DD 16 home lunches

[Flyhigher]

What does your 16 teen have for lunch?
Mine likes fresh chicken curry. Her dad is a good cook. Leaves it frozen. But it's a nightmare.

Ideas for easy lunches for fussy teens.

And what do your guys eat?

Who is it a nightmare for, in what way? It sounds good!

DS will usually make a falafel wrap or cheese on toast.

Chicken curry is too fussy for a lunch. Too much preparation.

Falafal is eqsier

She won't plan ahead to take out of freezer.
Wants fresh gourmet. With no planning each day.

Husband falls in with her ideas.

So - what do you guys do that is easy?

She won't eat cheese on toast.

She cooks her own for a start. No way would I be getting involved in a 16yos lunches. Eggs mainly.

Omelette
Jacket potatoes
Soup
Toasted sandwiches
Pannini
Bagel

DD 16 cooks for herself (through choice).

Yesterday she made chicken soup from bones of roast the day before with some rice. Often pasta with pesto and mozzarella.

Your DD will need to learn food doesn't magically appear!

I'd be letting her know that when she has learnt to shop for, prepare and cook fresh, gourmet style meals, she can have whatever she wants.

Mine have made their own lunches during the holidays since around 10–11. If they want gourmet food then they can cook it. Why is this your responsibility?

Mine make beans on toast, eggs in various forms, wraps, sandwiches, noodles, pasta.

I know. Husband not as keen to kick start her cooking.

She does cook her breakfasts. And she does like cooking.

Thanks ! More lunch ideas please!

Huh? 16 - there’s food in the house, make something! Mine is 18 but on Easter hols now so I just make sure there’s decent bread, cheese, ham, eggs, salad, pasta, tuna, noodles l, falafels, wraps etc - wouldn’t occur to me to worry about what he makes, as long as he cleans up! And in honesty if there wasn’t anything he wanted, off to the co op he would have to go

What I do that is easy is not raise kids to the age of sixteen who think I can pull gourmet lunches to order out of my arse on a whim, show them where the fridge is, and how to work a pan.

If she had to make it herself, I guarantee she'd be happy with a sandwich.

What is all this “cooking”? Why do both breakfast and lunch involve cooking, is there more cooking for dinner? If she is cooking her own breakfast, then there’s absolutely no need for more cooked food at lunch surely? It’s great that she’s not living solely off sandwiches and cereal but that level of food preparation seems excessive. What does everyone else have for breakfast and lunch and why is she not joining in with that?

Step back, honestly. This sounds like way too much parental input over the lunch choice of a sixteen year old. You'll find that without you both hovering over her she will work it out, which is exactly what she should be able to do at that age.

One 16 year old cooks omelettes, rice dishes, fancy ramen. The other lives of cookies and cereal I think.
The healthy eating dc uses every pan in the kitchen!

She’s 16, shouldn’t she come up with her own ideas and just let you know what she wants adding to the shop? I wouldn’t be collating ideas for her, she’s not a fussy toddler who needs a healthy packed lunch for nursery!

Dear God. Fresh gourmet lunches?
Stop pandering to this shit.

One of mine always preferred to have their main meal at lunchtime but he was always prepared to cook himself.

Some easy ideas are

Pasta pesto
Pasta and soft cheese
Frozen lasagne
fish fingers
Popcorn chicken
Pre cooked chicken, spinach and couscous
Chicken wrap
Egg on toast
Air fryer marinated tofu wrap or with salad/grains
Itsu pot
Supernoodles with tinned sweetcorn
Soup & roll

Yet another one saying leave her to get her own lunch and if your dh wants for her to have a cooked lunch then that's between them both including ideas for lunch

Just leave it to her. If she’s not a confident cook she can make herself something simple. If anything giving her the space to come up with her own ideas and making them will improve her cooking.

Dd has exotic lunches at times. She cooks it herself. And cleans up after herself. And sometimes, she'll make other family members something. She can cook pretty much everything. All she does as ask for things to be added to the shop. She's 16.5.

She's going to make us a fruit crumble tonight. Last week she made a roast chicken dinner complete with homemade Yorkshire puddings. Dh helped with chopping veg but that was it.

Op, surely at 16, unless there's some SEN you're neglecting to mention, there's little in the way of planning that you need to be doing?

No issue with that providing she's doing it herself, surely?

Turkish eggs, ramen, posh wraps, pasta, rice dishes. Ds 17 has cooked his own lunch for years. I just ask him when i do the food shop if he needs anything and he then cooks himself. You need to step back and let her get on with it.

'She wants fresh gourmet? Lol.
Lucky her, I want a villa and a lottery fortune.
When I was 14 my mum gave me a budget to buy and cook my own food. I really enjoyed the freedom. It also stopped me acting childish by requiring a working widowed woman to cater to my supposed food needs.
Once I was working I paid for my own stuff. I now love cooking and feel that independence made me flourish in many ways other than just the act of feeding myself.
If she won't go for that then tell her to get a job, surely you offering money per week for her for food is more preferable?