{"id":134398,"date":"2025-08-27T15:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T19:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/?p=134398"},"modified":"2025-08-28T12:47:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T16:47:40","slug":"packed-lunch-ideas-for-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/27\/packed-lunch-ideas-for-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"Packed lunch ideas for teens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sharing some of my favorite lunchbox ideas for teens!<\/em><\/p>\n

Hi friends! How are you? I hope that you\u2019re having a lovely morning so far. I\u2019ve packed this week with podcast interviews and client calls \u2013 here we goooooo \u2013 because the Pilot is home and can take over homeschool duties.<\/p>\n

For today\u2019s post, I wanted to share some lunchbox ideas for teenagers. I make the girls\u2019 lunches every day, and I love putting them together. Liv\u2019s school offers hot lunch, which is takeout from different fast food restaurants, but it\u2019s super expensive (like $20 for Chick-Fil-A) and they don\u2019t even keep the food warm before serving it to the kids. So for quality and cost reasons, I keep making their food here at home.<\/p>\n

Last year, I would sometimes open Liv\u2019s lunchbox to wash it, and quite a bit of it would still be sitting in here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you eat lunch? Aren\u2019t you hungry at lunchtime?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little hungry but sometimes I don\u2019t really want a bagel or a sandwich\u2026 I\u2019d love a meal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA meal? Like what do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike ramen, or chicken, or salad or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This blew my mind. I was still kind of packing her \u201clittle kid lunches.\u201d Don\u2019t get me wrong, they still looked good and had lots of tasty and healthy components, but she wanted an actual meal instead of a bagel or PB&J. It was a huge lightbulb moment for me because I\u2019d feel the same way. I don\u2019t like eating the same cold things every day, and for lunch, I often prefer a *meal* instead of a bagel or PB&J.<\/p>\n

[And for the friends out there who might be wondering why she didn\u2019t pack her own lunch, she was dancing 10+ hours a week last year across town and had hours of homework each night. It\u2019s also one of those things that I\u2019m happy to do for them \u2013 I enjoy it!]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I started asking her for lunch ideas, and taking her to Costco and Whole Foods with me to pick out things that look good to her. Now I make her *meals* for lunch that are still just as fast as making a PB&J or bagel, but they\u2019re more satisfying and enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the things that are in the rotation:<\/p>\n

Packed lunch ideas for teen<\/h2>\n

Main course:<\/h3>\n

Pasta salad<\/h3>\n

This is the best pasta salad in the world<\/a> and you can make it in advance to enjoy throughout the week.<\/p>\n

Chopped salad with homemade dressing<\/h3>\n

Liv loves a chopped salad and I\u2019ll usually add different types of greens, a protein (like leftover chicken or sliced deli turkey), garbanzo beans, edamame, poshi artichokes or asparagus, grated cheese, olives, veggies, and a homemade dressing.<\/a><\/p>\n

Jennifer Aniston salad<\/h3>\n

We all LOVE this salad<\/a> and it\u2019s so easy to pack for lunch with grilled chicken on top.<\/p>\n

Egg bites<\/h3>\n

These can also be made in advance and frozen. We all love these Mediterranean Egg Bites<\/a> or these Starbucks copycat egg bites<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Mediterranean<\/a><\/p>\n

Ramen or Buldok<\/h3>\n

She loves ramen and doesn\u2019t mind eating it cold\/room temperature, so I\u2019ll make it the night before and keep it in a glass container.<\/p>\n

Sliced grilled chicken with dipping sauces and rice<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ll often meal prep chicken or meatballs and pack these in her lunch with ranch or BBQ sauce to dip.<\/p>\n

Ravioli with olive oil and grated cheese on top<\/h3>\n

Pre-cook the ravioli, drizzle olive oil on top and grated parmegiano reggiano.<\/p>\n

Pizza<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s so easy to wrap up and pack a couple of pieces of pizza<\/p>\n

Leftovers<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s funny because I used to hate leftovers as a kid, but the girls love them. Sometimes after dinner I\u2019ll ask Liv what I can pack her for lunch and she\u2019ll ask if we have leftovers from our meal. If we do, I just pack them up to go. Things like lasagna, enchiladas, papusas, chili or ground beef, and stir fries are all options that she\u2019s wanted to pack up and take for lunch.<\/p>\n

Greek bowls with pita bread<\/h3>\n

Rice, chicken, hummus, Greek salad, grape leaves, and pita<\/p>\n

Sides:<\/h3>\n

Homemade energy balls<\/a><\/p>\n

Fruit<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll wash, chop up, and prep a ton of fruit for the week since we all love snacking on it. I usually buy what\u2019s in season, so lately it\u2019s been berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries), grapes, a few types of melon, and a pineapple. I soak the berries in vinegar and water for 2-5 minutes and let them dry completely before storing in glass containers. I also chop the melon and pineapple and store in glass containers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jerky<\/p>\n

Chips \u2013 Boulder, Siete, or Jackson\u2019s are the go-tos but she also loves Taki\u2019s on occasion or the Trader Joe\u2019s copycat Taki\u2019s<\/p>\n

Dried fruit or fruit strips<\/p>\n

Poshi veggie packs<\/p>\n

Sliced veggies with hummus<\/p>\n

Cheese<\/p>\n

Yogurt with fruit on top<\/p>\n

Homemade cookies, brownies, bars, or some chocolate for dessert<\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to reduce the amount of pacakged snacks we buy,<\/a> but we still get snacky things and pantry staples at Thrive Market<\/a> < \u2014 my link saves you 40% on your first order.<\/p>\n

So, tell me, friends: what do your teens like to eat for lunch? What\u2019s the hot lunch situtaion like at your school?<\/p>\n

At Liv\u2019s preschool in San Diego, they had the BEST hot lunch options. You could order sushi (!), acai bowls, Caesar salads, soups, sandwiches, it was ridiculous.<\/p>\n

xo<\/p>\n

Gina<\/p>\n

The post Packed lunch ideas for teens<\/a> appeared first on The Fitnessista<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sharing some of my favorite lunchbox ideas for teens! Hi friends! How are you? I hope that you\u2019re having a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338,387,409,537],"tags":[341,388,410,538],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134398"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134402,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134398\/revisions\/134402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}