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?

What do you have for lunch? Surely if you can think of something for yourself for lunch every day, you can give her the same ideas.

Leftovers, sandwiches, salads, scrambled eggs. Those are pretty much our staples.

If she wants fresh gourmet without planning then I hope she has plenty of money, because that's what Deliveroo is for.

Otherwise, don't you have a microwave? She (plus DH) can batch cook curry and freeze and heat in the microwave. Or they can prepare whatever they like.

Your involvement can be limited to a family meal planning discussion to get a grocery order done on budget and you could also take turns with them to say 'I'm making X, do you want some'. At 16, you don't need to do any thinking for her, especially when it doesn't seem to be appreciated.

You don't need lunch ideas for a 16-year-old. Because she's, you know, 16. She can look for ideas herself.

If your DH is happy to keep batch-cooking curry, fine. But you shouldn't need to have any involvement in defrosting or heating it up. If she forgets to sort it herself, she has to improvise with whatever's in the fridge and if that means a cheese sandwich or some toast, so be it.

@theduchessofspork yes I have a Morphy Richards one it's great. I WFH so chop the veg and put it in with all the other ingredients in the morning then nip out and turn it on at 12:00 and 20mins or so later I have fresh soup for lunch and left overs which I save for later in the week or freeze. Generally leek and potato and curried butternut squash are my favourite. Yes you could use a pan and stick blender but not whilst you are working.

14, and usually a dinner rather than lunch, but:
Pasta, pesto and chicken.
Stir-fried noodles (with left over meat if available)
Raman noodles
Sausage pasta bake
Chicken wraps
Sausage casserole and mash
Frozen pizza

DS 15 will eat pretty much anything you can put in a wrap, mostly chicken (breaded or plain) tuna or fish fingers with salads and sweet chilli sauce. He has a crimpit, so wraps are easy

Pot noodles, beans on toast, cream cheese sandwiches.
He doesn't eat eggs, cheese, or ham, which is blooming annoying!

If I'm home, I tend to make for both of us, but he is more than capable of fending for himself.

I don’t make things like curry for my teen’s lunch (that’s a dinner). He’s not much into cooking (says he’s going to be doing all that at Uni so he’s happy to have whatever I give him ). It’s usually things like egg and chips, quesadillas, chicken burger, ramen, sandwich etc. lunches have always been quite light rather than like a dinner.

Good grief yes. What she wants, beyond a cheese sandwich, she can sort herself. Get DD to make a list of what she wants for a week, someone shops, then over to her.

2 years and she'll be at uni....... possibly. My DD doesn't like cooking, just not interested. Put on several stone at uni eating ramen. Not to be recommended . Get DH to teach her.

Is she likely to go to uni? Starting her on cooking lunches is good prep for that stage.

At 16 she can cook herself. Follow a YouTube video or order a hello fresh.

This can’t be real.

Definitely think she would give us a list of stuff to buy to cook herself.
She does quite like cooking.
This is why I need some ideas of stuff.
DH is busy and is not a great teacher.
He takes over rather than showing her.
Definitely she's ready to cook her own stuff.
I'm sure she would do things from TikTok!

Not a chance I’d be cooking that for lunch. My 16yr old DD makes all her own food (through choice). My kids have made own lunches for a good few years

Tin of ravioli
Half a Covent garden soup with toast
Egg on toast
Lasagne ready meal
Pizza
Greek yoghurt with banana
Tin of tuna, sweetcorn and mayo.

DSS 15 either air fryer food (chicken nuggets, it's hard to keep up!) or elaborate gourmet sandwhiches he makes from stuff I have bought (chorizo, salami, cheeses, bake at home bread). Occasionally a ready meal, omelet, scrambled egg, sometimes he looks very pitiful and I make him lunch (obviously if I am making everyone else lunch I also offer / make his, but he keeps teenage hours 😂)

No idea where all this cooking is required for lunches.

When mine are at home there's cooked meats, cheese, salad stuff in fridge that they can make into a sandwich or wrap.
Beans or eggs that can go on toast.
Occasionally there's a pot of soup they can heat up.
Just tell her to have what she wants out of the fridge and get on with it, she's not 5.

I don't understand the aversion to cooked food at lunchtime. It's not a requirement, but it sounds like a preference, which is fine, if she does the cooking.

Some people find sandwiches really dull and unsatisfying. They're not necessarily cheaper or healthier/lighter/lower calorie either. Obvious solution would be leftovers or batch cooking, which would mean it's easier than prepping a salad anyway.

My 16yo DS sorts his own lunches. I'm trying to lose weight so I'm eating meagre portions that wouldn't touch his sides. If he's at school he buys from the canteen. If he's at home he'll have something like (practically) 100 slices of toast, or an egg and bacon sandwich, ramen, a frozen pizza, fish fingers, etc. I work full time and I'm not pissing around in the kitchen for him at lunch time. I cook us a decent dinner most nights.

Same. Like most of the world, I have a cooked meal for lunch and dinner, every day. I have done all of my life. I do not consider sandwiches to constitute a meal.

Heinz ravioli 🤩

Teen cookbook on Amazon. Bought for my GS, lots of good ideas.

Would she eat two meals a day, then, eg curry for lunch and lasagne for dinner?

If you want her to learn to cook then Gousto is good to start off with. However, I wouldn't pay for it just for her own lunches. Why can't she have a sandwich like anyone else?

Do yourself and your DD a favour and teach her to cook on a budget.

Roast a chicken to turn into chicken salad, chicken curry, a chicken sandwich, chicken pasta, chicken soup and so on. One chicken will feed her for lunch all week.

Otherwise she could batch cook two dishes and alternate. If she doesn’t want to freeze and reheat, there should be some for the rest of you too!

Sandwiches even easier than that!

But at 16 she should be getting her own lunch, not getting her father to dawn over her and cook her a hot lunch from scratch!

Parents, you are enabling her!