what sort of meals do you cook when you live with teens. who you never know will come home or not?

[NoahVale]

dont say buy ready meals for them to cook as i am not prepared to do this?

ok, so i can do spag bol, and if not takers, freeze this. freezer pretty well full.
mainly i think i need veggie meals, or at least a variety.

[bungleknows]

I feel your pain!

I usually. lol omelettes or toasties when they're home (and often leave a plate of what we've had in the oven which they also devour)

[NoahVale]

salad and chicken pieces good idea

[Longlost10]

Why don't you ever know if they will be home or not? Surely family meals are fixed, unless arranged otherwise.

Why aren't they cooking for you anyway? a shared role, by this stage, surely?

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

I generally cooked my own meals as a teen. If I was guaranteed to be home then my dad would cook, if not then it was up to me to sort myself out.

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

Also... If they say they're home for dinner, they're home for dinner, yes? In which case you cook what you were going to cook anyway. If they say they won't be home, or they're not sure, you don't cook for them. Simple!

[NoahVale]

good idea,
there is food, so cook it will be my stock phrase who ate all the cheese

[gamerchick]

I don't, he sorts himself out.

[Spottytop1]

I cooked meals at a set time if they weren't in either it was put in the oven ( whatever it was) or they cooked their own when they got in.

[NoahVale]

ok in that vein, it is hard to cater for 2 when previously i cooked for 5

[NoahVale]

ok, anyone else actually cook?

[SuburbanRhonda]

Why don't you ever know if they will be home or not?

Bless you, longlost. Have you got teenagers?

[Schoolchauffeur]

I usually meal plan so I have enough of something in for all 4 of us but if I don't already know I just send a quick text " you back for tea or not ?as I'm about to start cooking. DS is glued to his phone so I usually get instant reply and I either get yes I'll be back, yes I'd like some but plate it up and I'll have later or no count me out which usually means he's eating at mates, girlfriends or out.
Someone told me this was " controlling" so I asked DS what he felt about this and he said he thought it was just "manners". He pointed out that if it was 7pm and I was out and we'd had no tea he'd text me to say are you coming back for tea or shall I sort myself out etc.
But I do keep in a stash of pasta, stir in pasta sauce, chunky soup, and we always have oven chips, eggs bacon beans etc for him to help himself to.

[SuburbanRhonda]

Yes, I cook every night for DH and me.

If DS is around at dinner time he'll eat with us. If not, he'll have leftovers. If it's a meal that doesn't lend itself to leftovers, there are plenty of portions of previous meals in the freezer.

So that's lasagne, chilli and rice, mattar paneer and rice, pasta and different sauces and so on (we're veggie).

[NoahVale]

thanks school, agree it is hardly controlling, what on earth, you need to know before you cook surely. well it would be nice to know.

[SuburbanRhonda]

And once I've broken up for the summer, my plan is to make a big batch of tarka dal (his favourite) and freeze that in portions

[dontpokethebear]

Tbh if my teen isn't going to be home to eat then I expect him to let me know!
I generally stick to stuff that is reheatable (eg chilli, curry, spag bog that they can just cook fresh pasta or rice for) or if it's a meat and two veg type meal, it can be put in the microwave.
I'm not catering to his whims when I have 2 other kids and husband to cook for.

[NoahVale]

oh, my favourite too suburban

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

I just can't imagine my parents ever changing their entire meal plan to ensure that I could come and go as I pleased and eat whatever it was they had cooked.

[NoahVale]

and a good plan

[dontpokethebear]

Sorry, that sounds a bit snippy. It wasn't meant to!

[NoahVale]

so what did your parents do worldsgrot?
plate it up/throw it out/leave you to your own devices?/freeze it?

[Longlost10]

Bless you, longlost. Have you got teenagers?

yes I have several, and yes they have busy social lives, however letting me know they won't be home to eat with me is very basic manners.

Not to mention they take an appropriate share of running the household themselves, including regularly offering, or being asked to take responsibility for the evening meal themselves.

[dontpokethebear]

I was a lazy teenager, so always made sure I was home to eat so I didn't have to cook. Plus my mum was/is scary so didn't want to upset her

[NoahVale]

my ds it appears has no manners, i am going to say, at the beginning of the week, When are you home, usually accompanied by his GF,

but actually i might say, which I tend to do now, I will only cook for you If I Know you are going to be home.