Packed lunch for teenager

[missmargot]

Any great ideas for packed lunches for a rapidly growing and constantly hungry 13 year old?

It was easier when he was at primary school but now he eats so much more and is very conscious of not wanting food to be babyish. I normally give him a chicken or ham wrap, a fruit pot, a soya yoghurt (dairy intolerance) and some form of treat such as a pod from our Graze box or a flapjack. He needs more than that now and I'm running out of healthy options that he won't turn his nose up at.

I'm loath to give him anything in reusable containers such as a food flask, as we don't pick him up from school on the nights we've made the packed lunches and I doubt the containers would come back to us. I have plenty of plastic cutlery for yoghurt, fruit pots etc. I only make packed lunches for my DSS twice a fortnight so variety isn't a huge issue.

Any ideas much appreciated.

Cold pasta? Few rounds of normal sandwiches? Stand pie and salad?

(We use old takeaway containers as storage so not the end of the world if they don't come back)

Good idea about the takeaway containers, that would give me more options. I think he'd like the pasta salad and I could sneak in some veggies that way even though he's a teenager not a toddler

Potato salad with ham or tuna, peas & sweetcorn as an alternative to pasta salad. Cold pizza, if he likes that, I know some don't. Quiche. Hot cross buns are quite filling. Pots of rice pudding or custard. Cheese & crackers.

Oops just read the dairy intolerant, but perhaps there are non-dairy versions ?

I don't think he's ever tried potato salad, will make some at the weekend and see if he likes it. Thanks for the suggestions.

For my almost 13 I do two wraps or two rolls. Soya yogurt and flapjack sound fine, but a fruit pot isn't very filling - I'm more likely to add crackers, pepperoni stick, little pack of crisps, breadsticks & hummus, etc.

See my almost 13 yr old DS would eat at least 2 wraps or large rolls with tuna and salad on. Along with a hunk of cheese and crackers, or a pot of hummus with a spoon and an apple or banana.

In addition to this he eats pizza or a bacon butty at morning break and often a snickers on the bus home.

He drinks at least a pint of milk a day.

Has a proper home cooked dinner every evening and about 3 slices of toast with marmite or beans before he goes to sleep. He plays rugby twice a week, swims and does athletics as well as school PE. He is quite skinny and despite the snickers his fitness is great.

A Graze box (all of it) would maybe replace the snickers for him.

I think they need to eat a lot.