To ban cooking for teenage boys

I agree it drives you nuts! Theyre like locusts at that age & so picky ..never want to eat whats made for them & then argue theres nothing to eat!

I bought an airfryer which is much cheaper to run but apart from that I never found a solution as even if I made a one pot chilli or curry, or pizza, they'd never want to eat it...they do grow out of it though (total self absorption) round 22 ish ..good luck 😉

At least they aren’t calling for a Deliveroo. Feeding teenage boys was always going to be expensive and learning to cook for themselves is a life skill.

However, do ask that they co-ordinate and all cook together, so the oven isn’t going in multiple times. Request that they meal plan and hopefully they can figure out a way to be more efficient.

You are being unreasobanable. Kids should learn to cook and eat more healthily and learn life skills. Good on them. With parents like you wanting them to eat what seems to be mainly cereal and snacks it is no wonder there are so many overweigh and unhealyhy kids.

19 years old need to eat properly to finish growing.
Imagine you have a son who got totally shut down from trauma and hospital stay 3 weeks. Then COVID happened and this youngsters have their own thoughts about that time. Then life goes back to normal but the kid lost his appetite his sense of life...
Believe me as a mother it's much nicer to see your kid enjoying to feed himself rather than the opposite. So embrace the short time of adolescent humans in your home. Before you know it... You will miss the lively home because their all moved out, or went to University..
be grateful for his health, for your health for what life holds for you.

Yes, and I'm also looking for another part time job, which I'd honestly prefer, as I love the people I work with, we're like a family. I'd rather not leave. Thanks, it's appreciated.

I assume you're looking to find FT work elsewhere? Hope things work out for you.

Teenage boys are unfillable. I used to make a lot of homemade sweet and savoury bakes when the oven was already on for my 3. Helped a lot. Homemade sausage rolls, bread, flapjacks and cakes.
But they really do get hungry and if they’re cooking pasta that’s quite cheap!

Oh that was ridiculous! People saying to the OP that rather than drop one of the five clubs she should cut back on stuff for herself but the poor woman didn’t spend anything on herself anyway. She bought her shampoo from Lidl…maybe she could just do without that? Save the pennies from
that and spend them on the kids instead

But these boys are given the same food then want more . Different food.

If I ate the same as my DD2 Id have been extremely sick of it.

Many on here will advocate for parents going without to give more and more to their kids. Not just food but other stuff also. Like someone was saying about taking kids out of ONE of their 5 clubs a week to get a cleaner. Jumped on and told to cut back on their own stuff.

Can understand if kids were actually starved and then parents go without but all this treating kids as far more superior and important is ridiculous

You've deliberately misunderstood that poster's comment.

You say you all eat the same meal - as does OP. But what about the vast amount of extra food these boys are cooking and eating above and beyond that? They've made it clear that bread butter cheese fruit etc isn't enough for them, so you sharing that as a family isn't the point.

If I had 3 people in my house eating whatever they found with no consideration for other people or replacing it I'd be buying stuff for only my use too.

The cooking is only one side of the coin. The disrespect and lack of consideration is the key, the cooking is just a symptom of that.

Is this a joke!! I’m sure Ops kids are lovely young men and far from entitled I’m sure. . Boys just go a bit funny over food.

I wasnt talking about kids having anything they want. Interesting its what is seems to translate to you as.

In my family the whole family eat the same meal and same food like bread/butter/cheese/fruit/veg.

Yes, fan oven.
The most noticable was when cooking a tomatoe sauce on all 4 trays.
(I dont cook in a microwave.)

Can't say I've noticed it in oven. Is yours not a fan oven? It's true for microwaves

The concept that kids can have whatever they want and parents aren't entitled to anything despite them paying for it is alien to me.

I def ate better food than my DD2. She only had pesto pasta a nd chicken and rice whereas I had better stuff.

I dont know any science behind it. I am speaking from experience. I guess there is certain amout of energy that a thing needs to be cooked and if there is more food you need more of that energy. Similar to ie. cooking a small chicken vs. big chicken.

That concept that adults can have treats or better quality food while children can not is very foreign to me.
Hope that sharing food with own children is a normal concept to majority of families.

You have no idea, we all lived on Marmite on toast at one point.

Maybe you could sit them down and calmly explain the bills you are getting and ask that they prepare a roster so they can share the cooking and do it in batches.

It’s absolutely not abusive , no.

I could not afford this. I'm on a key meter and I work part time and am on Universal Credit. Is it abusive not to be able to afford the cooker being on several times a day? Oh, and I'd love to work full time, but my employer just doesn't have the hours for me.

And there lies your answer!

I doubt OP knows exactly how much their cooking costs. If she did, she would’ve mentioned it to garner extra support.

I understand that but if you can't afford it then you can't afford it. My 22 year old son and his WFH girlfriend pay less than £50 a month on electric. By that reasoning he should be eaten then out of house and home

I do, but I also have two teenage boys and a grown man in my house. I also happen to cook everyday myself so there are meals to reheat in the microwave if needed. It’s winter and people want warm food.