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 .

Ah please….its what teenage boys are like, they don’t think one step ahead never mind replacing your oats. You really need to get off their backs.

Lots of parents would kill to have the problem of teenage boys being dead keen to cook, and even paying for some of the ingredients. Think of how prepared they are for later in life.
If I were you I'd buy a large airfryer, and buy only the staples and protein you are happy for them to cook/eat (chicken, beef, eggs etc). Don't make the likes of prawns available unless you yourself want to eat them. Let them get on with it. If they are paying, using disposable dishware to save on mess, etc - let them. Providing you can come to a compromise that they use the airfryer as much as possible, let them.
Step back from cooking them meals; it seems they are happy to look after themselves. If you are not cooking them dinners, maybe their own cooking won't be as late at night.
Loosen up, mum.

I’m a 40 something woman and there are very few ‘cold foods’ I enjoy eating so I cook pretty much every meal too. There’s nothing wrong with that. I think YABVVU.

No she is not

She is cooking the evening meal and then after the boys have eaten that, they go off and " snack" on more hot food and she's saying sod the cooking, the fuel bills are high enough, if you are hungry, then go eat cold food or toast etc

Crikey if as teens at that age , we would go make beans on toast , not whip up a tray of Hash Brownies

What you should do is to show how proud you are...They are doing so well, cooking for themselves, there are many that have no idea how to boil an egg. An air fryer will bring down your bills, there are many to choose from and not expensive. Good on them...

Much cheaper

Loosen up, mum.

With a bit more effort you could be even more patronising, although I concede that it would be difficult after that pile of bilge.

Nothing - but she must be saving a fortune on food bills if they are funding quite a few breakfasts and lunches. Plus she's charged them for electric by increasing the elder ones rent and docking the pocket money of the younger one.

But she's made it more difficult to say it's a cost issue now that she's making them pay for the extra electricity costs through their rent/pocket money. They consider that as they are paying they can use it.

What part of the OP's OP (her being pissed off at the increased fuel costs) did you miss?

She is spending lots on her food bills to have food available for them and they are increasing her fuel bills by insisting on cooked food many times a day, they are saving her nothing but costing her MORE! All she is asking is that they eat food that doesnt need cooking, which she is happy to pay for.

PyongyangKipperbang · Today 13:42
"Loosen up, mum.
With a bit more effort you could be even more patronising, although I concede that it would be difficult after that pile of bilge."
This would only be relevant if your opinion mattered to me. I stand by what I said in my post.

If no ones opinion matters to you, why post? Hilarious!

I didn't refer to no-one's opinion, I referred to yours.

She could stop cooking as much?

I think it's important whether they listen to the OP on other matters - is it just the food instructions they are disobeying?
Because it's possible that OP you are massively misaligned with their needs - not just I'm terms of food intake, but a need for some autonomy...
But at the same time, if they consistently disregard your authority, something has gone very wrong that is bigger than this food issue.

I wouldn't like my kids eating that much bacon, but I'd be a lot more concerned about the weed smoking at their age.

How are your relationships in general? Do you like them, talk, laugh together?

I get that this is annoying but I don’t think it is worth falling out with your sons over. It will end up hurting your relationship with them and they will view you as petty and uncaring.
They are buying the bacon, sausages, pasta etc. This is the fodder of teenage boys and it’s relatively cheap. Don’t worry too much about their health at this stage. They will be fine and will grow out of this phase.
When my sports-mad son was 15 he was eating us out of house and home. It made me and his sisters cross that he cleaned out the fridge like a plague of locusts had been through it. Then I read that teenage boys need the equivalent calorie intake to elite athletes. It made me rethink everything and just buy more food. Everyone relaxed. We didn’t sweat the bacon sarnies.
I’d tackled the weed, I’d ask them to show more respect, I’d buy them an air fryer to show I wanted to help find a solution and I’d cut back on other things while they get through this phase. Oh and double the quantity of oats you buy. Get a good brand. They really don’t need to be organic.
You are their mum. You want them to be well fed and happy. Relax a bit and let everyone enjoy living at home together for these next few years. They’ll be gone soon.

Thats a question for her! She wants them to eat unfilling junk food.

The kids are buying their own mostly.

Maybe it’s an accumulation of all of the above, it’s not that hard to work out?

Sounds like the OP tries her best to cater for the household and is on a budget. Comes home from work, cooks a healthy hot meal for the household and probably cleans up afterwards. Settles down for a peaceful evening and then….Just imagining the scene…

DS1 strolls in and starts clattering about making some brownies he saw on tiktok- oven on, flour and cocoa flying about, doesn’t wipe the worktop down. Leaves his empty tins in the sink.

OP is frustrated - the electric bill is as high as she can manage already and she doesn’t understand why he needs to be baking for the third time this week. She tells him so but he ignores her and does it regardless.

Half Hour after that Ds2 gets back and heads to the kitchen - whacks the oven on again as he fancies some sausages for a snack. Clatters about some more, makes more mess. Ignores OP when she mentions that the oven’s already been on twice that day, and she’s already cleaned the kitchen three times.

Once he’s gone DS3 is down, decided he’s starving despite being 10pm and fancies some chicken nuggets even though there’s fruit or a bowl of cereal he could have. OP suggests these and is told “no, I’m doing chicken nuggets in the oven and that’s that”.

As a parent of young adults I can totally understand why she gets pissed off - it’s the lack of respect, ignoring her, making a mess, doing hot snacks to make that mess when a quick sandwich would do. It probably feels like they’re running a short order cafe in her kitchen that she has to pick up the bill for and clean up after.

Defo get an airfryer or toastie makers are also good. My sons both cook, only use the oven for pizzas now.

Not everything cooked is healthy.

So predictably what this all comes down to is that the OP and many others think they're having 'too much' hot food because more than one cooked/hot meal a day is somehow unacceptable, for no logical reason whatsoever.

The cost of cooking is probably fairly trivial compared with that of feeding three hungry young men, as long as they don't have the oven running all day cooking one thing at a time.

Cooked/hot food isn't necessarily any more expensive or unhealthy than cold food. They could be making omelettes or beans on toast, so cheaper and healthier than something like a ham sandwich.

They're doing the cooking so it's not even like its work for the OP.

They didn’t clean up and when I told them they had to my 19 year old just ordered a huge amount of foil roasting trays , takeaway type tubs and paper plates and bowls and said they’ll all use those so I can stop complaining

They solved the problem.🙂

I think this too! The only thing that would probably annoy me is if they left the mess for me to clean up! But then it’s my house my kids couldn’t dream of not cleaning up or kicking up a fuss over food!

OP is long gone and not interested in opinions