What does your endlessly hungry teen eat after school/ for snacks?

[parrotonmyshoulder]

Stuck in the ‘there’s nothing to eat!!!’ rut.
He has some SEN so in some ways less independent than you’d expect a 13 yo to be, more like a 9 year old, but growing like a teen does, of course.
Seems like it should be obvious - just ask him what he’d like and make sure it’s there - but he can’t plan ahead like that. I want to put a box in the fridge with his stuff in for him to help himself.
Difficulties around food include: not being able to eat anything that’s been open (even in the fridge) for more than a day; difficulty for me in that I don’t want to buy lots of single use plastic eg wrapped cheese/ pepperoni.

I’m sure the answer will be obvious.

My teen is ravenous after school too - has been since primary. What we found was that he was snacking so much after school and still eating his dinner, he was essentially having the equivalent of two evening meals. What we’ve now done is moved his evening meal to after school. So, he eats around 4pm now. We’ve shelved any ideas about eating together and it’s much more relaxed now. It involves prep and planning but do-able. His evening meal is left in the fridge and he usually eats it cold, (perfect for summer). But it’s usually things like wraps, protein and salad, pizza, frittata etc. if your child needs things heated, could you teach them to use a microwave?

And if my son gets hungry in the evening cos he’s eaten early, he’s happy to snack on fruit and yogurt.

I don’t know if this suggestion will be any good for you but my teens were so hungry at one point (massive growth spurts; one of my daughters grew over four inches in a year) that I abandoned the snacks altogether and cooked pasta dishes and home made pot noodle jars (that were healthier with loads of veg) that I put in individual Tupperware portions.

One of mine is autistic and getting her involved in the portioning up and having her own “clean” area of the fridge really helped.

Also an air fryer is good for teens. They can take beige food out of the freezer and zap it in the air fryer in ten minutes.

Shreddies with yoghurt.
Weetabix with yoghurt.

My DS loves the microwave popcorn bags. Or crackers & cheese, toast, or the low sugar biscuits I make (he oughs through those!). Or a ham & cheese toastie or boiled egg, or noodles.

He still keeps it moderate though, and eats a good dinner.

Thanks both of you. Yes, beige freezer food in air fryer would be good - he could have his own freezer drawer.
I like the idea of him having early dinner, but not sure I can fit in that and the rest of us eating later (DD will also need her routine to work! Complex ND household as many are!)

Might get out the old toastie maker too. He could prep those himself.

I did the same as @Onescoopofmashplease snacks in general are, expensive, unhealthy and not filling so they used to come in from school and have a meal and then still have dinner later that evening.

If you bought some new pyrex with lids just for him, would that be covered enough for him to eat?
I used to make extra for the evening meal and then put it in pyrex and they could microwave it or eat it cold

I buy dole fruit pots. Plus bbq chicken slices. Yogurts. They seem to snack on fruit when I’m home but otherwise avoid it. The noodles are a good idea. Quick and easy seems to be the way forward here.

My two 6 foot+ rugby player sons used to eat cereal, toast, scrambled eggs on toast, beans on toast, scrambled eggs on toast with beans, all the biscuits, (grr), wraps with all the cheese, porridge, fruit, yoghurt…anything that wasn’t nailed down really. And then dinner, usually twice the amount I had.

I used to have to food shop nearly every day.

They should have a drink of water before having anything to eat. Our bodies sometimes trick us into thinking we’re hungry when what we actually need is a drink. Mine have grown up now both SEN but after being sat on a mini bus for 30-45 minutes they especially in summer a drink is what they wanted most when they got in. They would sometimes have some fruit while I cracked on with our tea.

My son is the same age and is ND. We have had to come to terms with the use of individual plastic bottles in order to get him to drink enough at the minute. This will change at some point I’m sure and he will go back to glasses of squash or milk or tap water. But for now it’s necessary to keep his fluid intake up.
Food wise, he has his tea earlier now as he’s pretty hungry after school. Snack wise he makes cereal, toast, bagel, noodles and always wants a bacon sarnie so has learnt to use the air fryer to cook his bacon. He also makes grilled cheese sandwich in the frying pan. That’s a fave.
It’s tricky to think of things that can live in the fridge but not be opened for more than a day. I think I’d go for individually wrapped items where the packing can be recycled, yoghurts, dairylea lunchables, small Philadelphia pots spread on bagel or crackers, that sort of thing. If your child’s likes them of course.

I use leftovers for toasted wraps/quesadillas.
Things like mince or chicken with added veg and cheese.