Snacks for teenagers

[Starlightstarbright1]

My teen eats loads of rubbish food, trying to balance that out

He is at home alone after school etc so needs grab foods he might eat.

Not much i am buying is getting eaten

Sandwiches (bread, thins, wraps) many different sandwich filings in the fridge, cheese and crackers, fruit but prepare it so it is ready to go ie wash the grapes, eggs usually scrambled but they will poach them in water in the microwave and make toast.

Hummus but they have it with tortilla chips not carrot sticks/peppers/cucumber (I tried so hard) noodles, reheated left overs. I used to make flapjacks but they don't last 2 minutes in this house. My Mum would even ask if I was making them on the days she visited. Also pain au chocolate warmed in the microwave and cereal.

They can be like bottomless pits at times.

Keep some hard-boiled eggs in the fridge?

Bagels and cream cheese popular here. Or cake ... but teen does bake his own.

What's wrong with eggy bread?
My DSS lived on this is his go to snack/meal/breakfast for years! We have decent bread, free range eggs and a smidge of fat for cooking. Fast, healthy enough. He's never been a shred overweight.

Mine has a kvarg or skyr yoghurt after school she’s 16 and goes to gym/counts protein. The kvarg are 83 cals 15g of protein. I like them too very filling.

One of mine eats lots of jerky/biltong. It’s rubbish from an environmental perspective but its protein

Mine likes:

Pots of instant porridge & he adds extra oats & peanut butter.

Noodles, especially if they are authentic Asian brands. Either pot for super speedy or just plain and he chucks in an egg for egg-drop thing & grated cheese.

Toasted sandwiches. I have bowls of grated cheese, etc ready for super speed.

Gherkins, carrot sticks & hummus but I have to be prepared for a while tub to go at a time.

Cheese or plain scones but savoury, no jam, etc.

Cheese and crackers but mahoosive wedges of cheese 🤣 he will have nuts on side sometimes.

He doesn’t have a sweet tooth so tends not to have fruit as much, and needs bulk.

I’m in the same boat, fruit and veg good but generally not bulky enough & he’s not mad on cake, flapjacks, etc. Im trying to get him away from jerky, salami, other processed stuff.

Useful thread.
My DD (16) is a pain in the arse with snacks. She wants the holy grail, which I'll need another mortgage to buy. It has to be instant, she doesn't eat bread or eggs. She will eat pouches of yogurt, sugar free jellies, fruit (the expensive stuff like winter strawberries, pomegranate in a tub), ready made crepes, hummus with veg if it's prepared.
I get a bit fed up of the snacking, she also gains weight, so I don't want her filling up on high calorie stuff. She gets so hangry, which is probably linked to her sugar intake, but she has such a sweet tooth.

I was going to say one of the best investments in time was teaching my teenager to cook, so he's very confident cooking and even makes himself hot breakfast in the mornings before school.

I do always have bread ,cereals. Its just any junk food he will just eat packets of crisps or buscuits.

I do always have sandwich stuff,

I don't want to stop buying them but want so balance.

He went through a toastie making phase but that passed.

I have bought cup a soups, super noodles.

Its high sugar stuff he craves. He has the odd hot chocolate but drinks water

Those saying fruit and veg do not fill teens up - it is important for everyone to eat a range of nutrients as eating a poor diet encourages overeating as people are constantly searching for nutrients. So eating fruit and veg helps people to feel satisfied.

Many basic foods do fill you up very well and the principles of healthy eating apply just as much to teenagers even though they need more calories and plenty of protein.

@rrhuth

Those saying fruit and veg do not fill teens up - it is important for everyone to eat a range of nutrients as eating a poor diet encourages overeating as people are constantly searching for nutrients. So eating fruit and veg helps people to feel satisfied.

Many basic foods do fill you up very well and the principles of healthy eating apply just as much to teenagers even though they need more calories and plenty of protein.

No one is saying don’t give them loads of fruit and veg as well as the carbs and protein

Of course they need a healthy diet. That’s why the OP, along with the rest of us, don’t want them filling up on junk food.

An apple or two would not satisfy my hungry teens. Add a hunk of cheese or a peanut butter whole meal sandwich and we’d be getting there.

When I was a teen I loved smoked mackerel - my mum worked in town one day a week and would buy it from the fish market
S2 has been known to eat a small tin of tuna
In 6th form we had a craze for egg and cress rolls

I do think they need the protein to fill them up (and help them grow). But loads of carbs for energy too so balance is key.

So peanut/almond butter on toast/bagel with banana on top. Cheese and veg wrap. Greek yoghurt (more protein than normal yoghurt) plus granola and fruit. egg muffin (crack egg in microwave and pour on top of muffin).
If they’re really sporty chocolate milk is actually a good post training drink. I make my DS a smoothie with Pro-teen which is designed for active teens. In the smoothie I put milk or almond milk, the powder, frozen berries, banana.

I have a nutritionist friend and her view is teens need to eat A LOT. Especially those that do lots of sport.

DS1 is 16 and his two main snacks are homemade granola and cheese and crackers.

Granola has to be homemade as he doesn't like the shop bought stuff

I used to roast a chicken and leave it in the fridge for DC to help themselves. They would come in from school and eat a drumstick or make a bagel chicken sandwich for lunch. It was cheap (about £3.50-5 for a chicken) healthy and lasted a few days in the fridge.

I'd also make popcorn. Filling, reasonably healthy - sprinkled with garlic granules, salt and paprika or sugar and salt and melted butter.

Big bowl of their favourite fruit.

During lockdowns I also got them noodle pots or instant noodle packs and those ready cooked bags of flavoured rice or mixed grains. Not ideal but it was what they wanted.

Frozen bao buns are good. They can just put one in the microwave. Again. it's low fibre high carb but for a snack after a run or similar, it's OK.

Cheese and crackers

Dry roasted peanuts.

For a substantial snack, I'd buy those mixed trays of indian snacks - bhajis, samosas etc and heat them up. Serve with a bit of mango chutney and minty yoghurt. They are about £250 for 12 snacks in Waitrose.

@hivemindneeded

I used to roast a chicken and leave it in the fridge for DC to help themselves. They would come in from school and eat a drumstick or make a bagel chicken sandwich for lunch. It was cheap (about £3.50-5 for a chicken) healthy and lasted a few days in the fridge.

I'd also make popcorn. Filling, reasonably healthy - sprinkled with garlic granules, salt and paprika or sugar and salt and melted butter.

Big bowl of their favourite fruit.

During lockdowns I also got them noodle pots or instant noodle packs and those ready cooked bags of flavoured rice or mixed grains. Not ideal but it was what they wanted.

Frozen bao buns are good. They can just put one in the microwave. Again. it's low fibre high carb but for a snack after a run or similar, it's OK.

Cheese and crackers

Dry roasted peanuts.

For a substantial snack, I'd buy those mixed trays of indian snacks - bhajis, samosas etc and heat them up. Serve with a bit of mango chutney and minty yoghurt. They are about £250 for 12 snacks in Waitrose.

That sounds pricey- even for Waitrose!

Teenagers, perpetually hungry, always snacking right before nutritious meals then can't manage them. So nutrients can be poor.

I try to anticipate snacking and my teens are now quite good.

I bake simple trays of flap jacks with nuts, dates, berries and lean protein powder in them. This makes an inexpensive, half decent nutritious snack.

I buy milk in bulk as I prefer this to fizzy drinks.

We have a shake maker with protein powder to make up filling milk shake type drinks.

Fruit bowl available

Limited crisps and biscuits that I hide and ration.

Boiled eggs and kabanos.

Instant noodles.

Still battling with them being hungry enough to eat tea after they fill up from the school bus.

My DS has yoghurt, because he doesn't have to make it!
Toasted teacakes are his favourite, but he's scared to use the gas grill (he's 12, and dyspraxic) so he only has those if I'm home. I think he'd rather eat those than supper most days tbh.
He doesn't eat crisps/fruit etc, and he'd definitely eat leftovers over snacking things

Itsu seaweed
Nuts
Oatcakes
Breadsticks and hummus/ dip
Olives

@StrifeOfBath

I certainly wouldn’t be spending money on expensive packs of snacks which to a teen amount to fresh air, like pop chips, snack a jacks etc.

Mine liked making toasties in a toasty maker, whole meal bread, peanut butter, cheese, tuna etc.

Noodle pots.

Flapjacks (I made big batches)

Bags of peanuts from Lidl.

My active growing teen boys needed calories, complex carbs and protein in quantities that to me seemed endless.

I got my 13 year old a toasted sandwich maker for Christmas, and he loves it. As long as there is a selection of cheese, meat, condiments and tomatoes, he can make himself something tasty whenever he wants.

He also likes to make protein shakes with frozen fruit. And he likes nuts too, so he'll snack on those. Unfortunately peanut butter is out as he is allergic to peanuts. Otherwise peanut butter would definitely be on the list. I used to love eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches when I was a teen.

Have a 15 and a 13 yo, I get those probably unhealthy pasta packs for the 15 yo as he is totally inept in the kitchen 😩 the 13 yo who quite likes to cook will make himself a bagel with cheese and salami and his 'secret' spice mix

Interesting thread.

Mine eat chicken sandwiches (cold chicken always in the fridge) or ham sandwiches or peanut butter sandwiches. Also cereal, endless bowls of cereal, or just handfuls from the box, leaving it scattered over the floor, and crisps.

Those saying instant noodles, are there any half decent brands you recommend that aren't full of chemicals? Ditto frozen bao buns - I've never seen those.

One of my teens loves the frozen gyoza I get on Ocado - trouble is they're really expensive and he can eat millions of them and still be hungry, so it's not a sensible staple.

Yoghurts go down well here, and I buy a cheap hot chocolate from Lidl that they prefer to the Cadbury's one that they plough through. I imagine it's full of crap though.

Mine are past that stage now but when they were younger i mainly just made extra (smaller) portions of the main meal and put them in those systema pots that you put in the microwave and into the fridge. Also cook up a pile of spicy chicken drumsticks and they'd snack on those or they'd do egg on toast. One loved fish so would eat a tin of mackerel either just from the tin or on toast or chucked into noodles.

Also the usual stuff like cereal and fruit and toast/peanut butter would get eaten but I preferred them to eat more protein type foods as they would fill them better and stop the eating of to much rubbish.

They are definitely more likely to eat stuff that requres little effort unfortunately so unless you are happy for them to just grab crisps and chocolate, you need to make it easier for them to prioritise the better stuff. Have tubs of fruit with decent yogurt already made in the fridge and that's as easy as grabbing crisps and easier than cereal.

If they like shakes then having things already made up ready to blend helps, so a protein shake with a spoon of peanut butter and a banana in it ready in the fridge or with berries and banana or whatever.

Mine like pastry and will
Preferentially eat pasties, pies and turnovers so I try to offset the astray with healthy fillings.
Vegetable and cheese curry pies or slices go down well, as do muffins remade from
eggs with chopped onion, bacon, cherry tomatoes, cheese made in muffin tins.

Also cheese strings rather than actual
Cheese 'knives are so much effort' and fruit which does not need peeling.