Teenagers!

ViolaLeeBlueberry

So what do folks keep around the house for teenagers? I'd love to hear some good, easy, teen-friendly snack ideas of stuff to just keep around to get out of the Snack Rut.

It's funny in our house, since my husband and I are both working on being in better shape, which in our case includes losing weight, while our son wouldn't mind putting ON some weight. But he's also been trying to avoid too much oily and sugar-y things to keep acne in check. (Well, avoid them within reason, in teen terms.) So we've largely ditched the former go-to snacks. And now ... hmmm, kind of wondering ...

The reality is that he dashes out of the house without breakfast (partly to catch the bus, but also to sleep until the last minute, LOL) and then eats the same amount at dinner that we do, more or less. There's breakfast and lunch at school, but his school serves only vegetarian and I know darned well he's not eating his beans! (Besides, has anyone ever known a teenager who liked the school lunch? When I was in high school, I made toast for breakfast and went without lunch, because "yuck, school lunch.")

So I'd like to make sure we have things at home that are healthy, appealing and higher in protein and calories.

We generally tend to have things around like fruit, nuts and muesli. Some days I'll make a grilled cheese sandwich or guacamole, but it doesn't always happen. I feel that I'd like to hear other options. I'm thinking protein and iron in particular, and stuff that's easy to just have sitting there to be grabbed for after-school and late-night snacking. (We're not vegetarian; we mostly have meat at dinner.)

What works for your teenagers? What kind of things do you like to keep around that might fit the bill?

nicsflyingcircus

I have 4 kids, but the most relevant one here is my 12yo son (5'6.5" and wears a man's size 11 shoe so he might as well be a teenager). He does eat breakfast, because as a 6th grader (September birthday, missed the cutoff by 4 weeks) I still make him get up. This makes no dent in the rest of his daily intake though.

Lunch (he packs): sandwich on whole grain bread with easily a tbsp natural pb and lots of unsweetened raspberry chia jam that I make, an apple, 2 or 3 servings of carrots, a string cheese and a snacky item of some sort (granola bar, pretzels, veggie straws, etc).

After school snack: His standby is about 3/4 cup (6oz) plain 2% greek yogurt mixed with a quarter cup (2oz) low-fat vanilla greek yogurt, topped with about 1/4-1/2 cup protein granola and maybe some bran buds.

Celery or apple with peanut or almond butter, cheese(full fat), yogurt (NOT fat free), nuts (in moderation), lots of veg etc. Toast can be a great snack, with cream cheese or nut butter on top. Also, I buy (for myself, but would work for your son if he likes it) the wholly guacamole mini packs. One of those plus 2oz sour cream makes a great dip veg or tortilla chips. Also... hummus?

Is there a reason he can't make his own grilled cheese, etc? My three oldest kids (11, 12, 14) can all handle making grilled cheese/quesadillas/eggs

becky10rp

I have a 16 year old daughter - she likes to snack on the following: cheese sticks, apples, pears, single-serving Jello cups; frozen mango chunks, microwave popcorn, instant oatmeal, and pretzels.

Kalikel

I think it's probably me, having spent too much time with teens who have EDs, but I hear of a teen who needs to gain weight, but skips both breakfast and lunch and I think, "Eating disorder?"

I'm sure he's fine and I'm just wondering about it for nothing, though. Still, an idea to consider (and probably dismiss!)

My son always told me what he wanted. I got very detailed explanations the next time, if I got it wrong the last time, too. Because, you know, there is such a HUGE difference between a raspberry Pop Tart and a strawberry Pop Tart.

Just ask him what he wants! (And if he doesn't want snacks after not eating all day, I'm back to wondering about eating disorders.)

Joannah700

I was going to suggest raiding Trader Joes, but looked at your profile and saw that you were in Asia?

Hummus/Pita Chips, veggies
Pretzels
Breakfast Bars, protein Bars, KIND bars
Edamame

ViolaLeeBlueberry

Yeah, the biggest challenge is really where we live, but that's a whole different topic LOL. You guys would fall off the chair if you knew how exotic your everyday lists sound! Joannah, I'm happy there aren't big int'l chains here, but wouldn't mind opening a Trader Joe's outlet myself, haha.

(As an example, the following would be utterly unavailable: chia, string cheese, veggie straws, nut butter except for PB and that's never natural, sour cream, any mini packs, breakfast bars, microwave anything, instant anything, any yogurt with a qualifier such as "vanilla" or "Greek" or whatever, cream cheese unless you feel like paying $9 for a teensy packet, bran buds, pita chips, etc.) LOL.

But there are a lot more types of fruits (and veggies, but what teenage boy ever goes, "oh great, 10 types of gourds!") He likes fresh guavas from the yard, though that season is ending. But healthy-ish out-of-the-box "junk food"? Uh, not so much. Sadly, only the crap gets imported (Pringles and Oreos, anyone?) and local junk food is very oily and sugary, which he likes and will go through by the bag-full (definitely no eating disorder), but is trying to avoid at the moment to keep acne at bay.

Hummus is a good idea. I make that sometimes, but haven't in a while.

Also PB on apples. Forgot about that!

And someone mentioned cream cheese dip. It's not at the stores and I can't make it (lack of ingredients), but there's one guy who makes a gourmet type and brings it to a farmer's market ... do you suppose it'd be freezable? I never thought of stocking up on that! He definitely goes through that, and it's definitely not low-cal LOL.

Also, yeah, he cooks. And he goes to the stores, too. But I'm trying to think outside the box, which could take a bit of planning or running around on my part (because of where we live). So the ideas are helpful, thanks!

Lounmoun

Hard boiled eggs, deviled eggs
Fruit
Yogurt
Granola or granola bars
Trail mix- nuts, dry fruit, pretzels
Bean and cheese burritos
Black bean dip, hummus
Cheese and crackers, peanut butter crackers
Sandwich- egg, peanut butter, cheese, meat, hummus, whatever
Olives
Homemade pizza
Beef jerky
Cereal, oatmeal
Muffins
Bagel sandwiches

raysputin

It doesn't matter what you keep, teenagers will find fault with it. On the evening of our main grocery run my youngest would open the cupboard and say, "Why is there never anything to eat around here?" Good thing we loved him.

Our philosophy was to keep mostly "good" food with the occasional treat. A really hungry teenager will eat the pattern off the tablecloth and WILL eat fruit and wholemeal bread etc. if nothing else is available.

I caught my youngest eating raw broccoli and yoghurt dip at his eldest's birthday party on the weekend and reaching over the caramello slice to do it- one for the good guys!

Hearts_2015

Lounmoun wrote: »

Hard boiled eggs, deviled eggs
Fruit
Yogurt
Granola or granola bars
Trail mix- nuts, dry fruit, pretzels
Bean and cheese burritos
Black bean dip, hummus
Cheese and crackers, peanut butter crackers
Sandwich- egg, peanut butter, cheese, meat, hummus, whatever
Olives
Homemade pizza
Beef jerky
Cereal, oatmeal
Muffins
Bagel sandwiches

Love so many of the ideas being tossed around on this thread...sometimes it's so easy to forget the regular go to's.

3/4 cup (6oz) plain 2% Greek yogurt mixed with a quarter cup (2oz) low-fat vanilla Greek yogurt, topped with about 1/4-1/2 cup protein granola and maybe some bran buds.

Also this sounds tasty... ...so if you use plain Greek yogurt and mix a bit of vanilla in it sweetens it up a bit... I might just try this. The regular is so sweet to me now and full of sugar.... Greek yogurt has some awesome protein so I'll give this a try!

I really appreciate you all sharing what works for you!

What came to mind first but has since been brought up is hummus and what about popcorn..is that available in Asia? I just made some up myself.

I took 1/4 cup popcorn and put it in a lunch sized bag (no oils or anything just the plain kernels) folded it over twice and click on the popcorn key. It's a serving you can eat it from the bag. I don't typically put anything on it and after not doing that for awhile it's really tasty plain. It's not dry like air popped... its a different taste, I love it.