To ban cooking for teenage boys

[Boysfood]

I have 3 teen ds 15,17 and 19.

They cook all the time. Breakfast lunch , I make dinner they then cook in evenings and when getting home. My electric bill is too high.

I’ve asked them to have cereal or toast or instant porridge etc for breakfast. Sandwiches etc for lunch and snacks to be something that doesn’t need cooking. We always have these type of things available but they ignore me and start cooking. I can’t remove the oven etc and they often do this when I’m out or in bed. Only 19 year old works so I can charge him more rent to cover his share but others still in education and I don’t know what to do .

I’d give my family the luxury ones and eat the cheap ones myself.

You do know that you dont get medals for martyrdom right?

Its so easy to see who has/had a teenage boy and who hasnt!

Yes, but they don’t need to be constantly cooking food

Agreed.

Teenagers have voracious appetites, especially boys. Lots of good suggestions about bulk buying and batch cooking you could teach your children which will serve them well in the future. My mother was critical about the amount of food we ate as teenagers and we all had eating disorders at one time or another.

@Grizelina

you do know there’s no medals being given out for being a martyr?! Why should you be the one to eat the cheap stuff given presumably it’s you who’s worked hard to get the money to buy it in the first place? No one in a family should go without and eat cheap stuff to facilitate the excesses of others in the family

Cooking pasta doesn't take long and it's cheap. Plus they're cooking, fantastic!!! Personally I want hot food in the winter. Cooking on the hob isn't expensive anyway. I think you're being unreasonable.

@ChattyCatty25

the bar is soooooo low for boys/men! I bet you wouldn’t say that if OP was posting about daughters

All those saying they want hot food in February…like how many times per day?

Personally I don't mind if my daughters eat three hot meals a day. It's not something I monitor.

I don’t think Op can afford the organic oats for 3 hollow legged young men.

They’re growing lads. I’d be thankful they’re learning how to cook and Id be asking them to include a portion for me so I didn’t have to cook and just heat up.
Just think at normal meal times I’d be sitting waiting for my meal.
Soon they’ll be leaving home and you can rest assured they have a healthy interest in food and looking after themselves (and so will their girlfriends).

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Unless you are really, really struggling, as in, choosing between heating and eating, I absolutely cannot imagine why you would restrict the food intake of your children. The fact you are buying "nice organic" food for yourself and them big bags of cheap food...what are you thinking?

I would choose to eat beans on toast 7 nights a week (and I hate beans with a passion) if it meant I could carry on ensuring my daughter could eat as much high quality food as she wanted.

My three teen boys also love cooking and I am thrilled about it! They batch cook on Sunday evening and make regular snacks and sometimes breakfasts. I didn't notice much extra cost and am so pleased they are growing up to be independent young men. At first I was a little miffed that I wasn't needed as much but now I'm delighted. Maybe you can decide a little extra electrical cost is worth them being good cooks?

You seem very controlling, neglectfully so. They need more food than you ate allowing them. They are growing with fast metabolism. You shouldn't have had so many kids if you can't afford to feed them.

A good £1 a day saving for me. I have a small single bucket one, used mainly for reheating batch cook meals, chips, chicken fillets etc. I paid about £30 for it three years ago.

when the family come and I use the oven instead of the air fryer my bill rises over £1 a day for electricity for cooking an evening meal.

I have silicone liners from a cheap store which go in the dishwasher and make it simple to use it for multiple uses during the day if needed.

Missed the healty meals bit.
Where was that then?

It is freezing though. Hot food is so much more satisfying in winter!

She didn't say that they couldn't eat. Just not energy needy, expensive protein based food. Perfectly reasonable when there are other foods.

'You shouldn't have had them'. Where is the father blame?

How are they going hungry? She has loads of options of different foods she doesn't want them cooking, she'd rather they make something that doesn't require cooking, she did explain that..!!

Slow cooker , air fryer and microwave are the way to go to keep the leccy down

Sounds like they have jumped onto the "Protein" bandwagon , but seem to think protein only comes from lean meats/fish and powders . They would be better off learning about nutrition properly and that a mixed and varied diet will be more filling , more protein rich then all the chicken breasts they can scoff

I have to watch the pennies, but I get plenty of protein, using tinned fish, cheaper cuts of meat, ( I eat a lot of turkey and pork compared to beef and chicken ) and I use pules and grains , cottage cheese etc . Premium cuts are usually used in stir fry/ asian dishes where the base is mostly mostly veg or pulses and the meat is a flavouring near enough

I invested in a 15 in 1 pot which is cheap to run. In it I make my own greek yoghurt, bread, cakes, stews, casseroles, ( slow cook or pressure cook ) , pasta is cooked in minutes, baked and fried good the same I can cook a roast chicken dinner. with all the veg in just over an hour

Hob cooking is a lot cheaper then oven cooking, microwave cheaper then the hob. I rarely use the oven or grill, but Im a confident cook and can cook over a candle if I need to :)

Nothing to do with martyrdom - simply putting my family first as many others do.

Am I reading a different thread?!!

Posts saying that the OP is neglectful, is not providing enough food, shouldnt have had her kids if she cant afford to feed them.......there is plenty of food available! All she asks is that they dont, seperately, cook several times a day each on top of the main meal she is providing, as it is costing money each time they do. I am sure that she would be less pissed off if they at least coordinated their cooking so instead of three smaller pans of pasta, there was one large one for example.

And frankly if one of mine decided that midnight was the time to cook brownies or pasta, words would be had.

As for Making your kids buy kitchen appliances because they want to eat hot food and you won't let them use (the family) oven?!?! Its an air fryer not a seperate oven/hob! He wants to cook then its not unreasonable to say "OK but the oven is not going on after (say) 8pm, so if you want to cook after that you will need to get an airfryer". Then its up to him. Either he is an adult at 19, as many will say he is, or he is a kid at home. If he is an adult then he can sort out his own cooking requirements, respecting the person who pays the bills. Or he is a kid who must follow the rules about when cooking can be done. Pick one.

I would look to cut costs elsewhere, I font think I could bring myself to get cross about them cooking, especially if it’s not junk food.

It feels like the goalposts are constantly moving - which is possibly why they feel they can't win - you seem to be in a vicious circle of criticising everything they do and then moving the goalposts when they find a solution to your complaints....

The OP argument was about electricity costs - which I had some sympathy for - until you revealed that you are charging your eldest more in rent and have docked the pocket money of the underage ones - so basically they have paid for your increased costs?

Argument 2 was that you didn't want them to cook sausages and bacon and would rather they ate avocado toast (which sort of undermines the cost complaints) and you also reveal they buy the meat themselves. And you complain that they buy value pasta rather than eating the wholewheat pasta you want them to eat - so not really about cost at all as them buying some of their own food actually saves you money.

Argument 3 was them cooking 3 "extra" meals a day - but it appears that they are cooking their own breakfast/lunch and you are counting brownies as a "meal" .... come on now 🙄

Argument 4 was that you want them to eat more healthily .... but not if healthy eating involves your own organic oats 🙄

Argument 5 was that they made a mess - so they bought disposable foil baking dishes and you complain about that as well

It seems the real issue is that you want the same control that you had when they were 6 .... "do what I say - because I say so". But this approach is not going to work with adults/almost adults - especially now that you are making them pay with their own money.

My advice is to loosen up a little and not to sweat the small stuff - most parents would be delighted to have kids that pay for some of their own food and electricity and cook it.

Teenagers are notoriously bottomless pits for food. An air fryer is much cheaper to run than an oven, but it would make more sense to make sure you’re cooking batches of food so they can reheat stuff rather than cook from scratch every time. Suggest that they make a big tray of brownies, a big pot of pasta, and so on. Explain that the utility bill is high and they need to be more economical with the oven etc. But young people of this age do need to eat, when my kids were this age I felt like I was constantly refilling the fridge.

For heavens sake, pick your battles.