to think a sandwich lunch is a "proper meal"

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Teenagers are arguing that it isn't and they should have two hot meals a day.

We have bread and sandwich fixings (lettuce, tomatoes, meat, cheese, peanut butter etc) and fruit. Also beans and eggs that they can have on toast instead if they want. They can have as much sandwich stuff as they want so long as it is fairly balanced... i.e. no just eating five eggs and no veggies or half the fruit in the bowl.

They say it isn't a 'proper meal'.

My argument is that

1. please save the other food for family dinners
2. too expensive to eat two big hot meals a day. Two teen boys at home all summer can get very expensive.
3. it has the same nutrition... carbs, protein, vitamins, calories etc as a full meal.

A sandwich is a meal in my eyes BUT with hungry teenage boys I would be tempted to offer: jacket potatoes, pasta with cheese, noodles etc as an alternative hot meal for lunch which is neither expensive nor difficult to cook.

I wouldn't want a sandwich every day tbh. Even stuff like baked potatoes with topping are easy and cheap to make.

I wouldn't just offer soup for dinner either. Soup is starter here at dinner and lunch. My much younger children would be asking where the rest of dinner is.

I don't consider a sandwich a proper lunch, it's more a snack. I agree with pp who says soup is just a starter, I would expect something after it.

So it's not about hunger. It's about their attitude to food provided for them.

If pasta is not acceptable as an evening meal because you also have it at lunchtime, and a flat, round piece of bread with tomatoe (okay it's cooked), cheese and whatever else he wants on it is a world away from square bread with whatever he wants to put on it then they are just BU, not starved.

Stick to your guns.

We live in California and he is an experienced qualified lifeguard. Nuff said.

Well, here's hoping he picks up work. I imagine if he's lifeguarding he may need more food than usual?

I wouldn't consider soup, no matter how hearty, sufficient for an evening meal, especially if the lunch time meal is sandwich based.

My son loves to make his own wraps. Meat, salad vegetables, sauces. He sits there quite happily eating his own creations. He chops lettuce, peppers, tomatoes etc. Teenage boys do have hollow legs. He has three meals a day and then supper before bed.

Not all sons get away with laziness boden

I get that sometimes they might want noodles, stirfry, pasta but the OP referred to specific dinner ingredients being eaten.
I keep noodles, pasta, the odd pizza, salad, cheese, deli meats, fruit and that is fair game.

Eating the chicken breasts meant for dinner is not on !

I wouldn't consider soup, no matter how hearty, sufficient for an evening meal

Why? If it has carbs, protein, veggies, fat and enough calories and it is so filling that teen boys leave some in their bowl and turn down dessert?

Measles, wraps definitely count. As a Southern California household it would be unusual for us not to have tortillas.

If they are too fucking lazy to clean up after themselves then they get sandwiches.

Yanbu sandwiches are a proper meal, good bread, butter, neat, cheese and salad much better nutritionaly than a pizza or burger, also soup is a perfectly acceptable supper, a big pan of homemade soup with beans or chicken for protein again served with good bread and butter, your body doesn't know what is hot or cold or what form carbs, protein and fats are in it just takes the nutrients it needs, good unprocessed food, plenty of protein and good fats will fill them up

If it has all that then its a casserole OP

@Namechange, that is kind of my point. What is the difference between a hearty dinner soup and a casserole or stew which would count. Well probably more liquid (not a bad thing in a warm climate) and sometimes blended or partially blended. Also maybe less protein (but still plenty). If we have a soup that doesn't have enough protein in (say homemade cream of tomato) then we would add it by having a toasty sandwich. If it doesn't have enough vegetables in it, we'd add a side salad.

My feelings are that if food is being provided for you that meets your nutritional needs and isn't sometime that you hate (we all have something we hate and generally avoid those things) does it really matter what form it comes in? I'm not a short order cook or a supermarket. If you don't like what I'm providing then you have money and two legs.

See, now I WANT to say YABU because personally I agree with your children - a sandwich doesn't seem like a proper meal to me, I like something hot.

But I'm also aware that this isn't the general consensus and will concede that, in fact, YANBU.

My son is 12 and starting to get to the stage of always being hungry. Could you stock up your freezer with Aldi pizzas? He loves the 99p ones, I think they are 10" by the look of them. If they want garlic bread, they do a garlic bread for 32p so overall not a very expensive lunch.

A sandwich is fine for lunch, can always find a (healthy) snack to keep you going at teatime, before dinner. If that isn't good enough for 'obviously poor hungry teenagers', maybe it's about time they learned how to make themselves a 'hot, proper lunch', the lazy, demanding, so and so's....(I've had this argument myself, the teen in question decided they were quite happy to have a sandwich with a few bits on the side in the end).

Why don't you just buy the type of bread he likes?

I still don't understand why your teenagers can't be given a budget to manage for their own lunch stuff, be responsible for preparing what they want and clearing up aftetwards. I'm sure that a 'clean kitchen = knowledge of wifi password' rule would mean no nagging necessary. And even if you do have to nag a bit, they need to learn those skills in the next few years. If they then decide that the cooked lunch they wanted isn't worth the effort after all then that's their decision.

A sandwich isn't lunch yabu

I freeze food, I had tuna/veg that a froze and made a couple weeks ago, just cooked the pasta and defrosted in a pan. When you cook sauce or curry make extra portions and freeze it.

Oh and I think a sandwich is fine for dinner, for me anyway.

If its a cooked meal do you make it?

If its a sandwich, do they have to make it?

A sandwich is rather inadequate as a lunch. It would be about 400-500 calories, so not an even share of your daily requirements unless you're on a diet. That's why so many packed lunches are bulked up with junky snacks.

I've been lucky that I've always worked somewhere with canteens as when I have tried taking sandwiches in, I've ended up continually nibbly.

There's lots of cheap, more filling options.

When I was a teenager, I ended up having secret suppers as I was permanently hungry. I'd linger in the kitchen after dinner and cook beans on toast as my mum would never have believed that I needed the extra. I've never had a weight issue. My appetite calmed down when I was in early adulthood.

Could they maybe have a bowl of soup with their sandwich? That way they are getting a bit extra, soup is dead cheap and easy to make, and it's also hot.

However, I think a sandwich is fine as a lunch, I'm not and have never been a teenage boy though .

As a teenager ( I'm female also), I used to have a reputation at school of taking almost a full on picnic rather than just 'lunch' as we always hungry for about 3-4 years. I'm assuming as teen metabolism changed. I've never been more than a size 8.
Typical Cold school Lunch 'picnic' was chicken Drumsticks, cubes cheese, large slice of veggie frittata, banana, x4 satsumas, blueberry muffin. I used to eat a huge 4 egg omelette each morning before school, and full hot dinner in the evening.