit, bagels with peanut butter, HM muffins, sandwiches with tuna or ham or sausage or chicken or salmon or egg and salad etc, popcorn, apples, satsumas, pears, bananas, carrots, cereal bars, chicken drumsticks, cherry tomatoes in her box.

Smashing

satay sticks
homemade kebabs - or cheese and pineapple/other fruit on a skewer
yogurts/custard/rice pud pots
chicken drumsticks
sausage rolls
houmous and breadsticks
maybe swap sandwiches for bagels/wraps/rolls/pasta, rice or cous cous salads some days
fruit smoothies
flask of chunky soup in winter
malt loaf
flapjacks are good to fill a hole

Bambywamby

Boiled eggs are very filling, low fat and full of protein.
Home made pizza slices (you can sly lots of veggies on top of these)
Scotch Eggs
Can you do a flask also with home made soup & bread? (very filling)
malt loaf - sweet, tasty & filling
Home made fruit cake
Cold chicken legs maybe.

patchwork_cat

The prblem I have with my children is they will only take food that the other children or teachers don't comment on.

My son used to take little pots of jelly that I made until one boy said it looked like blood. Now he won't take tuna sandwiches because others comment on the smell. My daughter used to have an nta who commented on her garlic sausage that she loved and now she won't take that. It really is becoming a pain as my son won't eat anyother cold meat except ham- he won't take tuna even let alone Mackerel - which he likes in pasta salad. He does take bacon sandwiches and sausage sandwiches.

anniebooklover

mhoc, are you sure your sons are hungry and not just thirsty??? You didn't mention how much they drink in a day. I was told that when I felt hungry I should take a drink of water first as the body expresses thirst as hunger. Do they have plenty of water in their lunch bags? (sorry, don't mean to preach but my daughter doesn't drink nearly enough and complains of being hungry a lot. Having a drink of water makes her feel much better and she will admit that she was actually thirsty not hungry.)

My DS who is 13 but is 5' 9 1/2" loves tortilla wraps filled with salad, chicken, veggies and mayo (low-fat, of course). They are very filling. If you folded over both ends of the wrap they should travel well. Son also loves thick wholemeal bread with spring onions, salad, chicken or turkey with a thin spreading of low-fat mayo. Pad this out with fruit and maybe some hm sugar-free cakes (you mentioned they both have a sweet tooth) and they should be fine.

dlb

Not very healthy but i sometimes pack up a cooked hm pastie for dinner instead of a sandwich, and also slices of hm cheesy bread with real butter.

I dont worry to much about the `healthy` packed lunch as long as they have had enough to eat, they get a full hm dinner ever night roast veg ect so i am happy knowing they are not hungery at school

Westywoodpecker

HopeElizzy wrote:

Hi, I'm just starting to do a lunchbox for my daughter (4yo) as she started school today.........does this mean in 13 years time I'll still be doing it?:rotfl:

Errr YES!

Queenie

Not so sure it's a lack of calories that is causing your ds to come home looking exhausted based soley on what you have written, it may even be a case of a sugar slump! High sugar foods (the cakes/danish pastries/apple pies) will give him an immediate sugar rush so when it calms down, he will feel tired.

Do you make your own bread/have a bread machine? You could make delicious wholewheat breads with a variety of additions such as pumpkin seeds, sultana's etc which would be filling for the lads and healthy. An hour each morning enticing them to eat something for breakfast does sound rather ... time consuming?

Spanish tortilla's are great cold, easily transportable in a lunchbox and filling, as are Frittata's.

Calzones are very good and a great way to use up small amounts of leftovers/odds and ends from the fridge and they are "belly huggers" too (posted in todays daily thread on how to make them if it interests you/them)

Pitta breads filled with salads and tuna are rib sticklers.

On the sweeter side, you could make your own yogurts and pack those in small round reuseable containers and spice them up with dried fruits, chopped fresh fruits, jams, fruit puree's.

Instead of cakes, make a fruit salad? Cold rice pudding is economical, filling and sweet Throw in some fruit (fresh/dried/tinned) and it's even better

As I know from experience ... teen lads all seem to have been born with hollow legs and when push came to shove, at our most hard up ... they would come home and wolf down a bowl of cornflakes as an inbetween meal snack :rotfl: Maybe that is something you want to consider for those fall throught the door starving moments?