How do you batch-cook with hollow-legged teenagers?

[CookingApron]

I used to be able to make a couple of lasagnas or a massive pot of chili and I could either freeze half for another meal, or there would be leftovers enough to do another meal that week.

I now have three teenagers in the house and I simply can't cook enough food for there to be any left. My biggest pots and pans are licked clean, and everyone is making cheese toasties an hour and a half later.

My fridge and freezer are too small to accommodate enough food.

I use my biggest crocpot to make 'extra' dahl for after school snacking.

I'm not going to upgrade to catering pots because at some point we'll be back to DH and me, making normal sized meals again.

Because this is Mumsnet, I'll add that they're all very sporty and a healthy weight.

I'm forever cooking. Made a massive moussaka yesterday that was a bit of a faff. Would have loved to make the effort once to get 2 meals but nope. Gone.

Stash of part baked baguettes- they can double up a portion of lasagne with the same amount of bread?
Freeze the stuff you want to save before serving- or part of it e.g. the extra meat and cheese sauce without assembling a second lasagne.

And don't make moussaka til they leave home- it's so much faff it's demoralising to see it inhaled!!

Direct them to snacks. So serve up a generous meal, anything else needs to be toast/cereal/noodles/fruit/veg- something they prepare themselves.

It’s disrespectful of them to undo your work and make more work for you. Stand up and point it out.

Carbs carbs carbs. Make extra rice/, pasta/mash, that way they can just add extra cheese or condiments or whatever to fill up on that.

I would also stock up on easy to make food. Nothing wrong with toasties, just need to ensure there is adequate bread and wraps! I would have lots of longer life protein too. Tinned tuna, maybe a whole cooked ham sliced thinly. Cheap massive block of cheese.

Can you allocate a place specifically for their stuff? My issue is starting to cook only the find my ingredients have been scoffed.

You need to double up if you want enough to freeze. So the one you make for tea, you accept will be completely eaten, but the additional one is frozen. Buy foil trays if you don't have the cook ware.

Mine like things like paninis made up in foil, ready to put on the press. You can freeze them and at the weekend, get them out to defrost. But it sounds like theyre capable of making something like that themselves anyway!

You could also buy cheap garlic baguettes and bulk out the evening meal with those?

Haha - it was a faff! But they are very appreciative of delicious dinners.

That is a big plus- another option is just enjoy it, and remember the fussy toddler years when there was almost no overlap between the foods all three would eat!

Huge stew with suet dumplings. Add lots of garlic baguettes.

Curry (use curry sauce to make it quicker). Lots of rice with it.

Snacks - crackers and cheese, hard boiled eggs, cereal, make mackerel pate (very quick and easy) to eat with toast.

I agree re faff of moussaka. Can u simply allocate what will be served for the meal and put stuff to freeze aside? They can bulk out their meal with extra carbs. Could you boil.some eggs and have them available in.fridge as a snack?

You can't 😂 only way of doing it is covertly.

Like @napody says… use your time to make moussaka for those that’ll REALLY appreciate it!

I don’t think it’s necessary to go all out on upgrading to catering size levels, but the two things I purchased when I was in a similar situation were a very large slow cooker and a pasta pan. Actually the pasta pan resides in the shed is still in use for Christmas gammons.

(Slow cooker bought cheaply in the summer sales and a few years later donated to the vicar for her church curry nights)

Cant help you wrt storage, but maybe a freezer off FM marketplace in the shed?

It's false economy not to buy at least one huge pan, on the basis one day you'll not need it anymore. Your time has a value too. You need to work efficiently and smartly in these circumstances, I don't envy you! 😄

Oh gosh I'm with you. How they can eat a roast and then be back hoping for another meal with in hour??!! I spend my life shopping for food. And mine have decided that mince is boring which has wrecked my Shep p/Spag bol repertoire. And they also hope for both a sit down lunch and supper!!! Big growing sporty boys though so I don't mind too much if I can keep them off junk.

Try Chicken thighs tray bakes where you add new potatoes, peppers, Olives, Lemons etc. You can reheat that if its not all scoffed. With bread and salad. Or if desperate, tartiflette which my boys love and it actually fills them up for over an hour as its stodge and you can batch cook that.

We've been having a few bbqs in the rain with loads of meat and do extra chicken drumsticks etc for left over snacks in the fridge. Bagels with Smoked salmon or a ham or cheese and pickle sandwiches etc for snacks. But it's relentless.

On sundays I make a massive dish of meatless pasta or Dahl for my kids to take to school or have after school. Todays is a tomato and veg sauce with ricotta that I had in the freezer along with half whole-wheat pasta that makes them fuller. On the weekends or holidays I cut things they can throw together- salads and cheeses for sandwiches or wraps. Vegetables and meats for the small rice cooker for noodles or rice dishes. Pizza type ingredients for quesadilla type things. A rice and bean with chilli meat mix for burrito type things. I keep individual serve in the freezer for if there’s nothing in the fridge. They are all mostly made with rice, pasta or cheap veg keep cost really low. Dinners are normal meals that aren’t stretched as much with carbs.

I wish I had your problem to be honest. I am finally starting to enjoy cooking but I only have a small family and nobody really likes leftovers. Even if they love the meal nothing ever gets finished. Can you get something like a soup cooker and things like butternut squash, potatoes and stock that don’t have to be refrigerated? That way you can have a backup soup on hand that kids can scoop into a mug after school.

Divide and freeze it before it has chance to be eaten. Supplement with extra 'fillers'. They might be hungry teens but if they're actually going through a full saucepan of meat based dishes that's an incredible amount of food, money and time for you.

Chilli- cook up a big pan of the meat, divide in half and freeze a portion before adding a few tins of beans to make the half pan a bit fuller. Serve with loads of rice, salad, wraps, cheese, sour cream etc

When making lasagna, layer half the meat and cheese sauce into a lasagne with more pasta sheets (thinner layers) then serve with garlic bread and wedges. Freeze the rest.

They might want to scoff huge second and third portions of the 'best bits' of the meal but you'd also like to have a bit more time out of the kitchen so just remove the option.

Another thing that protects the leftovers is knowing they’ll be there for lunches.

My kids portion the leftovers into take away tubs and have them for lunch in the week. It’s the start of appreciating it!
I also get oven dishes with lids so it’s immediately packed for another day- yesterday I did a big lasagne (half left for tomorrow) and two small pasta bakes with dishes with lids so they cool and get frozen immediately.

I massively bulk up the meat with lentils and veg.

It may mean extra work but….
starters.
pate and toast - easy if you use shop bought pate
soup and a roll - again as easy or hard - shop bought or home made
cheese and onion tarts, breaded chicken strips, potatoe skins, you get the idea.
Then they’ve already started filling their hungry tums before the main event.
Make sure you serve loads of veggie sides with the main course, cauliflower cheese is a hit in this house.
-save room for dessert!!

When my children were quite little, I used to make big stews in a large Le Creuset pot which I always thought was brilliant and that everyone really loved eating and I could batch cook, but my sons recently told me that their heart would sink when the big pot came out (although they didnt want to tell me at the time as they are kind boys!!). Apparently there's also a tiktok thing of teenagers crying when the slow cooker comes out!! 😆🤣🤣🤣.

Bangers and mash...Can't go wrong.

Are they all helping themselves to extra portions because it's put on the table? Tbh I wouldn't give them that option.

I'd make a big pot, give them a generous portion on their plate with extra veg and bread if required, and put the rest away for the freezer (as long as your pot is big enough to cook enough for that, obviously)

Making a huge pot of dhal is a great idea. Could do the same with a veggie chilli. Also freezing quickly anything you don’t want them to eat.

I really would resist the urge to direct them towards noodles and cereal instead as you’re just swapping one problem for another then, and it’s much better for them to eat decent food than rubbishy stuff. I found DdS’s snacking for much more manageable when I directed him away from empty snacks (cereal etc) and towards actual food (and I don’t necessarily mean anything fancy- toasties and jacket potatoes are great- but empty cals from packet stuff won’t fill them and and aren’t what they need.)

Also get them cooking! No reason you should be doing it all. Can they each do one family meal a week?

Huge bean salad? Chop up some veg they can stir fry with noodles. Big pans of soup?
Make rolls?
Make your own baked beans they can shove on toast.

I cook a whole chicken once or twice a week which is just for snacking and lunches. And they each cook a meal a week which means I'm not always cooking. Batch cooking portions get put in Tupperware to cool and are frozen asap and are off limits for snacking.

You're doing a corking job. Agree with pp buy a big pan now. I agree, loads of rice and pasta, part baked baguettes. And loads of protein - so chicken, ham to go in wraps, eggs, youghurt. Do they like porridge it's too? quiche?

Put veg in front of them before the main meal, that they can fill up on when they’re hungry. Our problem isn’t as acute as we only have one boy but he still likes carrots and cucumbers and things like that with a pot of hummus, and that takes the edge off his appetite before the main meal.
Otherwise agree with bulking out - jacket potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice. Try whole grain stuff as it’s more filling. Add lentils or beans to meals. Plenty of protein as well as carbs then.