Lunch Box or Brown Bag Ideas for Tweens

Packing your child's lunch box everyday not only helps save you money but it can help you control what they eat for lunch. When your children were younger it didn't take much to spruce up their lunch box. Cutting sandwiches into cute shapes were likely enough to eat their food rather than trade it. But once your child gets older and have entered their tween and teen years the cute heart shaped sandwich is no longer wanted. So how do you pack an interesting lunch that your tween or teen will like?

Let Them Pack Their Lunch

Even a boring pb&j with a bag of baby carrots tastes better when your tween or teen prepares it themselves. As a mom I know I find it hard to accept the fact that my children are getting older and can do things themselves. I often find myself having to stop myself from babying them too much. Some tweens and teens may not already be packing their lunch because of the morning time crunch or because mom wants to still do it for them. But I tell you if you let them pack their own lunch they will be more likely to eat it and enjoy it.

Grown Up Tastes

As children get older they tend to be more open to different food choices. While not all children outgrow their status of picky eater some will at least add a bit more variety to their list of delicious foods. So why not experiment a bit more with the choice of food offered for their lunch boxes or brown lunch bags? Instead of carrot sticks and cheese crackers try giving them some radishes and crackers with a delicious cheese such as fontina or something similar. Treating them like adults by serving them foods that most younger kids wouldn't appreciate will make your tween and teen feel more grown up and they will appreciate that you recognize they aren't babies anymore.

Jazzing Up the Sandwich

So the traditional pb&j and lunchmeat sandwiches no longer are appealing to your tween or teen and you don't know what else to serve. Why not try jazzing up their sandwiches with more grown up ingredients. Leftover steak sliced into strips with some sauteed onions and peppers rolled up in a wrap or tortilla shell would make a great alternative. Or go vegetarian by offering peppers, onions, zucchini, and squash with some italian dressing rolled up in a tortilla or wrap. Tweens still love lunchables but they are usually expensive and not very healthy. You can still imitate the lunchable by offering different lunch meats cut into squares along with squared cheeses (such as Swiss, American, Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Fontina, and Jarlsberg) and Triscuts or whole wheat crackers.

Other Main Courses

You don't need a sandwich to complete a lunch for your tween or teen. Try substituting the sandwich with homemade pasta salad, potato salad (throw in some cubed ham for protein), crab salad, chicken caesar salad, build your own tacos (heat taco meat and/or refried beans and throw into a thermos), tortilla chips (try making your own with leftover tortilla shells) with cheese dip, hot dogs packed in a thermos with hot chili, leftover soup with some crusty bread (slice french bread or a baguette into thin slices and toast with a bit of olive oil before throwing into lunch box or brown bag), spinach artichoke and shrimp dip and cubes of sourdough bread for dipping, sushi (very easy to make homemade), hard boiled eggs (great when chopped up and thrown into a salad for protein), and other ideas.

Themes for Tweens and Teens

Just because your child is older doesn't mean you can't still play with themed ideas. You just need to adjust them to suit your child's grown up taste. One theme idea that your tween or teen may enjoy is the picnic theme. Place a checkered napkin into their lunch box (or if they are too old for the checkered napkin you could choose a napkin in their favorite color) along with a small container of potato salad, a deviled egg or two, a slice of watermelon or cubes of watermelon (you may want to sprinkle with a little sugar if the melon is out of season to sweeten it up a bit) or canteloupe, and finger sandwiches.

You can have a Mexican themed lunch box for your tween or teen by including different ingredients for tacos. Just heat some leftover taco meat and place into a thermos. Add a container with their favorite toppings, throw in some extra sauce packets from your local fast food taco restaurant (or you can place a small amount into a small container, and some tortilla shells for a tasty fun to assemble lunch. Or you could try the same thing only instead of taco meat you could add leftover meat, onions, and peppers from fajitas.

You can make a winter themed lunch box by adding soup, crackers or bread for dipping, and some apple cider heated and thrown into a thermos. You can add some sugar cookies decorated like snowflakes for dessert. For a grown up soup you can place a container with some rice filled up about 1/3 of the way. Then add a thermos of hot chicken noodle soup. When lunch time arrives your tween or teen can pour the soup over the rice and mix together. The rice will make the soup more filling and help to cool it down a bit.

The best tip I can give is to let your tween or teen cook with you. Whether it is something as simple as making homemade pudding or something a bit more fun like a pasta salad kids are always more eager to eat whatever they helped make. Also it helps give your child confidence and teaches them the basics of cooking.