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

[MrsNextDoor]

OP don't worry about making their lunch for them. I'm NT and my Mum made mine till I was about 23!....Oh and look...I've still turned out as a responsible adult.

[Fluffy40]

I've s small appetite and it still looks stingy.

Teenagers need lots lots more.

[SquigglyLine]

Op, you seem like a lovely, good-humoured person. Wish I knew you in RL!

[TheBobbinIsWound]

Back to the freezing part.

I froze egg sandwiches once.
That was BAAAAAAD!!
Tuna, cheese, ham (naice of course) and mustard all good.
Egg. BAD!!!
OP. What do you put in to bind the salad part please because I think salad cream was the start of the failfest in my freezing sandwiches!!!

[whois]

Don't really see why the OP is getting so much stick for making their sandwiches, she wasn't really complaining about that!

Ham or cheese sandwiches freeze fine, I used to have cucumber or baby toms separate tho. Mum used to do it so you didn't have to worry about having fresh bread rolls all the time.

[FenellaFellorick]

why thank you squiggly (cheque's in the post; ) )

I get a mixing bowl, chop salad into tiny bits, grate cheese into it, chop ham into small bits, add a squirt of salad cream and mix it all up. Thin scraping of butter on the roll, spoon the mixture onto the roll, wrap it in clingfilm, squeeze it so there's no air and put it in the freezer. Thinking of it, the fact that gf bread is a bit dry is probably an advantage.
I just asked my eldest what his sandwich is like. He says it tastes great and fresh.

But I'm not sure we can trust him. He eats marshmallow and peanut butter sandwiches.

[frumpet]

I quite often buy reduced sandwiches for work , freeze then and get them out when I want . Avoid egg and seafood , other than that they are generally fine as long as you pop them in the fridge when you get to work and allow them to defrost properly . 29p for a sandwich versus £2.50 at work

[Aussiemum78]

My 13 dd has a sandwich, a recess item (a baked thing usually) and fruit. She can add more fruit or rice crackers if she wants.

Personally if they are hungry I'd Add 2 pieces of fruit. Their lunch has enough processed stuff already.

[Aussiemum78]

Oh and I freeze as well. Occasionally sandwiches but always with muffins, cakes and biscuits. A piece of cake thawed in the fridge overnight is much fresher than 3 day old cake or bread.

[aderynlas]

Hi Fenella, just to say your post about Gene Hunt being rhyming slang made me laugh. I think your boys packed lunch looks fine, another vote for adding some fruit too.

[Redglitter]

My mum and I used to make up a sandwich mountain on a Sunday night. Enough for 4 of us for the week. They all got bagged up and frozen.

they'd get taken out in the morning and were totally defrosted by lunch time. Bread was lovely and soft and the sandwiches tasted fine.

I'd forgotten all about that. I should maybe start doing it again

[findingmyfeet12]

I've never frozen sandwiches (but would try it if I needed to save time).
I do freeze bread and cakes though and they taste fine.

[mrsmugoo]

My 15 month old eats a whole sandwich, a banana and a fromage frais for lunch!!

[Zoneout]

Op

I've just read the full thread and was going to post

SquigglyLine Sun 07-Jun-15 16:31:21
Op, you seem like a lovely, good-humoured person. Wish I knew you in RL!

But give the poor boys some food (grin)

[Wellwellwell3holesintheground]

Motherofdragons - the pp said her son ate 3 frubes at once. Slightly less than one normal sized yoghurt.

[BertrandRussell]

My teenager can, and sometimes does, get his own lunch. And he has made other people's too, on occasion. Making a packed lunch isn't rocket science. But I do usually make his for him. Because learning about people doing favours and being kind to each other is much more important, and harder, than leaning about making sandwiches.

[PuntasticUsername]

DH suggests that any teenage boy taking a Frube to school is likely to attract unwelcome comment. The phrase he used was "check you out, with your strawberry jizz-stick".

Just saying.

[FenellaFellorick]

ah well, tell him thanks but don't worry. They've been taking them for months and nobody has cared yet.

Horrible if some kids are like that though. Over a frubes. That's bullying, isn't it? I'm glad nobody at my kids' school seems to care.

[DialsMavis]

DS eats loads too, but not at lunchtime. He just wants to get out on the field with his mates. That lunch would be fine for him.

[Minifingers9]

One in three teens in the UK is overweight or obese.

Just to get that out there into a discussion about 'teens can't stop eating'.

[Aussiemum78]

That's what crossed my mind pp.

They are at school for 6-7 hours. A sandwich, a snack and a piece of fruit is enough for lunch, adults eat that much. They don't need to be constantly eating.

I'm always a bit shocked to see how much some kids have in their lunchboxes - 5 year olds eating more than me! Including crisps, and lollies everyday.

[Aussiemum78]

Although I've just looked it up and it says a 15 year old boy may need 3000 calories a day!

healthyeating.sfgate.com/healthy-calorie-intake-15yearold-boy-5543.html

In that case I'd do two sandwiches, two pieces of fruit and one snack item.

[isntthatafont]

"Because they cant always tell when they are full. My youngest in particular compulsively eats and isn't able to regulate himself."

I think the problem might be the opposite of what you think.

You've seen the difference between a 12 year old child and a fully grown man - your boys' bodies are trying to achieve that now, and all of that skeleton, muscle and other tissue has to be made and made strong.

When I was a teenage boy, I regularly ate like a horse, certainly much more than I eat as a large grown man after a day of hard physical graft. I hate to say it but that lunch there just makes me laugh now, it wouldn't have registered as a snack as a teenage boy. I didn't have an ounce of fat on me by the time the process was concluded, and if I had, well getting in shape is very easy as a young man because the metabolism is going mental at that point. I wouldn't worry about that.

Their intake now will become their growth and their strength, I'd give them what they need. At least the more of it you choose for them, the more of it can be healthy.


Also, the little buggers should be making their own sandwiches at that age - believe me they will work something out!

Good luck fighting to keep enough food in the house for them to eat

[LadyCuntingtonThe3rd]

I understand that teenagers need more than in OP, but what's up with 2,3 years old eating more than that? I'm pretty sure they're being overfed.