Middle School Lunches and Life Skills
Gone are the days when you’d fill your child’s lunchbox with kid-friendly, nutritious foods that you carefully selected as a parent. Now that your little one is a full-fledged tween, they want more than just some say in what they eat. Lunch ideas for middle schoolers should help the almost-teen to develop a sense of independence and learn life skills. This means you need to act as a guide and not your family’s line cook. Supervise your middle schooler and direct them in the kitchen. But let them do the meal prep themselves! Before you blink, they’ll head off to college. And if you don’t want them to live off of cold ramen and pretzel bits, use these school lunch ideas to give them a head start on culinary greatness. Beyond the life skills they’ll build as they choose their own school lunch ideas, your tween will also get the chance to learn about health—physical and financial. These tasty lunchbox options go above and beyond the classic PB&J, are packed with the nutrients your growing tween or teen needs, and are easier on your family budget than vending machine snacks.
Tips to Get Tweens Involved In Making and Packing Lunches
How can you get your tween into meal prep mode?
Start with a celeb chef. From Rachael Ray to Bobby Flay, there are plenty of celebrity chefs that can inspire your kiddo to create. Page through cookbooks or watch online clips that feature recipe prep from notable names. Go shopping together. Hit the local grocery store for some parent-child shopping time. Help your middle schooler to select fresh, healthy picks as you steer them away from the candy, chip, and soda aisles. Get creative. Make meals more interesting and encourage creativity in the kitchen. This could include using fun shapes, bold colors, or creating healthy lunch ideas that put a new spin on old-school faves. Take a step back. Let your tween take charge and act as an independent middle schooler. Tally the total. Help your child to learn the value of at-home meal prep. Add up the cost of each kid-friendly, kid-made meal and compare it to what they would spend at school or a restaurant. Supervise. Even though your tween is well past the little kid years, they still need adult supervision in the kitchen.
1. Pita and Hummus Roll-Ups
This basic Middle Eastern wrap type of lunch is easy to make and just as easy to customize. What you need:
Pita bread Hummus Veggies - Such as bell peppers, cucumbers, arugula, and cherry tomatoes.
Directions:
2. Take-Along Taco
The overfilled refried bean and beef recipe you use at home for your Mexican-themed Taco Tuesdays won’t stay put in your middle schooler’s lunch-time bag. Lunch recipes for middle schoolers need to travel—minus the mess. This recipe is less liquidy but equally as tasty. What you need:
Taco shells Whole lettuce leaves Tomatoes, sliced Zucchini, sliced Parmesan cheese
Directions:
3. Whole-Wheat Mozzarella Cheese Sandwiches with Pesto and Veggies
Whole-grain bread is a healthy alternative to a refined (white bread) version. This sammy upgrade takes a traditional bread and cheese meal and makes it into a more modern middle schooler-ready lunch idea. What you need:
Whole-wheat bread Pesto Fresh mozzarella cheese Red bell peppers Sliced black olives
Directions:
4. Nut Butter and Celery Stick Side
Your growing middle schooler needs more than just wraps, roll-ups, and sandwiches. Whether you’re trying to fill a bento box or you just want your kiddo’s lunchbox to include extra sides, try this healthy lunch pick. What you need:
Nut butter Celery Blueberries
Directions:
5. Quick Cranberry Chicken Salad Tortilla Wraps
The rotisserie chicken you have in the fridge is the perfect starter for your tween’s next healthy lunch. Forget about roasting a chicken for hours just to turn it into a salad. The store-bought rotisserie version is ready to go! Even though this quick pick uses tortillas, your middle schooler can swap out the wrap for a piece of pita bread, a large lettuce leaf, or whole-wheat bread. What you need:
Flour or corn tortillas A rotisserie chicken Mayo Dried cranberries Celery Almond slivers
Directions: Note: Chicken salad, like other meat and mayo products, requires a cool temperature. Refrigerate the wraps before you send them to school. Use a freeze-back, insulated lunchbox to keep the wrap at a reasonable temp until your tween eats lunch.
6. Guacamole Bagel Bites
What’s more fun than a big ‘ol bagel? Teeny tiny bites! Scour the bread aisle for mini-bagels (most larger grocery stores have them) and use the petite picks to make avocado-licious sandwiches. What you need:
Mini bagels in any flavor Ready-made guacamole Large tomatoes, sliced Black beans
Directions:
7. Waffles and Fresh Fruit Sandwiches
Make breakfast for lunch and turn frozen waffles into a fun, yummy kid-friendly fruit sandwich. Up the health factor and choose a whole-grain waffle. This sweet waffle sandwich couldn’t be easier for your kiddo to make. What you need:
Frozen whole-grain waffles Your child’s choice of fruit - Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, apple slices, and bananas are good picks! Greek yogurt or cream cheese
Directions: Note: Like some of the other healthy lunch ideas for middle schoolers, this one requires refrigeration (in other words, a cold pack and an insulated lunchbox). You can also switch up the waffle sandwich idea and swap chicken nuggets for the yogurt/cream cheese and fruit. This seemingly odd combo gives a Southern fried chicken and waffles vibe.
8. Pasta Salad with Veggies
Boiling water is new to your kiddo. But cooking pasta is a lesson they can learn right now. Instead of plain spaghetti, choose a fun shape or green spinach, red pepper, and orange tomato pasta for this savory lunchtime treat. What you need:
Pasta Red, green, and yellow bell peppers Chickpeas Broccoli Basil A lemon Olive oil
Directions: Note: This lunch idea also requires a chilly storage setting. If you want to add a dairy kick to the pasta salad, help your child to cut fresh mozzarella and add the cheese to the mix.
9. Trail Mix with Granola and Pretzels
Your kiddo craves candy. But a bag of gummies isn’t exactly a healthy part of any middle school lunch. Instead of prepackaged snacks, your tween can make their very own trail mix treat! What you need:
Plain granola Thin pretzel sticks Raisins Dried cranberry, apple, cherry, blueberry, or other fruit bits Shredded coconut Almond slices
Directions: Note: This recipe couldn’t be easier for your middle schooler to make. But they should learn how to limit their trail mix consumption. A gallon-sized baggie of the mix has too much sugar. But a partially filled sandwich-sized version is just enough for a pick-me-up snack.
10. Awesome Apple Slices Bento Box
An apple by itself is healthy—but kind of boring. Spice things up with a few fun toppers. Create a bento theme and use a partitioned lunchbox to create an apple buffet side or snack. What you need:
Apples Peanut butter, almond butter, or another nut butter Cinnamon Yogurt Raisins or dried cranberries Sliced bananas
Directions: Note: Your middle schooler can assemble small apple sandwiches or dip the cubes into the yogurt/nut butter. They can top the apples with bananas or dried fruit.
11. Tuna Salad Pinwheels
Turn up the traditional tuna salad recipe with this creative lunchtime idea. Instead of tuna and mayo, this healthier salad uses olive oil and lemon! The best part is that your middle schooler can customize the ingredients to fit their palate. What you need:
1 can chunk tuna in water A whole-wheat tortilla 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil ½ lemon Your child’s choice - Cilantro or basil Optional ingredients - Arugula, cherry tomatoes, almond slivers, chopped bell peppers, sliced olives, chopped red onions, or sliced grilled veggies.
Directions: Note: Yes, this tuna treat also requires refrigeration. Pack this one in your child’s cool insulated lunch sack. Now that your tween is ready to eat, are you looking for lunch ideas for your toddler? Check out these healthy snack picks.
