Constantly hungry daughter

[Whatkatyforgottodo]

My daughter does a lot of sport and is constantly hungry. We have plenty of healthy snacks at home for her to fill up on but I’m struggling with what to give her for packed lunch. She usually takes a sandwich, crisps, a couple of pieces of fruit and some nuts. What else can I give her that will fill her up (and doesn’t involve too much prep for me!)

The easiest way would be more sandwiches.

She possibly needs more protein. Surprised school allows nuts though.

Cubes of cheese are a win in our house and also a cereal bar is pretty filling too.

More protein, as well as the sandwich, so maybe some cheese and crackers, hummus and veg sticks, apple and peanut/almond butter, hard boiled eggs, rice salad with chickpeas or beans, slices of ham/chicken/beef, slice of quiche or spanish omelette.

This is very natural and filling. Do all sorts of favours too.

Less carbs more fat and protein, you need to monitor her insulin resistance.

Double or treble the sandwiches ( as my mam did for me in my late teens )

make sure it’s decent whole meal bread not white

if she’s sporty and skinny then don’t worry about insulin resistance - carbs are very useful

DD used to be like that. For us, a decent breakfast certainly helped. Porridge/overnight oats with a couple of spoons of Linwoods milled seeds and some fruit was popular, or eggs are quite filling.

For lunch, focus on whole-grains rather than white bread. Would she eat a pesto pasta salad? I used to through in carrot sticks and humous, frittata, cubed cheese and a pot of berries or sliced apple.

What about a homemade muffin or flapjack? Thinking oats, fruit and vegetables

raw veg & hummus
smoothie
chocolate or yogurt coated rice cakes
boiled egg
chicken legs
protein yogurt
pasta salad
naked bars
popcorn instead of crisps

Good idea about Greek yogurt. (Not Greek style).

Would she have hot food in a flask?

Buy a food flask. Cook an extra portion of dinner. She has that.for lunch the next day.

I’d start with more sandwich filling.

more protein will last longer.

There are also usually constraints on time to eat so you can’t just keep adding food. You need to make the food being consumed more efficient.

maybe a yogurt based smoothie with fruits and vegetables to drink.

Can you give her something like pasta with prawns and a few babybels? If she’s doing a lot of sports she probably needs a bit more protein.

Protein. Packs of salmon, chicken, tins of tuna etc

Leftovers of pasta and sauce that can be eaten cold, maybe with added salad stuff? Or just plain pasta mixed with tuna, sweetcorn, mayo and other veg? Couscous with veg and herbs and olive oil?
Hummus, you can make that quite easily in a food processor. Or guacamole? With pitta and crudités?
More fruit, oatcakes, loose cereal like Cheerios or mini shredded wheat, pretzels, yoghurt?

What does she want to eat?

my daughter is always hungry and packs herself lunch. Lots and lots of protein - hard boiled eggs, meat sticks, peanut butter on anything, that sort of stuff.

sometimes she makes herself pasta on a Sunday and brings it in a flask.

i get her cereal bars with high protein - there are peanut ones at Aldi she likes but we’ve had loads of different ones. Then some fruit, veggies, another cereal bar for after dance, more eggs, etc.

she doesn’t like hummus but that would be a good idea if yours does.

Made of money or processed shite?

Another sandwich?

I buy poached salmon from Aldi. There’s two in a pack for £4 and they do me for three lunches with salad. So probably £2 for a lunch.

2 in a pack make 2 lots of 2 rounds of sandwiches - which is what I suggested - more sandwich. A peanut butter filling would be substantially cheaper.

just talking about the extra protein as though the sandwiches are just bread and butter or not needed at all is what I am commenting on

it doesn’t sound like the child is being greedy - just needing lots of fuel. In a healthy child having good quality carbs can be a good and cheap way to fill them up

they don’t need huge variety - indeed variety encourages overeating. Protein filling is great if you have a weight or insulin problem but it doesn’t seem as though that is the case here. Filling up with too much protein might be bad as it tends to help people consume fewer calories which in a growing sporty child may be exactly the wrong thing to encourage

Better to buy decent food than endless snacks?

Chicken skewers
Make the sandwich with 3 slices of bread instead of 2
Muffin/loaf, there are lots of healthy recipes online you can batch cook and put straight from freezer into lunchbox
Ritz crackers or mini cheddars
Protein yogurt
Veg sticks & peanut butter pot

Boiled eggs and babybells (5g of protein in the babybells too).

Protein keeps them full.

Make sure her breakfast is protein packed and add some extra eggs/meat/fish/cheese/yoghurt to her lunch.

Last night’s leftovers in a flask (stuff like curry, bolognaise etc) also works well too.

More sandwiches, protein yoghurts, bananas.