Sharing some of my favorite lunchbox ideas for teens!

Hi friends! How are you? I hope that you’re having a lovely morning so far. I’ve packed this week with podcast interviews and client calls – here we goooooo – because the Pilot is home and can take over homeschool duties.

For today’s post, I wanted to share some lunchbox ideas for teenagers. I make the girls’ lunches every day, and I love putting them together. Liv’s school offers hot lunch, which is takeout from different fast food restaurants, but it’s super expensive (like $20 for Chick-Fil-A) and they don’t even keep the food warm before serving it to the kids. So for quality and cost reasons, I keep making their food here at home.

Last year, I would sometimes open Liv’s lunchbox to wash it, and quite a bit of it would still be sitting in here.

“Why didn’t you eat lunch? Aren’t you hungry at lunchtime?”

“I’m a little hungry but sometimes I don’t really want a bagel or a sandwich… I’d love a meal.”

“A meal? Like what do you mean?”

“Like ramen, or chicken, or salad or something like that.”

This blew my mind. I was still kind of packing her “little kid lunches.” Don’t get me wrong, they still looked good and had lots of tasty and healthy components, but she wanted an actual meal instead of a bagel or PB&J. It was a huge lightbulb moment for me because I’d feel the same way. I don’t like eating the same cold things every day, and for lunch, I often prefer a *meal* instead of a bagel or PB&J.

[And for the friends out there who might be wondering why she didn’t pack her own lunch, she was dancing 10+ hours a week last year across town and had hours of homework each night. It’s also one of those things that I’m happy to do for them – I enjoy it!]

I started asking her for lunch ideas, and taking her to Costco and Whole Foods with me to pick out things that look good to her. Now I make her *meals* for lunch that are still just as fast as making a PB&J or bagel, but they’re more satisfying and enjoyable.

Here are some of the things that are in the rotation:

Packed lunch ideas for teen

Main course:

Pasta salad

This is the best pasta salad in the world and you can make it in advance to enjoy throughout the week.

Chopped salad with homemade dressing

Liv loves a chopped salad and I’ll usually add different types of greens, a protein (like leftover chicken or sliced deli turkey), garbanzo beans, edamame, poshi artichokes or asparagus, grated cheese, olives, veggies, and a homemade dressing.

Jennifer Aniston salad

We all LOVE this salad and it’s so easy to pack for lunch with grilled chicken on top.

Egg bites

These can also be made in advance and frozen. We all love these

Turkey Bacon Avocado Sandwich (Honey Avocado Sauce)

This Turkey Bacon Avocado Sandwich stacks the flavor in a whole new way! First, make a creamy honey avocado spread. Next, pile turkey, avocado, crispy bacon and tomato on your favorite bread. Finally, dig into the best sandwich you’ve ever eaten!

Make it on 7 Grain Bread or Scroll down to watch on Focaccia!

Turkey Bacon Avocado Sandwich Ingredients

• Favorite bread: Go for a good sturdy 7 grain or focaccia– trust me.
• Havarti cheese: Mild and creamy; a great complement, but not necessary.
• Bacon: Make it on a sheet pan, starting in a cold oven or pan for ultimate fat-rendering-crispness.
• Deli turkey: Choose fresh deli slices or use leftover Thanksgiving turkey if you’ve got some!
• Avocado: Use a perfectly ripe avocado for a creamier texture; slice thinly.
• Tomato: Always sprinkle a little salt and pepper on tomatoes in a sandwich!
• Greens: I love to used mixed greens or peppery arugula, but anything will do! Romaine or green leaf lettuce would be great!
• Honey Avocado sauce: Blend together the ingredients in a small bowl for the ultimate sandwich spread!

How to Make Turkey Avocado Sandwiches with Honey Avocado Dressing

1. Make sauce: Blend together the sauce ingre

My Favorite Avocado Sandwich [+Video]

Looking to give your lunch routine an upgrade? Try my favorite avocado sandwich recipe! With creamy avocado, roasted tomatoes, and a spicy mayo, it’s the perfect combination of flavors and textures.

Years ago I had an amazing sandwich that I’ll never be able to remember everything on it, but one thing stood out, the pickled onions on the charred tomatoes made a magical flavor I never would have expected. This sandwich gives a nod to not only that sandwich but the perfection that comes when you have a perfectly balanced sammy with sweet, salty, crunchy, acidic, toasted and… AVOCADO.

Lately our daughter has been loving avocado toast and so we took the best of her toast discoveries at restaurants with my sandwich memory and created literally the best avocado sandwich ever.

Ingredients for The Best Avocado Sandwich

Sandwiches can be as simple or as loaded as you want them to be, and you can customize to your taste. I’m going to give you my grocery list for this sandwich, and I urge you to make it as written. Each item plays an important role in making this rockstar sammy. Here is your list…

• Cherry Tomatoes
• Seven Grain Bread
• Butter
• Young Manchego Cheese
• Fresh Sprouts
• Microgreens
• Arugula
• Avocado
• Pickled Red Onions
• Salt and Black Pepper

Spicy Mayo

• Mayonnaise
• Hot Sauce
• Smoked Paprika
• Chili Powder
• Juice from Pickled Onions

The measurements and details for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card down at the end of this post.

Claire’s Tip

To find the perfect avocado, use your thumb and forefinger to gently press the top and bottom of the avocado. It should give a little if it’s ready to go. Never press or palm the whole fruit as it will bruise it.

What is the Best Bread for This Sandwich?

My favorite bread for this sandwich is the seven grain bread from Harmon’s here in Utah. In all reality, you could use any type of bread that you want…a multigrain bread, a good whole wheat bread, or heck, even a yummy white bread works great! Ooh, or sourdough bread! I’m trying that next time!

How to Make an Avocado Sandwich

Before you start to make this sandwich, make sure your red onions are pickled and you’ve whisked together the ingredients for the spicy mayo in a small bowl. Here are the steps for each fabulous layer…

1. Char the Tomatoes: Heat the oven to broil and place the tomatoes on a baking sheet, cut side down. Move the oven rack to the highest position and place the baking sheet in.

The Best Lemon Dill Cucumber Sandwiches [+Video]

Impress your friends and family with these delicious and easy-to-make lemon dill cucumber sandwiches. These are the best cucumber tea sandwiches I’ve ever had! Try this awesome sandwich recipe at your next party with eureka!® Organic Bread!

Perfect for any occasion, this recipe will leave your taste buds satisfied. Plus, check out our video tutorial for step-by-step instructions down below.

Easy Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

My mom often worked with a group of young women when I was growing up and on one occasion they held a silly Mother’s Day garden party, complete with garden hats in our backyard. I wanted to go so bad, but I was little and this was something I’d have to wait a few years to attend.

It looked like so much fun to a little girl, and I was beyond thrilled when there were some fresh flowers left over that she let me play with. That’s also the first time I’d ever seen a cucumber finger sandwich and I didn’t know what to make of it. Little white bread squares with a slice of cucumber and plain cream cheese.

The Best Bread for Cucumber Sandwiches

Cade and I both wanted to work with eureka!® Organic Bread, but deciding on a recipe together was tricky. I happened to mention that I remember my Mom having a garden party in our backyard and someone brought cucumber sandwiches and Cade was like, “What’s a cucumber sandwich? Just cucumbers?!” It was decided on, cucumber sandwiches would be our recipe.

With spring in the air, I just had to recreate the classic tea sandwich but with our own twist. Cade was in charge of the bread and I don’t know why, but I was a little nervous he wouldn’t choose a good one, haha I need to be more trusting. He came home with Saaa-Wheat! eureka! Organic Bread because according to him, it’s bursting with rich flavor and tasty goodness and no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. I’m pretty sold on that!

Bread was totally boring and not super good for you when I was little, but I’m loving how many varieties are out there now. If you’re sitting there thinking that you’re a die-hard fan of the processed white stuff, just trust us this one time, it’s ten times more flavorful of a sandwich when you choose a good bread, like eureka!

What’s Needed for This Cucumber Sandwich Recipe?

These cucumber dill sandwiches require just a handful of ingredients, many of which you may have on hand! Here’s what you’ll need to make cucumber finger sandwiches:

• Neufchatel Cream Cheese: a little lighter than cream cheese, but regular cream cheese can be used
• Greek Yogurt: lightens up the cream cheese spread and makes the spread more nutritious and fluffier
• Lemon