I left my 16 year old at home for 24 hours and he ate...

[mrsm43s]

A ready meal (mac & cheese)
A pot noodle
A family sized pizza
A full tub of 40 cocktail sausages
At least 2 big buckets full of buttered popcorn (maybe more, but only evidence of two pots where he melted the butter).
4 and half bags of crisps
Several bowls of cereal (I'd guess about 3 or 4 from the number of bowls left)
Multiple rounds of toast/sandwiches- about half a loaf worth, with a mix of fillings - choc spread, jam, cheese, soft cheese
A block of feta
A 2 person packet of fresh tortellini
and something chocolately that came in a plastic tub that I can't remember what would have been in there, but there was definitely cocoa powder residue in the bottom of the container.

He did not eat the cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, hummus, apples, grapes, bananas or yoghurts.

He's as skinny as a rake!

I'm not complaining as we were away on a Uni visit with eldest, and he was alone overnight for the first time and the house was still standing, the cats and dogs were fed and let out appropriately (the dog wasn't actually walked, but we went early evening to early evening, so we've walked her early Friday then late Saturday and she's only a Chi cross that doesn't need hours of walking), but no poo, so he def did garden runs with her. The house was pretty tidy apart from the stack of dirty crockery and empty food packaging.

How would your 16 year old son have fared?

I have a 14yo locust who would match the OPs DS meal for meal... and he's a beanpole too.

I find it ironic in the extreme that mine is eating for England in the middle of an economic nightmare.

And that's why we have so many infantile teenagers. When I first read the post my first thought was there's be someone horrified that a 16 years old would be left overnight. Can't 16 year olds still get married?

My teen could easily eat this in 24 hours

Why didn't he finish the fifth pack of crisps? That's the real mystery.

I love the op. It's like the teenaged boy version of the Very Hungry Caterpillar!

Personally I'd consider worming him LOL

I saw your post, OP, and my first thought is someone is going to tell you off for leaving your 16-year-old son alone. Your 16-year-old, who can legally marry (with parental permission), leave home, have children, and up until a decade or so ago, could leave school and get a job.

People are absolutely crazy.

I used to wonder what people were talking about when they said about the amount teen boys eat. Our eldest son ate normal amounts and never to excess.

Then puberty arrived for no2 son. OMG. He is now 19 and home from uni for the holidays. He's over 6 foot and skin and bone. He's been back a week and has already eaten everything in the house. When he's not eating, he's mainlining protein shakes. And the milk! I am considering getting a couple of cows...

There’s a bit of a thing on mumsnet though, competitive under eating for women but competitive over eating for teen boys... but they’re always ‘skinny’. Weird.

my eldest son would eat at least 5000-6000 calories every day when at secondary school. He is 5’8 27” waist and weighs 7 stone and 9 pounds now he is 18. I eat 1400 calories and am the size of a double decker bus.

he would / does eat

dhal he cooks himself for breakfast. Big bowl of cereal

lunch meal deal

pre dinner dinner, risotto he also cooks himself

family dinner

post dinner dinner noodle broth or fish and rice

he cooks it all but the pans! He was cooking a family size risotto at 4pm. He doesn’t live by ‘ never leave your risotto and gaming upstairs at the same time

he doesn’t snack. Unless having six meals a day can count as a snack.

That’s when he began to pupate…

in all honesty though, I’m not surprised. Having lived with my teenaged boy cousin, the amount of food he ate absolutely astounded me. Even DH now is a beanpole who can eat for England.

But they are, well mine are. They eat all day and there's nothing on them. If it's any reassurance, you'll never see me on a competitive undereating thread.

Ah now, I agree with the 10 year old, however, posters have in the past been adamant their tween eats a happy meal and is sated and that an adult portion for a 10 yo at a restaurant is put gluttony. I had a child round on a play date, who loved spag Bol, maybe 7/8 at the time. I gave her 2 extra helpings and had to say stop as she ate more than me and I don’t have small portions! Said child is petite and skinny as a rake.

“Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won’t drown.”

Literally all I was left wondering 🤣

I’m going to play my Mumsnet Mythical Chicken card on this one. (I have two teen boys and fruit wouldn’t even touch the sides.)

I've got 3 sons - all adults now although one's still only 19.

They've all got healthy appetites but could/would never have eaten as much as that, so I would've assumed they had friends round.

I can't help thinking if this was a 16 year old girl, there would've been plenty of posts by now asking if you're sure she doesn't have a binge eating disorder.

I always thought it was a myth at how much they eat as teenagers. But my god it's unreal at times

If my son was eating 6000 calories a day, sitting around gaming and wasn’t putting on weight, I’d take him to the doctor.

Based on what I was like when I was 16
I'd be delighted that there wasn't any sign of drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes.....

The youth of today are so tame, love it! Sounds like he had a wonderful time gorging on all his favourite foods just because he could!

Haha epic!
My 14yo would do the same given half the chance too.

Quite right!

And they were only about 12 and allowed sail off across the lake to stay on an uninhabited island (or so they thought!)

my eldest dd is 18, she stayed home for the weekend recently and had takeaways both nights, noodles for her lunches and 3 punnets of fruit. Kitchen was reasonably tidy when we got back.
dd2 is 16 and had a night to herself at home last week, she baked a complicated loaf of bread with fillings all cooked into it and then a cake! There was leftovers of both when I got home - delicious 😂 kitchen was absolutely spotless when we got home, she had even steamed the floor!
ds is 10 and I’m already in awe of the amount of food he puts away 😱

Oh get a grip!! A sensible 16 year old can easily be left overnight. Here in Scotland he could get married for gods sake!!

This is where PAC-MAN came from. Just eating their way around the planet like locusts

honestly, when DS was 16, he and his mates could empty a fully stocked kitchen in minutes