How to Pack a Lunch for Teens

Keep a healthy balance between nutrition and foods teens like. It doesn't matter how nutritious their lunch is if they won't eat it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Cookbooks
• Lunch Bags
• Healthy Foods
• Blenders
• Magazine Subscriptions

1. Gather nutritional information from several sources and focus on the special nutritional needs of growing teenagers.
2. Find out what your teenager likes to eat. Respect personal food choices such as vegetarianism.
3. Peruse magazines, newspapers, cookbooks and Web sites for lunch ideas that meet your teenager's needs and preferences, as well as your own nutritional standards.
4. Learn how to make easy international foods such as sushi, knishes, calzones and spring rolls, which can be novel and fun.
5. Consider sandwiches, burrito-type "wraps," salads, pizzas and pizza-like foods, and rice bowls, which are both portable and proven teen pleasers.
6. Use fillers that are healthy and tasty: peanut butter, cheese, meat, hummus, tofu, greens, vegetables and eggs.
7. Think blended. Smoothies and shakes are delicious, different, trendy and power-packed with nutrients.
8. Pack power bars, fruit bars, smart trail mixes or yogurt to boost a picky eater's lunch.
9. Variety should be a priority. Teens get tired of the same old thing every day.

Tips & Warnings

• Stay open-minded; teenagers have very definite ideas about most things.
• Rice bowls are easily made at home. Use a protein-rich topping (tofu, meat, cheese, beans) and veggies for the greatest nutritional value.
• Keep your eyes open for unexplained weight gain or weight loss, as eating habits can often be the first sign that your teenager is troubled or unduly stressed.
• Consider food safety. If the lunch will remain in your child's warm locker for several hours, be sure you use foods that will not spoil.