what sort of meals do you cook when you live with teens. who you never know will come home or not?

[NoahVale]

dont say buy ready meals for them to cook as i am not prepared to do this?

ok, so i can do spag bol, and if not takers, freeze this. freezer pretty well full.
mainly i think i need veggie meals, or at least a variety.

I never change my entire meal plan, grotbag. Inasfar as it's an actual plan!

I just leave some for him or he gets leftovers. Not sure what's indulgent about that.

longlost I'm glad we're on the same page.

I always told them if I'd be home or not. If I was, we'd eat together. If not I cooked for myself. Sometimes if I was home I'd cook for all of us. There was always leftovers in the freezer to heat up if I was back late and wanted something quick.

I think it's worth remembering that teenagers often don't have the same fixation about food and mealtimes as we do.

Hai my said that, I don't cook at a regular time because I'm never sure what time DH will be home.

I certainly don't stand scowling on the doorstep in my pinny shouting what time do you call this?

I do the same types of meals as SuburbanRhonda and what he doesn't eat, he takes to work the next day or gets frozen.

My teenagers are into stir fries. I have chicken (raw) and packs of stir fry veg in the fridge and sauces (gluten free and bloody expensive - not that that's relevant) packs of noodles (again gf) and those bags of rice you put in the microwave. Seems to keep them happy. Also M&S chicken tenders and pizzas. Sometimes they're around sometimes they're not and I can't be bothered with the aggravation of trying to find out.

They do the cooking btw.

Maybe you could look at some of the cook once, eat twice meals. They tend to be things that lend themselves to leftovers or can be put in a lunch box the next day. Things like quiche, Falafels, puff pastry tarts, frittata's.

Do they do all the cooking, still?

DS and I have completely different routines so I can't imagine having to wait for him to cook when I want to eat!

I'm in agreement with longlost

it was recipes/ideas i was after btw

not an argument

They cook for themselves. No not for me DH and ds3 (who is 14 and has disabilities). I cook for us & include the older 2 if they want - mostly they don't. I cook different meals though. They are 18 and 20. Sometimes they even tidy up badly.

perhaps the question should now be

What do you buy differently?

Sorry, OP

There is always cereal, bread, chicken and fruit in the house.
I don't feel the urge to cook for my ds. He is rarely in for evening meal...maybe twice a week.

oops, no offence meant

I just make sure there is plenty of food and dd cooks her own. If we are both in we'll ckok something together.

• cook

I don't buy anything differently, OP.

We all eat vegetarian and we all like pretty much the same food. But being vegetarian means a lot of our meals (though not all) lend themselves to being frozen in portions.

Extra stuff I keep in the fridge includes eggs, hummus (by the bucketful), and other dips, salad, cheese, yogurts. In the freezer there's bagels, muffins, mini naan breads, wraps and then all the frozen individual portions.

We do have an extra freezer in the garage though .

None taken, OP

I find it easier to cook things for all of us in the winter - stews and stuff. Doesn't seem to work like that in the summer. But my older 2 are finished at Uni/6th form for the summer, one working shifts the other spending lazy days with his girlfriend so we are on very different schedules.

It always ticks me off when a person asks for advice on something and others come in to give their tuppence on a completely different aspect of it. Let the OP figure out herself whether she wants to cook for her teens or not.

I take immense please in cooking for my teens when they come home on the weekends from university. And yes there are times when I cook and they've already had a burger on the way before they set off as they can't hold off the hunger for the duration on the train journey. And there are also times when they're setting off again and I've cooked a meal but they're so all over the place that they don't manage to sit down for a meal before they go on Sunday. Rather than getting frustrated or demanding they stick to a routine or let me know beforehand, I make something that can easily be taken over to the next meal or packed in a foil container for them to take with them. I certainly wouldn't expect them to come home for a weekend and cook their own meals. They help out, yes, chopping some veg, clearing the worktops or stirring and adding ingredients as and when prompted by me whilst we talk. It's part of the time we spend together in the kitchen as a family. They lay the table and help clear up afterwards too but the most they manage to do besides that is to throw all their clothes in the washing machine and take turn to wash, dry and iron everything before they leave.

Okay, so our meals may differ as we're British Indian so are used to different foods but curries (chicken, beef, or veg based) are an easy option as you can just pop it in the fridge and reheat it for another meal afterward. Marinated chickens can be popped in the oven and if they don't have time to eat I wrap it in foil and give it to them to take with them. Theyll happily eat them cold as a late night snack. Also tortilla wraps with chicken and roasted veg fillings can be eaten or cling filmed to be eaten later on. Kabab sandwiches are never left-always eaten immediately or later or taken with them. Pastas can also be eaten cold later on, although they'll microwave it if they can be bothered.

Like another poster said, teenagers don't have the same fixation for food as we do so will happily eat something straight from a plastic container that I would prefer to eat hot and immediately. If it keeps them happy and it's nutritious or can be reheated and eaten by us later on then that's more than enough to keep us all happy.

Who's arguing?! People were just saying how it worked in their house. Maybe there was something the OP hadnt thought of.
Anyway if you want meals that can be easily stored/frozen/reheated your best bet is things like bolognese, chilli, stews, curry, soups etc. He's obviously not a teenager but DH is often later home from work than expected (or appears earlier than expected) and I have to cook for the children (toddler and baby) anyway so we eat a lot of one pot stuff that's easily frozen.

My teen is only 14, but keeps odd eating hours (I like to eat around 7pm, he'll happily go till 8.30) so I tend to either make double portion at my teatime and reheat for him, or fix him something easy up when he's ready.

I'm making a cooking rod for my own back still cooking but I actually enjoy doing it - I'm a complete feeder and get immense pleasure filling people's stomachs.