AIBU - how much does your au pair eat

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I don't know if IABU but our au pair eats a lot. To the point that I have changed supermarkets to be able to keep costs down and it takes food away from the DCs.
For example, yesterday she had 3 southern fried chicken breast, half a packet of fresh spaghetti and 2 chocolate bars for supper.
She'll have scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, pizza at lunch and then a large supper.
I have started to write a menu for what the DCs are having for supper so she doesn't eat it.
However, this doesn't make much of a difference.
Our previous au pairs never eat this much and I am finding it hard to keep up.

I'm not sure how people can help? It's surely irrelevant how much other people's au pairs eat what you will have to do is find a way to work with yours. Have you had a conversation about meal planning together? If she's hungry after the meals maybe she needs to invest in snacks for herself but she is an adult...

I want to know if this is a normal amount of food for a 20 year old.

Sounds reasonable to me. Is she fat and are you thin? Does she eat with you or alone?

Menu plan with lots of pasta bakes and veggies, big pots of soup.
Talk to her about food, what she does and doesn’t like.
What healthy portion sizes are for children and adults so she knows what portion to give children and herself .
What are healthy snacks between meals for children.
Sounds like she needs educating and you can do this under the guise of what is good for the children.
There may also be an emotional component to her eating, that is another matter.

It sounds like something is going on, I don’t think it’s a normal amount to eat.

Wait a minute, when you say supper do you mean dinner?

If so then that changes it a bit.

Well fresh spaghetti does cook down a lot and are talking three full breasts or three of those mini fillets? Two chocolate bars? Easy!

Sounds like a normal 20yo with a healthy appetite.

@CaptainMarvelDanvers I mean dinner

@MaybeitsMaybelline - 3 full size chicken breasts

@Soontobe60 - she is thin and eats alone. She cooks and takes it up to her room.

I could eat most of that in a day - except 3 chicken breasts. Just one of those, and I'd try pretty hard not to eat 2 choc bars (it doesnt always happen!).

Yesterday, I had pancakes with lemon, sugar and raspberries for breakfast, pizza for lunch, followed by Birthday cake, and then beef&Veg noodles for tea. Not my most healthy day - could have done with more (fruit and) veg. But doesn't sound that dissimilar to your Au Pair?? Half a pack of fresh pasta is easy!

Is she an athlete in her spare time, because that is a large meal by my standards.
1 chicken breast is enough protein, 1 cup pasta is enough carbs, bucket load of veggies as that is what they fill up on.
Chocolate as a reward.

Is it usually for au pairs to isolate themselves at meal times? She could be unhappy.
I'd also second doing a weekly meal plan, but with her. She might not like what you decide. I do know that when my DDs were that age they ate me out of house and home. Like human dustbins. They ate far more than me, but now we eat about the same.

But even if you don't think it's normal you can't say to her to have less of an appetite unless you want her to be unhappy? You also can't give an adult a chocolate as a reward!!! She's thin so obvious what she is eating works for her so you've not got health reasons to bring it up with her...

If she is slim then she isn't eating too much.

The food you have listed is all at the cheaper end of things though OP.

This doesn't seem out of the normal range for a healthy teenager/20-something who may still be growing or doing plenty of exercise.

It doesn't sound as if she is getting many vegetables though.

How do you all eat? Separately, or together? Could she eat with the family rather than by herself? It might be a better solution for everyone.

More than 1 chicken breast is excessive as is 2 chocolate bars.
A whole pizza for lunch or a couple of slices?
If she’s thin she’s a lucky girl! I’d be fat eating that amount daily and stuffed.

I also think it is rude of her take more food than is necessary unless she is buying it.

Could you give her a food allowance so she does her own shopping?
Make sure it’s reasonable so she doesn’t go without but hopefully it will make her a bit more aware.

She eats this on her own but she will also eat with the DCs in the evening and have whatever they have and will eat with them.
DP and I eat later.

In our house that would be normal. I don’t think you can really limit what they eat unless they are paid adequately to buy their own food.

@greenpop21 - a whole pizza for lunch.

Hmm this is a hard one. Perhaps work out what the average persons weekly food bill is (I think it’s like £30/week) ask her for a shopping list and buy as much within the budget. Or give her the money for her weekly food shopping and she can do it herself. It might help her to budget and make the food last. When it runs out you could suggest she eat with the family (in which case your portion it) or she can top up her weekly shopping.

Depends on the pizza.

My teens can eat a whole pizza each for lunch and still be hungry at dinner time- they are slim and active.