Teens: School lunch ideas?

[annabanana]

I'm getting kind of bored with my usual lunches that I bring to school...anyone have any ideas? I usually bring one of the following as my 'main course'

natural ovens bagel
peanut butter sandwich
pita with veggies
fruit salad
rice with veggies

Is there any way to spice any of these things up a bit? I need a little excitement in my lunch bag :)

[shethatisnau]

I usually take leftovers that won't spill, like:

- whole wheat spaghetti with chunky tomato sauce
- vegetable and tofu stirfry on some type of noodle (soba or like...yakisoba)
- "ham"/"turkey" sandwich (my favorite: 2 slices whole-wheat bread, 3 slices fake meat of your choice, soynaise, spicy brown mustard, slice of tomato and spinach leaves) with grapes
- salad (spinach, tomato, olives, carrot, beans, mushrooms w/italian dressing)
- soup (sometimes I'll make a big batch on the weekend if I can and I'll freeze a bunch of portions- I'll take it to school and pop it in the microwave for 4 minutes and ta-da! Hot soup! I haven't been taking these in awhile because people tend to get agitated with the long cook time :sweat: )

That's what I've been taking recently, anyhow. Mm. :lick: I'm going to need to shake things up sooner or later, but for now it works.

[FafaFrappy]

yeah.. my lunch has been so boring lately.. but i always enjoy tofurkey sandwiches.

this week I did bring a big burrito with beans, rice, and lots of veggies. :lick:

[vegan_hottie07]

Yea you could make some kind of noodles and sauce and just heat it up. I always make sure I have at least 2 fruits in my lunch each day (especially a banana because I run a lot)
Grapes are good

Really as long as you have a microwave at your school that you can use you can bring about anything :up:

[VeganChick15]

I know this isnt very healthy but I love to bring Luna Bars. hmm I also love to bring burritos with tempeh or tofu and black beans and carrots and other random veggies with olive oil and some kind of vingear its the best.

[Tomaito]

This is a bit OT- but I always heard Tofurky sucked? Maybe there are some Tofurky products that are good? Which one of these could I use in a sandwich?

[vegansurfer]

luckily for me I don't get sick of food that easy. Pretty much all year I have been bringing
rice cakes
an apple, celery (haven't for a while)
lately some trailmix (almonds, raisins, craisins, peanuts)

I hate microwaves so I never bring pasta that needs to be heated, but for a while I was making the fake macaroni and cheese stuff, which tasted pretty good cold.

tofu dips are a good thing to bring. our local tofu shop makes this awesome garlic tofu dill dip that is good with french bread or crackers, and I bring that some times.

I don't have a locker so I have to worry about my food exploding, so that vetos bananas.

[misq17]

No ideas here, I've been taking PB sandwiches every day for lunch for almost 10 years now.

[raylea]

I'm kind of self-conscious about eating in front of others, so I don't like to bring in a tupperware of tofu casserole, or something else that screams "Look at the freaky vegan!". Some of my friends, while they are completely joking, will tease me mercilessly about my "weird" food.

My school lunches usually consist of one of the following:
* Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
* Almond butter and jelly sandwich (so exciting! lol)
* Black bean and vegetable burrito
* Pita pocket stuffed with hummus and veggies
* Wrap with veggies and soy cheese or fake sandwich meat
* Sandwich with veggies and soy cheese or fake sandwich meat
* Bagel with peanut butter
Or, if I am not so hungry, I'll usually have one of the following:
* Luna bar
* Clif bar
* Trail mix (nuts, seeds, dried fruit)
* Pretzels
* Crackers
* Dry cheerios
And almost always accompanied by one of these:
* Fruit (apple, orange, kiwi, grapes)
* Baby carrots
* Celery
And a big bottle of water, of course.

[annabanana]

See, that's the thing...no microwave at school, unfortunately. Thanks for the ideas, though - much appreciated!

[misq17]

I didn't know any schools (other then colleges maybe) had microwaves open for student use. News to me. At my school, you want hot food, you heat it before you come and you put it in a thermos.

[annabanana]

That's what I need...a good old fashioned thermos! I'll look for one the next time I go out.

[Sheik del Mar]

Today I brought some leftover tofu-veggie stirfry with brown rice and soy sauce, and heated that up to eat. It was devine! If you have a microwave handy at school, I strongly suggest bringing leftovers. They may not taste as great at home, but when you've been suffering for 5 hours and haven't eaten, they're great!

[raylea]

Does anyone besides me get teased or made fun of for eating something that isn't a sandwich or slice of pizza?!?

[cookiemonster]

you guys have such exotic lunches... nearly everyone at my school just has sandwiches... or get's hot stuff from the canteen ( i am in england though so maybe that's what it is!) ....
it'd be weird to have a microwave in school

[FafaFrappy]

I wish we had microwaves at school...

[skunkpumpkin]

Does anyone besides me get teased or made fun of for eating something that isn't a sandwich or slice of pizza?!?

ohhhh definitely. "what is that?" "tofu? I'm sorry, but that's just gross." ...and your previously-tortured dead animal isn't? grrr!

Those are the more extreme ones. It's usually just along the lines of "what's that?...you're weird...that looks like dog food/sh*t/barf." people are truly silly.

but then, there are some people that are genuinely interested in my lunches, ask for bites and are delighted by what they taste. :chef:

By the way, a "sh*t" comment is usually about a common omni indulgence, like refried beans. the vegetarian has it! it's gotta be gross! pffft.

sorry, i went a little overboard, hehe...but ignorant people make me so mad!

Anyways, about the school-lunch-heating-up-business and yada yada: My school doesn't have microwaves that are available to students, but sometimes i bring in the heat-friendly foods in to eat cold. this may sound gross to you, but i think burritos, pasta and such taste just dandy at room temperature. call me crazy...

[vegansurfer]

my friends tease me good naturedly about being a health food nut. they find it amusing and slightly weird, but mostly amusing. I am usually eating a rice cake or an apple while they eat pizza. Me drinking water while they drink soda. One of the nice things about my healthy lunches is that no one every bugs me for food, because they know that it will be gasp! vegan healthy stuff!

[Keeganisafish]

them: your dipping your vegitables in ketchup and mustard!?
me: your eating pizza!?

Yeah I get teasted, especially when I bring raw tofu. But lately I havn't been down there, I've been up in the yearbookroom

[Christina]

i usually bring pretzels , peanut butter sandwiches, some kind of fruit , sometimes i bring chips and salsa, ummmm a taco salad is always good
at my school we have microwaves but the lines are always insane so i dont even bother lol

[Gnarly]

I pretty much just eat fruit at school. hey, no-one can mock fruit, right?

[shethatisnau]

I guess I'm lucky, my friend's don't waste their time teasing me. Nobody really cares what anyone else is eating at my table, and everyone knows I'll get on their asses if they give me crap for being a veggie. Besides, my food actually tastes good and has some health value (which my friend's usually remark on- "You're so healthy! I wish I'd brought a sandwich...*eats an icecream bad with soda*").

[DannyKass]

Hah! I think it's so cute in american schools they have actually lunch rooms.. or whatever.. where you all eat at tables..

I don't really eat lunch at school.. because we just walk around.. and if I do I just normally have a salad sandwich.. and for interval I have a piece of fruit or something!
Oh sometimes I take little cups of Jelly (gelatin free of corse).

I read something before that sounds kinda funky! It's called a "Monkey roll" and you just wrap a piece of banana in bread! Yum!

[maple_syrup]

wow dannykass i eat salad sandwiches too!!! i thoughht i invented them...oh well. (put lettuce and spinach in sandwich with hummus or not, and eat.) i usually eat veggie wraps. i would eat peanut butter every day because it is my favourite food but my mom limited my pb sandwich intake to once a week (for a school lunch) to try and force me to have something not vegan for lunch. muahahaha that plan backfired.

if my school had microwaves for students i would bring amy's meals everyday!!!!!!!!!

[iceflower]

I normally only take fruit to school for lunch. But when I'm eating something, like a veggie burger thats has bright colours in the pattie (from all the different vegetables) they'll look over and go "that...looks...DISGUSTING!"
I never quite understand how thats gross, and their greasy brown (almost poo-like :D) one isn't!