Hi moms,
I pack my two teens (14 & 16) sandwiches almost every day for school. Needless to say the standard meat & cheese variety gets old fast. I've been able to come up with a few new things they like: roast beef & bbq sauce, turkey with lettuce and a thin layer each of cream cheese & cranberry sauce, and this week's favorite: grilled chicken breast with pesto mayo.
I do change up the type of bread and flavors of mustard. Any other ideas? Any combinations you've found especially easy and pleasing would be appreciated! Oh, and I should add that (sadly) they do NOT like tomatoes, pitas or wraps. Thanks in advance for your great ideas :)
one of my sons favs is garlic turkey breast with roasted red pepper hummus on ciabatta bread. hummus comes in several flavors, so if they dont like roasted red pepper flavor there are others. he also likes breaded chicken fingers with bbq sauce, red onion, lettuce on ciabatta. have you tried dutch crunch rolls? they are yummy too. cant think of any others at the moment. good luck!
I know you can't really pack a grilled cheese because grilled cheese sandwiches need to be warm, but we love making them with sourdough bread, Havarti, muenster, and pesto spread. They are great after school snacks. My daughter also likes Nutella with sliced strawberries on white...
Could you do BLT's and they could warm them in the microwave? Obviously skip the tomato if they don't like it. We do bacon, lettuce, avocado, ranch dressing and cheese.
What about a fun salad? Lots of cucumber, olives, hard boiled egg, jalapenos, croutons, cheese, pickles, onions, red peppers, etc.
A hearty vegetable soup with potatoes, other veggies and even rice.
Spaghetti
Tuna
I'm not sure that teenagers will eat all of these suggestions, I was just rattling off what I make my husband and I for lunches because I get bored of regular sandwiches too.
I love to mix cream cheese with chopped black olives and chopped walnuts and spread it on a hearty, nutty bread. Rich, filling and delicious.
Hi teresa,
I am from Argentina and there we love milanesa sandwich. Milanesa is a piece of meat, breaded adn baked (or fry, but... I baked 'em)
Milanesa is a version of version of cotoletta and wiener schnitzel, adn there are ways to make it tasty and affordable. I usualy go to the butcher place once a month, and make enough milanesas to freeze. Use some parchment paper in between them or ven better is to freeze them on a seal nylong.
You will tream the fat frm the steak (it's a thin steak) and pass them from a mix of beated eggs, with salt, pressed garlic adn finely chopped parsley... this last two are optional.)
Then breaded adn bake the milanesas for 17 minutes, turning then at its half time.
They are great cold, with some cheese, mayo and mustard.
My favorite sandwich also has lettuce, avocado, sprouts, tomato.... what ever you like. Oh, if I eat them hot for diner with a salad, I like to use some lemon juice on the meat.
i hope you like it! There is even a page in facebook for milanesa lovers! It's my favorite dish! Let me know how it goes!
My personal favorites... not liked by a lot of kids, but you may want to check with yours... are tuna salad or egg salad. They are a bit messy, but if you have a sandwich box to pack them in that would help.
Dear Teresa:
Sounds as though you are already very creative and nurturing and it also sounds as though you have boys, because I would think at 14 and 16 girls might be making their own lunches to their own tastes. I would suggest teaching the teen agers a few things about sandwich preparation and asking for favorite flavors and exploring together with them new and creative things. They do notice what the other lunch eaters around them have. I'll bet they are proud of the wonderful meals their mom prepares!!Good for you!!
Nancy
Here is my 9 yr old son's favorite that me made up on his own. Little mini bagel (100 calories each), piece of cheese and few slices of pepperoni. I guess it's like a pizza sandwich to him. He takes two of them with a fruit and yogurt and something to drink.
I had a friend from England and she made sandwiches with cream cheese. So, for instance, ham and cream cheese on bread. At first I found this weird because I really associated cream cheese with sweet items - cheese cake, etc - but it's really good.
A favorite with my boys is Tuna with mayonaise mixed with diced black olives topped with lettece. Yummy.
Sharon
Proud mother of three grown boys and now a 3 1/2 year old grandson.
Hi Teresa-
Here are some of my favorites.
1. Olive hummus with cheese.
2. turkey bacon with cranberry sauce and lettuce
3. thanksgivingwich- turkey, cranberry, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy (very little) on a roll.
4. grilled pepperoni, salami, and onion with pizza sauce and cheese on a french roll. It's like a pizza sandwich
5. egg salad
6. chicken salad
7. tuna? I like mine with sweet pickles, extra crunchy, sprouts, onions, cheese, lettuce, etc.
8. pb & j
9. veggies and cheese- lettuce, sprouts, peppers, cheese of choice, olives, a drizzle of olive oil or a pesto spread.
10. Have a create a new sandwich night for dinner, and take notes on what everyone comes up with. The kicker is it has to taste good! Try cream cheese with cinnamon and clove mixed in it, and then add things like cucumbers, or banana's and peanut butter, or bagels with salmon and cream cheese (if they like fish). The cream cheese is a fantastic option.
Hope this helps
-Erin
P.S. YOu can slap just about anything on bread. Mashed up carrots, pototates, and beef stew, burger patty with all the fixings, veggies, etc. Just mush it together and bag it up! Also, for bread, we like those thin sandwich rounds by entemanns. Bakersfield has an orowheat bakery outlet, where bread is like 1/4 of the price, and they have sale days, etc. I will never pay more than $2 for a loaf again!
chopped olive sandwhich is really good. buy a can of chopped olives (not sliced) add mayo and then spread over toasted bread. You can always add cheese too. My kids love this and it's so easy and different.
Try looking at menus from local sandwich shops like La Bou and TOGO's. They always seem to come up really good combos and will gladly tell you what are in them. Don't forget about crosaunts (sp) and bagels as well. Good luck. Also, never underestimate anything with peanut butter (unless there are peanut allergies). I have a 16 year old son who eats PBJ's everyday for lunch (by his request) and then comes home and makes himself one or two afterschool.
GO to a couple of sandwich shops and take pictures of the menu.
If you have access to a Trader Joe's they sell breaded egg plant patty's in the frozen section. Today I made a few of the patty's-toasted them in the toaster oven- cheese-any kind you like-I used a mild thin sliced swiss, lots of crunchy lettuce & you can add whatever sauces they prefer. Mayo, tomato sauce, any kind of dressing-a balsamic or olive oil or even ranch-send the dressing on the side to 'dip' Use whatever bread you like-I used a hot dog bun today which was yummy & soft.
Another thing they sell in the frozen section is 'fake' meatballs made from tofu- they taste nothing like tofu-actually we are always using then in our pasta dishes & 'tricking' our friends/family into thinking they are real meat balls made from meat-they are delicious. You can make a 'meatball' sandwich-tomato sauce, cheese, mayo, lettuce etc
Good luck those are 2 of our favorites when we want something different.
Also when you do buy regular ham, turkey & cheese from the deli counter get it sliced thin-& then kind of roll them on the bread-it makes the sandwich taste lighter & is a nice change if you do the opposite-thick sliced & just stack it on the bread.
Thanks for asking this question I see some things that sound good to me below.
I think teenagers and kids over eight or ten should make their own weekday breakfasts and pack their own school lunches. You could help them find ideas for sandwiches they would like to try on various recipe sites, and help them prepare a shopping list for the week's ingredients, and in the process teach them a few things about nutrition and food safety, among other things. If they don't learn to make their own sandwiches (and other basic food items) while they are teens, they will live on fast food when they move out of your house.
well, your sandwiches sound AMAZING and i suspect that if they were a part of making their own lunches themselves (which would perhaps be a good idea? nurture some "lunch making" skills, some independance and responsibility plus an understanding and appreciation of all that YOU do?)that they'd soon be content w/out such a wide range of variety -
anyhow, from the sound of the sandwiches you make you oughta open a sandwich shop! we'd be lining up!
cheers!
YUM! Wish I was one of your kids ;-) those sound like yummy sandwiches! Does it always have to be sandwiches? I like to send my kids with some hot options in a thermos sometimes or even a chopped salad like shrimp salad, tuna salad etc. with either some crackers to put it on or some nice crispy romain pieces and they make "lettuce boats" by putting the salad inside and rolling it like a wrap. They also love celery with peanutbutter and raisins on top (ants on a log) along with a round cheese wheel. My DD does not really like bread so we go with non-bread options - have also heated up chicken nuggets or cutles left over from dinner, hotdog etc. in the am and put them in the thermos with a cup of applesause to dip them in. I heat the thermos up first with hot water then dump out the water, dry and then put the food in - this keeps it hot longer. My kids eat lunch at 10:30-11am - crazy I know, but it's true! So we pack lots of things to keep them full for the rest of the day. I have also done egg sandwiches with ham or cheese or french toast with cream cheese filling. You have lucky kids ;-)
I've been starting to mix it up with my kids. One likes sushi and granola with yogurt and the other likes pastas and pizza, so I will sometimes give them something other than sandwiches. There are all kinds of lunch food containers that allow you to pack cold foods with an ice pack or warm foods in an insulated container. Sometimes they get last night's leftovers if it was one of their favorite meals, like meatloaf.
For sandwiches, Costco has canned wild Alaskan salmon you could use like tuna salad. There is also egg salad and chicken salad. I use mayo made using canola oil, omega 3 oils and vitamin E oil, so they are getting some good fatty acids. Trader Joes has a yummy Sonoma chicken salad with pecans and grapes in it.