to think this is a perfectly good sized lunch?

[FenellaFellorick]

For my 15 and 16 year old sons?
(If not a very healthy one but that's not my question )

Ham and cheese salad sandwich, a frube and a wafer bar.

I am doing the next 2 weeks packed lunches for the freezer and this is being hotly contested in my house right now

[cardibach]

StillStaying I don't understand your post. I count 3 meals: a healthy and substantial breakfast and evening meal' and 'a bowl of pasta or a chicken burger at school'. Surely the school thing is^ lunch? Are you talking about an extra snack? In which case it would be enough. OP is talking about the mid day meal.

[DollsHouseTeaParty]

That lunch would do me but I eat like a bird anyway! It takes very little for me to be full. A teenager would need a lot more than that but if its got to be gf I'm at a loss as have no knowledge of that other than aware that the condition exists. Ask your teens what they would like to eat - and I used to freeze batches of sarnies when I worked in London and had a 90 minute commute daily!

[BabyMurloc]

They may not thank you for more bread if its gf! I would add fruit and something like mullerrice maybe? If you can do oats (I know it varys with gf) I love the nature valley granola bars. Those wafers are not filling in the slightest (although do taste good and good value)

[DoTheDuckFace]

That would be enough for me for lunch but I give my children more than that. It has just struck me how strange that is. Also I make the same lunch for my 3 year old and 10 year old... They have ham/cheese roll. A small block of cheese, a yougurt tube, a piece of fruit and a cereal bar. I would never eat all of that at lunch! My kids are not overweight though.

[Notso]

I think it's fine. DD and DS1 get a wrap (chicken salad for DD, cheese, peppers and cucumber for DS) a piece of fruit and either crisps, a penguin type thing, flapjack or muffin and a drink.
They have big appetites but never complain it's not enough.

[NoIsNotACompleteSentence]

I'm genuinely surprised how much some people on here, and their DC, eat.

I know everyone says their DC aren't overweight, but some of the amounts seem huge, unless they are doing extreme amounts of sport.

Yes, I have teens too, but they wouldn't eat more than that at one sitting. I don't buy into this teens having to eat huge amounts constantly, if they aren't doing loads of sport, aren't they just setting up pretty bad eating habits for life? There seems such a contrast between the very strictly controlled primary lunchboxes and what people say their older DC eat.

[reup]

Re the freezing sandwiches. Do you take them out of the freezer in the morning & then they are OK at lunch?

[FenellaFellorick]

Yes. They grab a pack up when they get up at 6 and put it in their cool bag lunchbox thingies and by lunchtime it is thawed out but not warm and limp.

[Hassled]

That would do my younger teenage DSs - they usually have similar, with an apple or a banana thrown in. They do snack a lot when they're back from school, though.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Looks fine to me, more or less what my 9 and 11 year olds take but they'd have fruit instead of one of the sweet items.

[Superexcited]

My teenage DS is gluten free and takes packed lunch and that would not be enough for him. I also wouldn't freeze the sandwiches as GF bread is bad enough without freezing.
I would add a chicken drumstick or boiled egg (because protein is filling) and I would also add some crisps and a piece of fruit.
My teenage DS has a GF packed lunch every day and it looks something like : ham sandwich, chicken drumstick portion of salad, 2 portions of fruit, a packet of crisps and 3/4 GF biscuits. He is very slim and eats it all and still wants a snack when he gets in from school.

[FenellaFellorick]

Ahh, fruit.
Every morning I say "you could take something from the fruit bowl"

Well. I think I do.

Judging by their reaction, I sometimes wonder if I am accidentally saying "would you like me to chop up a frog and put its arse in your lunchbox"

[Sallystyle]

My teens would eat that as a snack. My 9 and 12 year old would be fine with that, but my older teens would still be starving.

They don't do a lot of sports and they are underweight, they are always hungry though. I am not worried about them setting themselves up for bad eating habits as they seem to eat until they are satisfied and then stop.

[Superexcited]

mrsdevere I don't know about OP but I make my teenagers packed lunch for him. My teenage has very severe SN (no language and unable to even do basic things like dress himself without help) so there is no way I could expect him to make his own packed lunch especially as he has various severe food allergies. Making his own packed lunch might be a useful life skill but I would rather he stayed alive which means me making his packed lunch to avoid cross contamination or the wrong foods being put into his lunch.

[PickledOnionSoup]

That's just a snack!! My 12 year old DS has:

2 x ham sandwiches
4 x mini sausages
3 or 4 mini scotch eggs
2 x Dreamies (aka Aldi Milky ways)
1 x packet of crisps
1 x satsuma

Any less than that and he'd be starving

[FenellaFellorick]

They could MrsD, but I really cannot be arsed. I just want to get them in the freezer and be done.
I cannot be doing with the faff, the mess and the rows.
My youngest also held a knife to his throat last week because I wouldn't let him have a third bowl of cereal and I just want to get on with it.

They can make food. They do make sandwiches. I facilitate them cooking meals, I get them to do household chores, I am currently working on independent bus trips with my eldest (and I am having dailypalpitations I can tell you )

It purely is that just once I'd like something to be quick and easy and to just get it out of the way.

If I dropped off a cliff tomorrow they would do perfectly well without me

[MrsNextDoor]

Teenage boys in particular eat a terrifying amount and many seem to THINK about food an awful lot. My friend's son says he thinks of what he can eat next every five minutes or so.

[FenellaFellorick]

Oh. The knife thing is not poor me it's just that you take your life in your hands when you pass my youngest a weapon even if he's happy he'll be in the kitchen dancing away and waving stuff around.

And I didn't for a sec think you were having a go, I know you too well to ever think that x

[mousmous]

my 5 and 8 yo get that + a big piece of fruit.
tbh if they are teens they can pack themselves, I would give them the options and leave them to it.

[FenellaFellorick]

Oh dear God, I x 'd.

How embarrassing

[Cliffdiver]

Haven't RTFT, but why aren't a 15 and 16yo making their own lunches?

YABU just for freezing sandwiches.