Hungry teenage boy.

[BastardDog]

My 13yo seems to be constantly hungry. He's not a sporty or active boy, but he's always been skinny and had a small appetite. Until now.

What can I fill him up with, without blowing my food budget? He prefers sugary, snack foods, but I don't want to give him carte Blanche to fill up on rubbish. He's a tad on the lazy side so won't bother to make much effort to prepare himself anything proper.

What's cheap, filling, quick to prepare and won't have me running to the supermarket to restock daily?

[Olbasoil]

Will he eat eggs?
Oat cakes & Philadelphia
Muffins ( not cake type)
Crumpets
Pasta & grated cheese
Malt loaf
Bananas
Milk / smoothies
I buy a cheaper range for snack foods, if he's that hungry he will eat it !

[secretscwirrels]

Yes, this usually precedes a huge growth spurt. Don't buy him too many new clothes or shoes as he will have grown out of them before you get home from the shop.
There seems to be no limit to their appetite at this stage. As long as mine ate 3 healthy meals a day I let them snack as much as they wanted (whereas I never allowed snacks when the were younger). As long as the fruit and veg was eaten I let them eat rubbish.
Home made flap jacks are very filling.
Bread, toast, tortillas, pitta bread, cereal, milk shakes, pasta.I buy Aldi's very cheap macaroni.
That was when they learned how to make their own macaroni cheese and I swear they'd eat nothing else, ever, if I didn't provide it.

[AnythingNotEverything]

My ds the same.

Regular and varied are our mottos. We do snacks of cereal, cheese and crackers, peanut butter and jam on toast, bananas, pineapple and melon (and I mean half a large fruit at a time!).

The silver lining Is that regular snacks equals regular breaks from his screen

[scherazadey]

Yes he will suddenly shoot up three inches! DS1 is 15 and eats for England. He eats loads of fruit especially apples and bananas and wolfs down any dinner I put in front of him so I also don't really care if he also eats lots of biscuits and sweets too. He's already 5'11 so is a healthy weight for his height

[Solo]

My Ds is nearly 15 and has been eating me out of house and home for several years and is still stick thin! He has though, grown 3" taller since February! I don't know what the answer is, but healthy is better than high carbs imo.

[LineRunner]

My DS is in the middle of a growth spurt (15). So as not to blow the budget we have lots of:

Packets of noodles (about 10p in supermarkets)
Bread/toast and Nutella
Cereal and semi-skimmed milk (you can get four pints for a quid at Iceland)
Flat breads (wraps, pitta) and spicy chicken
Jacket potatoes - you can just micro-nuke these and add a topping of beans and cheese for some protein
Tinned spaghetti on toast still a favourite!
Hot dogs

If the budget can manage it, add salad vegetables which are in season / affordable that week. Tomatoes are great if you can find a cheap batch.

[secretscwirrels]

solo I think if they are stick thin, eat lots of healthy stuff and are still hungry then you have to look for fillers, fruit really doesn't do it, and is expensive on a budget. You can't apply the normal "healthy" diet rules for an adult to a teenage boy on a growth spurt.
My 17 year old started his growth spurt at 11 and was 6' by age 13. He is now 6'2 and 10.5 stone. He eats much less now though.

[monikar]

When DD has a mixed group over, they eat their supper and about an hour or two later the boys are always hungry and eat bowls and bowls of cereal, usually Weetabix as that's what I tend to have in. Cereal and milk is quite cheap and does seem to fill them up, and it is quick and easy to get. They are all on rather the thin side.

[specialsubject]

complex carbs are cheap, filling and healthy. Lots of pasta and sauces!

If you have a Tesco in reach, they also do 4kg bags of rice for a fiver, and good seeded wholemeal bread for 89p-99p a loaf.

time he got less lazy, at 13 he can do basic cooking and if the junk isn't there, he can't eat it. That said, they have hollow legs at that age so perhaps some cheap biscuits?

[Solo]

I guess so secretswirrels though my Ds doesn't eat a lot of fruit, he does love veg! he's now 6'3" tall, so I'm not personally worried about him unless you count the food bills and clothing bills of course! I just wish I could satisfy his appetite!

[BackforGood]

cereal
Milk
toast
noodles - these are my favourite... just 15p a packet, only take 4 mins to cook, and keep them going until the next burst of hunger 1/2 hour later meal.

[soontobeslendergirl]

I think if you can get some extra protein in too that would be good - tins of mackeral/pilchards on toast are really good fillers and are reasonably priced for almost pure protein and healthy fish oil.

my almost 13 year old is constantly saying he is hungry and is I think just starting puberty now. However, he has gone from a slim child to a podgy pre-teen. I am sure that he will stretch out of it. But I don't want him to put any more weight on. he does exercise but doesn't really get involved in any regular sport. So I am struggling to find a balance between allowing him snacks and not overfeeding him.

[RevealTheHiddenBeach]

My mum's advice from when my brother ate the horse and his rider would be, as well as having the pasta-y things readily available, hide the stuff you don't want eaten! My brother would come home and eat a 12 pack of sausages if there was nobody to steer him towards the bread.

massive blocks of cheese and tins of tuna from lidl are good for adding protein without costing hundreds, especially if your DS isn't the lentily/pulsy type.

[bruffin]

DS was an expert in microwaved scrambled eggs at that age. He usually added a bit of grated cheese as well.

[Travelledtheworld]

My huge almost 13 year old polishes off at least three bowls of cereal a day as snacks.
Also rice or/and noodles with stir fry veg and plain pasta with cheese go down well and seem to fill him up.

[mathanxiety]

Eggs, whole grains (more filling feeling for longer), cereal as snacks. Eggs and toast makes a great snack. Talking about four eggs at a time here though, and several slices of toast. Beans on toast also good.

Tuna and sardines if he likes fish. Fish fingers.

Frozen meat ravioli/tortellini he could microwave.

Cheese. Milk by the gallon.

Leftovers. I used to put on a roast every week and leave it in the fridge for DS to slice as needed. Beef, chicken or pork - whatever was cheap. I did chicken in the crockpot on a Sunday and he would demolish it by Wednesday just in snacks. I also left pea soup made with ham in the fridge and that would disappear. Ditto black bean soup with a ham bone and bits of ham plus tortillas or something else to dip, like breadsticks.

They need protein.

DS used to have meals he called second breakfast and second lunch and then around 10 pm he would rummage through the fridge for second dinner.

When he left for university I realised he accounted for half of the food consumption in the house. The rest of us (four people plus DD1 when she visited) ate the other half..

[mathanxiety]

And instant porridge. Very filling and easy to make, and you can put nutella in it, or fruit, etc.

[sfek]

My son eats his body weight worth of ceriel X

[Theas18]

Weetabix by the vat here. 4 is normal 5 if hungry with shreddies or cherios on top!

[sonlypuppyfat]

My DS is 14 and nearly six foot he has the biggest feet ever seen on a human being! His favourite meal is cheap tomato soup and a cheese sandwich I also get through tons of tinned spaggetti ugh! He's just started weight training with his dad so even more food for me to buy

[MuchBrighterNow]

Endless rounds of toast with peanut butter and jam and lots of bowls of cereal.

[mathanxiety]

LOL Sonlypuppyfat -- at one point I seriously considered strapping roasting pans onto DS's feet for shoes. If his feet hadn't stopped growing he would have had to get shoes specially made.

[Solo]

We all seem to have produced a taller and bigger footed generation don't we?!! My Ds has the biggest feet in the family and even has bigger feet than my 6'8" brother!! Mind you, Dbrother is shrinking now and is only 6'5" now... .

[soontobeslendergirl]

My OH takes size 12 - probably about normal for 6'2" - I take a 6 which is quite small for 5'10" - hoping it balances out and the boys have feet no bigger than their dad. They are an 8 and a 7 at the moment which I think is okay at age 12 and 11 - though they will soon be 13 and 12.

[mathanxiety]

DS is size 14 US and 13.5 UK. Around age 13 to 15 his feet ballooned. I had to get him about 6 pairs of shoes a year. The expense was shocking.