If your DC love baking, how do you avoid wasting food or getting fat?!

[OliviaCat]

My teens love baking which is lovely I suppose but they don't actually eat much and there are always tins of cakes or biscuits around!

We don't have family nearby and some efforts are somewhat "experimental" so NSFW as they look like they've been made by a toddler...

I throw so much away but the alternative seems to be getting fat. What do you do?

My little girl loves baking...but I do not want to be the same size as our house so we give some to our lovely neighbours. The neighbours give us peelings and bits for her guinea pigs!

take the excess into work and watch your colleagues get fat instead

River, my colleague does exactly that and her teens are amazing at baking.

Op could they bring them into school/clubs to share with others?

Is there a homeless charity or shelter near you? I volunteer at one and we love receiving home made baking for our residents.

If they don't contain spices you could try feeding the ducks in the local pond. Gives you an added activity.

Does it have to be baking? Can you get her involved in regular meal prep?

I freeze the mixtures in muffin cases / on trays and bags, and bake up when I fancy it.

I thought it was just my dc's who liked cooking but wouldn't actually eat it. Mine will happily prep anything (even kid friendly food) but won't eat it.

DO NOT feed it to ducks. It isn’t nutritiously dense enough and can cause angel wing

Learn them to cook savoury too?

Cheese scones and muffins
Quiche (can then be your lunch )
Help with Spag Bol for dinner

Encourage them to cook meals instead - healthier and more useful.

Lots of baked goods can be frozen, if you have the freezer space.

Or just continue to bin it.

If they don’t eat it, pointless making it IMO! They could make smaller quantities.

They do dinner too but mainly love to bake. It's like teen playdough.

I've got ten experimental treacle tarts on the side now that no one will eat. Pretty sure the ducks wouldn't quack for a week if I fed them... I could put it out for foxes or badgers but think I'd have a hundred rats instead...

That sounds OTT.

My siblings and I liked baking too, but usually for a meal, friends or a special occasion. One or two disasters, sure, we still laugh about a couple, but had we used loads of ingredients and not consumed what we’d made, or had numerous attempts, we’d have been told to replace the ingredients at our expense.

I would, if you don't have colleagues you can fatten up, encourage them to think about who is going to eat their offerings before getting started next time - failing that, they start paying for the ingredients themselves. Seriously - it's a terrific waste of food.

I expect if they had to buy the ingredients that would stop. 10 tarts. If they are not jam tart size, that is totally ridiculous.

Treacle tarts will freeze well. I freeze sliced cakes and home made biscuits to stop me eating them all at once!

I remember one of my friends used to bake and bring me a box of the treats in to school. I thought it was lovely.

I only have a tiny freezer.

They are jam tart size but frankly, not the best looking...

I don't mind the cost - at least it's a wholesome activity they enjoy together for a few hours. Bread always gets eaten but it's the sweet stuff I feel bad about...