Packed lunch ideas for a 14 year old who is tired of sandwiches

[queenofidontcare]

I’m looking for packed lunch ideas for my DD (14). She’s getting bored of sandwiches everyday but as she’s at school she doesn’t have access to boiling water or a microwave. She eats fairly healthily and likes cucumber, avocado, tomatoes but not lettuce. She likes cooked vegetables but not raw but on the whole isn’t a fussy eater.

Can I have some ideas and suggestions please.

DD makes herself a couscous salad (cooked and cooked cous cous, lots of raw veggies diced (cukes, toms, peppers, spring onion - but you could use roast veggies instead) and then crumbled feta and/or chicken, dressed with olive oil & lemon juice, salt and pepper. Chopped parsley and/or basil if we have some and she can be arsed. Makes a bath, lasts 3/4 days. Other days are hummus and crudités, pasta salad, leftovers from dinner. Look up jar salads and see what she fancies. A jar is not that helpful unless she can dump out into a plate or bowl but there are lots of ideas out there.

*batch, not bath

Would she eat a cold pasta salad or couscous salad. I try to reduce my bread intake so eat these regularly.

I also make a big batch of burrito filling and then take a burrito some days . The pasta and couscous can be batched to.

It’s a bit expensive to buy but does she like sushi. I’ve had a go at making my own which was fun . Not very refined but tasted good.

Pasta!
Pasta with tomato and cheese
Pasta and pesto
Tuna Pasta salad
Etc
My (younger) kids gobble theirs up...cold too! But you get storage to.kerp.food warm...

Hummus and pitta with veg
sweet potato and chickpea salad
sausage rolls
cheese & crackers
but I would personally get a SHO flask and do warm lunches for winter
noodles
soups
chilli
pasta

Ask him/her to take control of lunches

A vacuum flask is good, as long as you prime it first. Do they actually get the opportunity to sit down and eat? Lunchtime can be so short

Big pots of bulgar wheat with veg and dressing

If you dont mind pasta (I dont eat it) then you can use pasta or couscous (which is pasta)

Do a panzanella bread salad or fatoush which is Turkish with ripped up pieces of fried pitta

Probably not allowed to take in Pesto as it’s nut based.
I made this mistake myself!

Cold pasta or rice salad
Crackers and cheese with salad veg
Wraps
Sausage or cheese and onion rolls

My son used to make himself sushi. Or pasta salads, if we'd had pasta the night before we'd just make extra but at 14 I wasn't really getting involved he did his own lunches.

Samosas
Feta and spinach parcels in filo pastry
Cornish pasty
Sausage roll

Stuff that isn't "something wrapped in pastry":
Falafels and salad
Tabbouleh
Cold Spanish omelette filled with favourite veggies (potato slices at the bottom for structure)

Honestly? I’d expect her to be taking the lead on this. What does she want? What ideas doe she have?

As well as pasta salads, rice salads. Wraps too.

@BigWhiteRabbitpesto is a no-go in nut-free schools but yes to the rest!

A food flask is great for my DD who doesn’t like sandwiches! Pasta usually. Sometimes jacket potato (cut up to fit in!).
Sometimes cold pizza or wraps. Salads in the summer.

@YouCanLetItGo Does it actually hold the heat for something like potato?
I worry about them actually just holding unsafe temperatures all morning, but I've never actually heard about someone being ill from one so I don't know why!

Dd is at college now and has a rotaion to try to stop boredom of-
Cous cous with Mediterranean vegetables,
Savoury rice with chicken,
Roasted red pepper salad (sometimes with chicken, pork or extra veg),
And then a sandwich of leftover Roasted meat with stuffing/apple suace once a week.

My youngest hated sandwiches. We bought a wide mouthed food flask. They cooked a large batch of something twice in the week. Burrito mix, stir fry, curry. Then reheat in the microwave in the morning, pre warm the flask with boiling water and fresh cook noodle or rice to add. Started organising it for themselves at the end of year 9. Worked well, the flask has now left for uni with them

All of the above plus:
Vary the bread/wraps etc
Savoury muffins
Individual egg frittata things in muffin tin.

Pasta salad
chicken drumsticks marinaded and pop in a couple of rice cakes
frittata I make a shallow baking tray full which divides into 6 using 8 eggs and feta, peppers and chopped sun-dried tomatoes- I don’t use mushrooms ever

Leftover dinner in a flask although mines gone back to sandwiches now as they can still play football while they eat a sandwich apparently.

We’ve never had a problem! The cheaper flasks aren’t as good as a more expensive one. I’m not sure I’d keep rice in it and I wouldn’t put chicken in, but I know lots of people who do and it’s been fine!

My year 6 DD hates sandwiches. She is also the only vegan in the family to make things extra awkward. She will often have reheated leftovers in a flask. Or microwave rice or noodle meals in sachets, that I heat up and put in a flask. Then there’s houmous with breadsticks, corn chips, carrot sticks and/or cucumber. Or falafels, or she will occasionally tolerate wraps. But anything may be OK one week and inedible the next. It’s a nightmare. What’s wrong with sandwiches? 😩