Healthy Lunch Ideas for Teens
Check out these school lunch ideas for teens by Kathy from Eclectic Lamb.
Healthy Lunches for Teens
I have some special teenage boys in my life. Their school day is long with sports practice and games after school. They were my consultants and testers for all of the teen lunch ideas and snacks shared here.
My teenagers bring a packed lunch and snack every day. Some teenagers may not want to bring a packed lunch to school. The opinion of my teen consultants is that when you bring food from home you can count on something good to eat.
Lunch Packing Tips
Here are my tips for packing food for teens. All lunches are packed in my favorite Easy Lunchboxes.
- Quantity: For teenage boys, it is all about the amount of food.
- Variety: Provide an assortment of food tailored to their taste.
- Leftovers: Plan dinner leftovers such as rice, pizza, potatoes, and pasta.
- Collaborate: Work with your teen when designing their lunches.
- Experiment: Try new food in limited quantities.
Easy Lunch Ideas for Teens
Below are five different specific lunches that I packed for my teenage sons. Use each as an inspiration for your own teen’s meal desires and needs. Mix and match ideas and ingredients from each for endless possibilities.
Lunch Idea 1 – Pizza Tarts, Banana, Celery with Blue Cheese Dressing, and Buffalo Wing Pretzel Crisps
Use homemade or store-bought mini pizzas with their preferred toppings. Celery sticks are elevated with a salad dressing dip. Your child will get many important nutrients from a banana. Top it off with flavored Pretzel Crisps.
Lunch Idea 2 – Onigiri (rice balls filled with black beans, cheddar cheese, and salsa), dried seaweed, hard-boiled eggs, Boston lettuce leaves, black pepper, pineapple, and sugar snap peas
Kids love rice, so they will enjoy eating these handheld onigiris. Adjust the filling to include their beans of choice.
More Easy Lunch Boxes to Pack
Lunch Idea 3 – Twice-baked potato bites, strawberry Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries, carrot, and pistachios
My boys love these mini baked potato bites covered with cheese. Mix up the yogurt with different berries or other fruit. Pack different nuts for good variety.
Lunch Idea 4 – Homemade pretzels, Babybel cheese or Cheddar or Mozzarella cheese sticks, black olives, and green grapes
These home-baked pretzels are a favorite of my sons and their friends.
Lunch Idea 5 – English Muffin Veggie Pizza (make your own) – 3 toasted English Muffin halves, cream cheese mixed with a little ranch powder, Mozzarella cheese, sugar snap peas, almonds, sliced red pepper and carrots
Create a more mature Lunchable that teens will enjoy putting together. Get their input on toppings.
Healthy Snacks for Teens
Many teens have long days away from home with all their extracurricular activities. Here are some snack ideas for teenagers that fit into a backpack to eat after school and before sports practice.
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- Homemade trail mix (pretzel snaps, almonds, craisins, yogurt covered raisins)
- Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Bread
- Trader Joe’s Multigrain Pita Bite Crackers and pistachios
- Kind Fruit & Nut Bar (Almond & Coconut) and sugar snap peas
- Peanut Butter Energy Balls
I hope these teenage lunch ideas have inspired you to pack a healthier lunch for your child.
Maybe they will be motivated to pack their own!
-Kathy from Eclectic Lamb
Thanks for sharing these great lunch ideas for teenagers, Kathy! Please visit Kathy’s blog and follow her social media.
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Congratulations!
Your post is featured on Full Plate Thursday this week. Thanks so much for sharing your talent with us and have a wonderful week!
Miz Helen
Leta, These are the ones used in the post. http://amzn.to/2xr5r3f There are different colored lid choices. Lids stay on and keep the food separated.
I’ve been looking for those three compartment tupperwares for some time. Where to you get yours? Thanks for sharing – my teen does not like sandwiches in his lunch so I’m excited to try some of these.
You rock my dear! I so need to get on some good lunches for the boys. Lately I haven't had time at night.
Hi Diana, you had me at your blog name – I love to ramble on too! I can't believe I've not found you before, you have so many great ideas. I'm g+ following and having a look at your pin party as soon as I've finished rambling on here.
I have 2 teenage boys who are always hunting for food, they usually end up with breakfast cereal (morning,noon and night) as their go to between meal snack, I will be steering them towards some of these great ideas. Thanks
Great ideas for any age! Even my husband would love these! Thank you for linkingup to Mom's Library, I'll be featuring you this week on Crystal's Tiny Treasures.
SO great! I just love these ideas for big kids {or even my husband!!!} Thanks for linking up to Tasteful Tuesdays at Nap-Time Creations… You have been featured… I've tweeted, +1ed and posted on FB… feel free to re-list on your social media…see you at the party next week!
EMily
Thanks so much for these super ideas for lunches for teens, definitely something I will be using to fill the lunch packets in my home :)Pinned!
Thanks so much for sharing on Tutorial Thursdays Linky Party, I can't wait to see the cool goodies you share with us next week!
x
Natalie
Marigolds' Loft
Everything looks delicious. I really want to try those rice balls. Thanks for showing us how to mix it up and make lunch fun at Mom's Library!
Good for you Bethany! I've been trying to eat better and started exercising.
You know me all too well! I've actually started making adult bentos. As I write this I'm eating a lunchable style bento with raisins and carrot sticks. Last week was ham and cream cheese bagels with some apple slices and carrots. It really fits in with my fitness goals. Thanks so much for featuring this talented guest blogger and also for your inspiring bento creations!
Thanks Lorraine.
Kathy is very inspirational!
I knew you'd like this post!!! Great ideas from Kathy! It's been pinned over 1000 times in less than a week.
These are all great ideas. Thanks so much for the inspiration. 🙂 Angela at sunnysweetlife.blogspot.com
Great ideas! I pinned a whole bunch of them. Going to use some of this for me!
I have teenagers who look and eat like NFL Linebackers. This would definitely only be a snack but a very healthy one. I like it. Thanks for sharing. I'm lorraine from transformation tuesday my website is http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com
Great tips Joann!!
Yea…your 16 yr old will have a happy tummy now!
I'm so glad I came across this post via Marvelous Mondays linky party! I have a 12 year old who seems to be sooo much easier to pack fun lunches for, but my poor 16 year old son has been eating the same things over and over. Thanks so much for these great ideas!
Thanks for the ideas, I too have two teenage boys and soon to be teenage daughter to pack for. Fortunately, mine aren't very fussy! I plan on posting their school lunch menu for the month on my new blog. Part one is posted if you are interested in taking a peek.
http://organizingourfamilyhome.blogspot.ca/2013/08/planning-for-school-lunches-part-1.html
Yes, these ideas go way beyond teens!
Hey! This might just make it into my grown-up lunch at work! These are awesome ideas! Thanks!
Kylie
absolutelyarkansas.blogspot.com
Saving. My pre-teen is taking cold lunch for the first time every. Hoping to get him out of the rut of taking pb and j sandwiches!
Ravenous is a GREAT word for teens!!
I hear you Lizzy! I make my daughter fun, healthy lunches but often neglect the rest of us!!
This is fantastic. It's made me realise I really need to give my own lunchbox-preparation skills an overhaul!
Fantastic ideas. These would would well for me and my ravenous pre-teens as well!
I am glad to hear these are teen approved!
I'm a teen, and all these ideas sound great!
May they never go hungry again!
Thanks Claire! This was a guest post by my friend, Kathy. She has wonderful ideas that I am going to incorporate in our lunches!
Great post. My two teens are starting back at school next week and I've been looking for ideas for their lunches.
Wow, Diana what a GREAT post filled with ideas! I want you to pack MY lunches! lol
Thanks so much for sharing your links at our "Best Of The Weekend Party"! Pinning all to our party board and pinned this to another big board as well!
Have a great weekend!
xo
Put your seatbelt on Heather! The teens are a bumpy ride! LOL!
LOVE these- I am now the parent of a teen, and I SO need ideas
Not sad at all! I think these ideas work for adults too!
Kathy has great ideas!!
Is it sad that I read this, looking for ideas for me? I'm far from a teen but hate packing my lunch for school every day. There are some yummy ideas in this post.
So many great ideas and combos here! I'm hungry just looking at them!
I know. It's almost more important to focus on teens cause they are growing so quickly and need to eat more often!
This is great post for teen lunches. So many back-to-school ideas are focused on little kids. I too brought lunch to school as a teen or I wouldn't eat. School lunch was that bad. Once I started working after school, I HAD to eat. So I brought it. I would have loved any of these!
Great tips that I am going to use with my high schooler!
I love Kathy's ideas too!
These all look wonderful! I love the idea of have the homemade pretzel.
How awesome is this post??? Yay!