Teenagers and food waste, I am losing my mind.

[JensonsAcolyte]

I don’t know if I’m being really fucking petty about this but I lost my shit yesterday after they went through a box of cereal in six hours.

Kids are 17 and 18. We also have a 9 year old. I buy nice treat food like a mug every week and the older kids just go through it like it’s going out of fashion. I’ve told them not to, obviously, begged and pleaded and shouted and sworn and nothing sinks in.

I’m at the point of thinking about locking the larder.

So on Sunday I bought a box of (overpriced junk) Krave because youngest DS loves it. He usually has a few pieces mixed in with his weetabix or porridge.

By yesterday morning it was gone. DS had got up at gone midnight and had half a box over two bowls, DD then had two bowls for breakfast, before I got up.

This is an ongoing battle. Also taking huge portions of food and not eating it. Dinner last night, DD took a huge pile and then picked out half of it (the aubergine she didn’t like) and left it on the side of her plate.

There’s a large Tupperware full of home made egg fried rice that one of them made on Saturday night while I was out and didn’t eat. I’ll be binning that in a minute.

They both like to cook but cook stupid things like a batch of thirty cheese straws. Or a huge macaroni cheese for one person. I’m constantly running out of milk, cereal, flour, eggs, pasta.

They are supposed to ask for food, which I hate making them do but have to, but then as soon as I’m out or in a meeting or even just in the fucking shower they are like locusts.

Any ideas? Is this par for the course with young adults? They are both skinny fuckers as well which is actually infuriating considering all the shit they eat.

I only had one but with lots of friends and I had to hide stuff for his lunchbox (when he took packed lunch in) otherwise it would all be gone.

It's much much harder with three and to eat their own brother's cereal is just selfish. I agree with the treat boxes. Once they are gone, they are gone and they can help themselves to fruit.

The wastefulness would tip me over the edge. If they make the food, they eat it. Food is so expensive and you are the poor soul who has to get more.

"After various approaches I think I've cracked it....

I now only buy healthy cereal. He can have as much as he wants but interestingly it lasts a lot longer than if I buy "treat" cereal.

Biscuits I've stopped buying expensive ones and buy the supermarket own brand cookies for £1 a pack. I buy 2 a week and when they are gone that's it."

I reckon this is a telling bit of typing - if it's healthier, it may get eked out longer.

I would have anything more treat-like stored in a reasonably small plastic sealed container, either a generous lunch box or one of the plastic cereal keepers (crucially, should be see-through though). I think initially I might also think creatively about locking it out of sight - say, in the boot for a while.

Hopefully even seeing by eye the level of what's there will give you the average hoovering time for the box's capacity without a free rein.

Also, I might have a whiteboard or something where I'd keep track of 'treat' expenses from shopping - wine, sodas, biscuits, cereal, crisps and so on, to tot up over a month or 2 and then to evaluate. This could also include some periods of running out of the above for a short while.

@JensonsAcolyte

I have three teenagers and 4 little ones in my house. My teens were the same and were even helping themselves to ingredients for dinners!

I found a solution!

My teens each have a shelf each in fridge and freezer and also a large basket for dried foods. They have to write me a shopping list each week before I go shopping and this is their food for a week. If they eat it all in one day then tough poop. The rest of the food in the other cupboards, fridge and freezer is for the little ones and dinners so they aren't allowed them. I still cook dinner at dinner time but they have to make their own lunches and breakfast with what they've put on their lists. I've been doing this for a couple of months and it's working well. X

I would have problem zero "punishing" 🙄🙄teens with a tiny snack box or NO bloody snacks if they were selfish enough to eat everything that was bought to be shared.

In fact I distinctly remember telling one team when he ate the 3 lunch box bars that if it ever happened again, he would be making his own lunch of bread and butter.

I wouldn't allow such thoughtlessness go unchecked.

Is it any wonder adults end up so selfish if this type of selfishness is never pointed out to them.

@Bibidy

Also I'm surprised at so many defending the teens on here and saying they're hungry, growing etc.

OP isn't starving them, there is plenty of other food in the house. At 17 and 18 they are MORE than old enough to understand they can't just eat all of the 'premium' cereal when there are others in the house. Neither of them needed 2 bowls in one go.

They are being massively inconsiderate and it's not on.

Well, that's what teens like! I did the same 😂

If there was (at least) 2 x 100g of Krave left, then surely they didn't eat it all? The standard box size is 375g so that would mean they ate just about half between the two teens, leaving half for the 9 year old. Even if it was a large 850g box, it still seems fair given they are hungry teens and he only 9 and is having just a few sprinkled on his other cereal- that would be a quarter of a big box left for the 9 year old. And this is assuming that OP shared ALL of the remaining Krave out between the teens, leaving none for the 9 year old, which is unlikely tbh. I'd imagine it was much more likely that there was 300g plus left out of a 850g box, which doesn't actually seem that unreasonable (and plenty left for 9 year old to have a daily sprinkle of Krave for the rest of the week).

@HeyDemonsItsYaGirl she has said that she is giving them a treat box so they know what they can eat that's not really a punishment. 'Here have 7 chocolate biscuits you naughty selfish so and so'. And yes she may be feeling a bit petty but she has been pushed to the end of her tether by selfish family members

Do you meal plan? Can you sit down with them and plan snacks and meals within your budget? Might be a valuable opportunity to teach them some adulting as they’ll have to do their own food budgeting in just a few years. Make sure you point out any waste at the end of the week and what it’s cost you.

I’d just provide smart price basic stuff in this situation and a healthy dinner at night.

I’ve got very well off relatives who went down this route with two 6’3 teen sons. He said his kids would eat a whole pack of something regardless of the brand.

Who’s house is it? Rules need to be made by you, with serious repercussions for breaking them. Don’t even hesitate in locking food away, if that’s what’s needed.

YABU for buying Krave! Even my pre teens get through those tiny boxes in one session.

YABVVR for making me laugh though. Thank you

you're not alone.

Well, that's what teens like! I did the same

I don't think teens are all like that! I would have got in so much trouble if I had just finished off whole packets of stuff meant for everyone. Tbh I think OP is generous by even buying it again because my parents just wouldn't have as there would be no point.

They are 17 and 18, that's basically adults. Definitely old enough to understand the concept of not hogging everything nice as soon as it arrives.

I have four teenagers in the house. I put sticky labels on things that must not be eaten eg pepperoni for pizza making. I hide foods that are for lunch boxs and treats or that are running out like cheese towards the end of the week.Crisps can be a problem, I put half the weeks out at a time. This also means the less popular flavours get eaten. If I bought one person special cereal I would give it to them to put in their room. I find they don't look through stuff they just whatever is in the line of sight. I have the added issue of catering for adults with learning disabilities who come to me for daycare in my home who have specific tastes/requirements so I need to have stuff in the cupboards for them. It's time consuming but I find my family respect the rules if things are spelled out.

I was going to say the same, @Bibidy.

We were required to ask for everything, even bread and cheese. The answer was invariably, 'no, wait for your dinner'.

I think it was common back then for children and teenagers to always feel a bit hungry so they ate their 'proper meals' gratefully and didn't waste anything.

Different worlds do exist.

Operasinger
Who’s house is it? Rules need to be made by you, with serious repercussions for breaking them. Don’t even hesitate in locking food away, if that’s what’s needed.

Sounds a barrel of laughs in your house.

I have three teenagers. They're like fucking locusts. Fruit will rot, however. Veggies are totally invisible. Last week's semi-healthy success will be considered vile and gross. That is now hiding somewhere in the recesses of the fridge. There will be a well-picked rotisserie chicken carcass drying out in a bag, looking like there's enough left for dinner - but it will be wings, bones and string. There will be dried up sandwich meat sitting uncovered waiting for the botulism fairy to sprinkle her magic dust. One flaccid green onion. (Probably my fault, tbh.) Jam. Lots of jam. Not in jars, though. There are rings of the bastard stuff on shelves, fingerprints of it on doorhandles and of course, schmears of it dripping down the fridge. Breadcrumbs fucking everywhere. In the ice cube trays, even. Are there ice cubes? No! Don't be fucking daft! I'm going to write the recipe for icecubes and stick it to the bastard freezer with gummed up jam!

Why should you, as adults and parents have to hide food in your own house because selfish teenagers, who are old enough to know better and to need to life lesson that you can't go around being so greedy, don't eat everything in sight?!

It astounds me. I would have never done this as a teenager and I would never let my own teenagers do this. They do it because they are allowed to.

"I don't think teens are all like that!"

Me neither!

I suppose times have changed & as a teen I was out & about-not hanging around the house & constantly looking in the fridge!

Treats & "special" cereal were to be shared & no one would have dreamt of pigging the lot.

And we didn't need to be told that-it's just obvious that you consider others.

*We were required to ask for everything, even bread and cheese. The answer was invariably, 'no, wait for your dinner'.

I think it was common back then for children and teenagers to always feel a bit hungry so they ate their 'proper meals' gratefully and didn't waste anything.

Different worlds do exist*

Yes, this. No-one will die from being hungry for their next meal. Teenagers don't need endless empty calories from junk food and they don't need to eat every hour.

@mrsm43s

No, not missing the point. The problem is that if there is only 100g each left by Tuesday, then not enough cereal was bought! Teens have very high calorie needs. Are you just buying one box for the whole family or something?

"No, not missing the point..." apart from the bit where OP explained clearly that it was only this one particular type of sugary crap cereal she was rationing, not the mountain of other cereal and the copious amounts of other food available.

It's not you, OP.

Some people just don't/can't read.

With regard to asking for food:

If my kids just eat whatever they want, I won't have things I need for the week to feed everyone. And I don't necessarily have the time or cash to replace them.

My husband has the sense to eat things that are unlikely to be part of a diner menu, or he'll ask if unsure. The kids not so much and what they really like to do is eat all the school lunch stuff for a week or more in two days

They absolutely need to ask.

Anyway, one thing I have found is that if I plan for a good amount of protein at breakfast, it helps. Cereal is totally not going to fill anyone. Sausages and eggs are the best I find.

@Justilou1 palpable annoyance there. The jam would make me murderous too.

Teenagers eat a lot of food, you can't limit that. You can however not buy treats. Growing up, my house was not full of sweets. If I asked my mum for some chocolate she would buy ONE bar, that's it. And I thought that was normal. So maybe that's the route you need to take. Fridge should have food, cheese, milk etc but treats should be non existent, only buy one at a time. Less sugar won't kill them.

YANBU they are super, super annoying aren't they.

"Don't eat this it's for your little brother's packed lunch."
"Kk yeah whatever"
Next 3 seconds in the fridge eating that specific thing.

Also @Justilou1 WHY must they take all the ice cubes! Fuckers! None for my much needed medicinal gin is there but plenty in the 30 discarded glasses all over the house!