To be cross at teenager for eating

[Imaginationfail]

On one hand. Thank goodness she eats. But venting. That pizza I bought for tea. Eaten as snack. Those spring rolls bought for tea eaten as a snack. I go to make tea - half ingredients gone. Then she won’t eat tea!

I have an 11 year old boy who eats meals and meal ingredients as a snack as well.

And eats the meal too.

He’s ridiculously tall, as skinny as a rake and growing at the rate of knots.

And he has a little brother following suit.

Fuck this is going to get expensive.

I genuinely don't understand this. Yes teenagers are growing and get very hungry but when I was a teen I would either grab a banana, a sandwich, some toast, yogurt or if I really could be bothered I might even toast some pitta, chop up a carrot, some cucumber and have it with houmous (but that would be serious culinary effort & time). I couldn't be bothered to wait for a pizza to cook.

I'm guessing your teen must be skipping meals if they are so hungry that they are cooking a pizza meant for 2 and eating all by themselves. I would address this first and find out why the reason behind skipping meals.

I genuinely don’t understand how some of you tolerate this or how some of these teenagers are allowed to be so selfish and inconsiderate?

Our teenage DC wouldn’t dream of eating like that. They know exactly how much things cost and exactly how much we have money to spend because I tell them. We are on a tight budget and they know that some meals DH and I will skip or have less ourselves so they can eat more when we can. Therefore if for example there was a pizza in the fridge for dinner for everyone to have with chips or salad or something and they ate it all themselves before dinner then dinner served that night for everyone would be half plate of chips because “DC2 has eaten everyone’s pizza”, so everyone else would go without and be hungry because of them. I certainly cannot go out and get more pizza or more cheese or whatever they have eaten to replace it.

I don’t understand why those of you with teenagers don’t just show them the cost of what they are eating and the consequences on everyone else? How can you possibly have this much money that a pizza is a snack?

Being hungry at times is just something that you have to get on with, I don’t understand this belief that teenagers should be allowed to just eat and eat. They just need to learn that they have to ignore the hunger at times exactly the same as everyone else has to. They have no more right to food than anyone else in the family. They will get food when everyone else gets food. Yes, they are growing but DH is also outside doing a physical demanding job all day so needs food, DH doesn’t take any lunch with him or eat lunch because there just isn’t the money for it, he has a basic breakfast and just gets on with it as you do because he is an adult and he needs to work. I work very long hours doing a very physically active job (on my feet and moving around all day) and also need food but I usually don’t eat breakfast and just have a bit of bread for lunch as that is what we have and I have to just get on with it because I am an adult. DC do better because they get breakfast, lunch and an evening meal as they are prioritised above us but at times we all are hungry and want to eat all the food in the fridge when we get in from school/work but we don’t because then everyone else goes hungry that night.

I think ‘right I need snacks so they don’t all the main meal food’ then I get a six-pack of crisps, biscuits - all gone in 2 days.

Well yeah, of course.

You need to provide less ‘interesting’ snacks. I would have binged crisps and biscuits as a teenager too, had they been available. And spring rolls and pizza are not ‘between meals’ snacks.

Just have plain stuff available. Apples, oranges, crackers with plain cheese, maybe fruit bread. Food they’ll only eat if really hungry, not bored and being a bit piggy.

DC and her friends are always asking if they can have this and that.
I always say no need to ask just help yourselves, when it's gone it's gone, more will be bought and often they'll come in with food they have bought themselves anyway and prepare it.
I'm pleased that they are independent enough to just getting with it and they always tidy up.
I can't see the issue.

Annabelle, that’s great if you can afford to keep replacing food that’s meant for family dinners. You really can’t see how that could be an issue for some people?

DC have to eat too and often hungry at different times or out. If already eaten we just cook for who hasn't. Same amount of food same price. No greedy overeating or weight problems here that I've noticed.
Communicate- Do you want any of this saving? Are you planning having that for tea or can we eat it all? etc

I always say no need to ask just help yourselves, when it's gone it's gone

more will be bought

Don’t those sentences contradict each other?!

Time for these kids to get involved in shopping ,planning and cooking. Never too early for all that.

Why is she skipping lunch?

No

Same amount of food same price.

No, really not. Generally, the food bought for the family dinner is more $$.

Marmite sandwiches =/= family pizza

Snack cupboard or shelf. We have one even though DC is too little to reach it so nanny and DHP know what isn't an ingredient in another meal. Plus I can stock it with healthy options.

DHP = DP or DH, take your pick lol!

One person eats lunch plus two people eat lunch later= three lunches.

"How can you possibly have this much money that a pizza is a snack?"

Pizza is not exactly expensive, so lots of people do this. It becomes a problem is people snack too often on such high calories snacks.

I have two teenagers, and beyond a piece of fruit or a slice of toast, they don't snack between meals. Neither do their friends come here and start raiding the cupboards or expect to be fed in between meals - I don't really understand this "teen constantly snacking" phenomenon. Presumably if they're eating this junk like pizzas and spring rolls in between meals, they are not then going on to eat proper healthy balanced meals at meal times, because they'll be full. So I guess they get out of sync with eating properly at the correct meal times. Not something I would encourage.

How can you possibly have this much money that a pizza is a snack?

£1.50 for a frozen pizza. In my teens' eyes, they know that a McDonalds meal is just over a fiver so it seems reasonable as a weekend snack.
Sainsburys do a 7" magherita in their basics range for 65p.

I remember going away from Saturday to Sunday and leaving my late teen with what I thought was a choice, of 500g steak mince and a pack of four chicken breasts.

I came back and he had eaten the lot..when I asked WTF he just replied.."well I had to eat". He had a couple of chicken pieces for lunch, all the mince for dinner and the other breast the following day. No veg, pasta etc to go with it.

I told him incredously that he had basically eaten probably 10 persons portion of meat

Wandawitch I was really sad to read about your husband and you not having lunch because of money, is there no way you could spare two slices of bread, a bit of butter or margarine, and say half a can of tuna (with some little slices of tomato) or something like that? You can make a lunch for under 50p, there's a website by Jack Monroe called cookingonabootstrap.com/ that has a lot of good recipes that are pence. I hope that helps in some small way, I know it has helped me reading them
xx

Oldraver - when I was at uni (agriculture so probably hungrier!) and age 17 I remember one of the boys opening a multipack of 12 crisp packets, emptying them into the big bag and eating the lot. He was about 9.5 stone at the time
He's now 33 and not any fat on him still

A basics pizza from a supermarket , plus chips, salad is a family meal. So a cost of about £3-£4 for four of us, that is a reasonable meal cost. A pizza is not a snack - even if it were 65p - it is still a good proportion of our daily food budget. So if both DC have a pizza each - I then need to reduce another £1.30 off of the food budget per day somewhere else? So where else do we go without?

Also £5 for a McDonalds meal for one person you mean? That’s more than the cost of our family meal?

I cannot understand how teenagers can think it is ok to spend £5 on one meal just for themselves, if the money isn’t there to do that then it isn’t there. I know everyone has different budgets and different priorities, however I think unless some of the teenagers who seem to have this ridiculous expectation of the amount of food they are entitled to have a bit of a reality check, then when they have to survive on their own they are going to be brought up very short.

My dd seems to eat her own body weight at the moment. But she's actually very considerate about what she eats. Bread, crumpets, pasta etc are all unlimited, as are cheaper fruit and veg, normal cheese, cheap things like chopped tomatoes etc. Plus a shelf in the fridge where I'll put leftover meal type food or snacks she can help herself to, and the same in the cupboard.

She doesn't have a sweet tooth and rarely eats crisps so no issues with the content of her food, and clearly needs the calories. For all she can eat she isn't particularly motivated by food for anything but hunger, so not concerned by habit either. And always asks if she fancies something that might possibly be for a meal. If she's making dinner for herself I usually say if there's anything that is off limits.

wanda unless your circumstances have recently changed and you're all rapidly losing weight, presumably you are all eating enough for your needs. Some teens and adults require more calories just to maintain a slim, or even thin size. If my budget ever drops to the point I can't provide limitless relatively cheap food for dd, or as a student or adult she can't, she'll have to adapt to filling up on cheap plain potatoes and value pasta, just as I did when crumpets and cheese were a luxury item on my budget. Short of causing serious harm I can't slow down her metabolism, nor can she afford to eat less than she needs and lose weight.