Gave DS £20 to buy his own food & he chose...

[PrimeExample]

He’s going through a growth spurt and needs feeding. Meals are ok but I was struggling for after school snacks. He’s 12, very small & grazes. He has never been able to eat huge meals.

He does that thing, “There’s nothing to eaaaaat” meaning there are no junky snacks. So I suggested I give him 20 quid & he can choose & add up his own snacks in his own trolley, as though we are flat sharing He loved it!

Here’s what he picked... would yours go for similar? Other DCs were always disinterested in food. I asked him to pick snacks but he put in one meal, too:

Chicken chop suey ready meal
Sweet & sour chicken ready meal
Bag of lettuce
Grapes
Caramel squares
Mini doughnuts & caramel sauce
Pomegranate seeds
( he had these for dinner)

He has left loads of caramel things & doughnuts but also
1 can of Pringles
4 Pot Noodles - chicken & mushroom
Rice Crispie marshmallow squares
1 large pack Haribo things
Broccoli
One tin of mushy peas
Green olives
Cheese dipper things
Diet Dr Pepper

I have mixed feelings!

Did all that really come in st under £20? I think it's similar to what my 14yo would choose.

Hmmmm I wouldn't be encouraging this. Do you usually buy any of these things? Would you eat the things he has chosen? If he has an interest in food why not teach him to cook healthy meals? I wonder how much of the veg will be thrown away? £20 is a lot of money to spend on rubbish.He needs to be taught healthy food options and how to cook.

He's going for the obvious. Now you know what he wants...id stretch his choice to more healthier versions

Some of that isn’t too bad... broccoli, olives and grapes...

He’s 12.

A pretty standard choice for a 12 year old I would say.

Bless him. What an interesting idea.

I've got an almost 14yo and I haven't done this with him, but I am teaching him to cook. Could you teach him some simple recipes, maybe things like flapjacks/granola where he could add some healthy stuff?

So far we've done basic cake sponge, daal and every way with eggs, plus cooking onions as a base for virtually anything and stir fry. We've also gone through the washing machine and other life skills. Sounds like your Ds is ready for all this!

That’s a lot of sugar & hi gi foods.
He’ll be hungry soon.
Why don’t you feed him dinner twice. Once at 6 pm and once at 8pm.
My DS was on steroids for a medical condition. He’s still on,y 8; but he couldn’t eat massive meals in one go, so I’d effectively give him 2 dinners.
He obviously likes chicken and noodles, so buy more chicken breasts and more substantial noodles as all of that is quick to cook and a12 yo could definitely manage it.

One evening DS came back from Explorer Scouts saying that they'd been split into teams and given £10 to pop to the local supermarket, buy the ingredients for and cook their own evening meal. They really enjoyed budgeting, working out what ingredients they could afford and then having to cook it themselves scout-style (trangias and mess tins!)

Could you do something like that instead as a challenge for him? I don't know how long his snacks are expected to last him for, but that's a lot of junk for one week, say.

Diet drinks are the work of the devil...

Ha ha. I think most boys his age would buy similar. Sorry

Blimey. That's an interesting mix of food. I think the lettuce and the pomegranate seeds surprised me.

Very snacky and processed. Hardly surprising.

What about some grapes, chicken slices, more protein?

Got a 12 year old DS, he's Aspergers, and loves shopping but gets obsessed with the prices and "not getting ripped off" - he loves going to local supermarket though has before lectured them on offers not going through and bad offers Managed to negotiate a discount on school dinners to 50p a day.

He would refuse to spend £20 in one go but would do 10 trips of £2 and would get if getting snacks this is what he normally gets:

Bread
Giant crumpets
Giant oranges, lemons and limes to eat as they are and grapes if they are a reasonable price.
Mini sausages
Biscuits
Pringles
Tuna (but that's for the cat!)
Chocolate (for Mummy!)

He won't buy any fizzy drinks, does eat long broccoli but don't think he would buy it as he would think its too expensive.

So yes would say yours is fairly normal.

sweets sweets sweets
maybe a a pizza
oh, and more sweets

My 12 years old would buy as many packets of custard creams as £20 would stretch to!

I am going to try this with my 11year old and report back. I suspect it will be crisps and bakery but I might be wrong.

Mine would choose the pringles and sweet stuff for snacks (if I let them), plus the grapes and pomegranate. They wouldn't touch mushy peas or pot noodles with a bargepole, or the ready meals either. If they were choosing stuff for meals, they'd choose meat, veg, pasta, potatoes etc.

If your ds needs filling up, I wouldn't be letting him fill up on caramel squares and pot noodles tbh. Not many 12 year-olds would pick healthy snacks. That's why they don't get to do the shopping!

Get him cooking his own snacks! I have a son with a hollow leg. We go together to chose snacks that are filling but that he can prepare himself as much as possible.

My son often does his own shopping, he spawned a lot of time in hospital and there is a fridge in the long stay hospital room.
He always picks,

Cheddar Cheese,
Cream cheese,
Crackers,
Hummus
Salami or similar,
Chilli + Rice ready meal
Sweet and Sour chicken + Rice
Kitkats
Fresh OJ
Whole milk (comes form hospital kitchen)
Water Melon
Mini Carrots
Pepper strips

In the desk drawer he keeps hula hoops, prawn crackers and hot chocolate powder.

He gets a HCA to take him to Tesco to shop when he gets clerked in if I don't have time to do it on the way. 😊

I forgot to add a packet of dried mango

Wallywobbles I was surprised it came in at

TwoGinScentedTears He's a good boy, really, but prone to influence from peers... Yes, we have been cooking quite a lot. He doesn't like cake or flapjacks but we've had some success with scones, cheese straws and cookies. Not sure they are any healthier though.

Yes, he is ready for some life skills! Great point about eggs. He doesn't like them much but maybe omelettes can convert him!

CurlyWurlyTwirly That’s a lot of sugar & hi gi foods.
He’ll be hungry soon.

I don't think he will be. He has dinner at 7 ish then a snack before bed but 'snack' is usually quite substantial: macaroni cheese, cheese & crackers, noodles, that sort of thing. He gets tea at school and I usually make chicken, fish or pasta for dinner. He won't eat chicken twice in one evening.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross Ooh Scouts is a great idea! I will do more of that with him. He loves budgeting and he could easily do dinner a few times a week. The thing is time... it's quicker to make stuff in advance myself as he does activities. Certainly at the weekends, we could do that more. He liked making salmon in foil one night.

I'm not sure how long this lot should last. Couple of weeks? He has loads of hoummous, carrot, celery, pepper sticks, berries, apples, avocadoes available to him, and he likes those, so I think his stuff will be additional.

Yeah, I hate diet drinks, too, but apparently "gamers have them. Hmm!

Oblomov19 Yes, I think it looks typical - from the boys I know. Yeah, interesting mix. He likes lettuce and doesn't mind veg or fruit too much, but yes, we talked about the processed food. He already has grapes in there, and I make chicken for dinner. He doesn't like chicken in slices or ham or anything like that, annoyingly.

PenguinPandas Our boys sound similar! DS also worried about getting ripped off! You've reminded me that I should buy crumpets!

YeOldeTrout and BirdieInTheHand I was very surprised that more sweets did not feature, and also that custard creams didn't, too!! I think he forgot to visit that aisle

ConfessionalProfessional Let me know how you get on!

Knittink Mushy peas were an interesting outsider! He wasn't choosing meals, it was just snacks. Yes, I don't normally let him fill up on junk, I was interested as a one-off, what he'd choose.

aethelgifu Tue 29-Jan-19 08:12:33
Get him cooking his own snacks! I have a son with a hollow leg. We go together to chose snacks that are filling but that he can prepare himself as much as possible.

We do cook together, but I'm stuck for snacks. He doesn't like cake and I can't see that cookies are any better...

TitsalinaBumSquash Thanks for sharing that list! They sound very similar! He loves watermelon and a lot of other stuff from your list! Wish he would eat cream cheese. He wanted to buy the stuff in a tube to try it, but I had to draw the line, and encouraged him to eat real cheese instead!

I love the stab at health with random bits of lettuce and broccoli in there!

He's thrown the healthy bits in there to keep you happy! There is nothing there to make a meal? Or was the idea that this is for when he's hungry in between meals?
Imo there is far too much salty sugary crap there. And you did well to get it all for £20!

Mine would buy Pringles, Doritos, Choc digestives and wine gums

It's a good job he's not in control of the weekly shop

I know, the healthy things look random! I swear it was t to keep me happy - no point! It’s 100% his stuff for him to have as snacks, yes.

Was surprised at lack of Doritos big think the budget didn’t stretch

My 12 year old DS would choose Doritos, pringles, beef jerky 🤢, mentos, lemons and limes to eat as there are, grapes, Irn bru and lots of chocolate spread and bread I suspect!

I know with my children.

One would buy all chicken nugget type bits
One would buy all vegetables and fruit
One would similar to you DS.

Would he eat [http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/335/oat-biscuits.aspx Oat cookies] as healthier cookie. You could also add some dried fruit into them as well.

oat cookie even.

When my teens are hungry, they have the choice between toast, yoghurt or fruit. I wouldn't be entertaining the idea of all that junk food tbh, lots of sugar and salt in there. I think the healthy items he chose are very random, and likely put in to appease you. I can't really see him cooking broccoli or heating up a tin or mushy peas as a snack, can you?

I have a 12 and a 14 year old, and they are quite capable of making their own lunches on weekends and holidays. They tend to go for eggs (boiled, scrambled, fried or omelettes), cheese, beans, mushrooms, tomato or avocado on toast or in a toasted sandwich, filled pasta, pasta and pesto, hummous and veg sticks, plenty of fruit and yoghurt. All stuff that can be made from general fridge/cupboard items. I don't by specific "snack" food, although I will chuck a pack of donuts in the weekly shop for a treat, or buy tortilla chips and dip for movie night etc. But whatever your son tells you, I very much doubt that most teens have access to cupboards full of processed snack foods.