Lock on food cupboard?

[madabouttheman]

We are a family of 7, 4 teens and a toddler. My 18 year old son is eating me out of house and home. I had £100 of shopping delivered yesterday and half of it is gone. He eats all the snacks, packs of ham, full bunch of bananas, litre of vimto, crisp, chocolate bars, yoghurts, boxes of ceral, stuff for the toddler, my weightwatchers bread and bars. Iv explained on numerous occasions that I cant keep buying it and that the other kids are missing out. I know its him as the others are at school all day. Iv considered putting a lock on one cupboard to store the goodies rather than them being available all the time. I cant shop every couple of days due to work. I feel like a meany though. Anyone else had the same problem?

Does he have anything cheap and filling he can eat instead?

Can he get a part time job to buy his own snacks ?
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I'd def lock away your snacks in your room or somewhere he can't get to.

My ds 17-into boxing and the gym - has his own shelf in the pantry. Oats, bananas, peanut butter, Nutella, own milk in the fridge etc. Pasta and cheese, brown rice.
Maybe get your dc a fridge the others can't access?

Definitely padlock it. And if he complains, perhaps he could get a job to pay for his own food?

Why is your son at home all day eating all your food, surely he should be college/uni or at work? I would definitely put a lock on all the food cupboards and tell him you will only be providing 3 meals a day and everything else he eats he has to buy himself. Has he got worms?

That’s a shit load of junk food he’s putting away there.

Does he eat anything healthy?

I'd stop buying snack food. I don't buy cereal bars, or chocolate bars, crisps, squash, or yoghurts even. I have basic cereal and bread/bagels and cheese. Fruit too. And that's it. My teens (I also have 4) have to buy crap if they want to eat it.

(I do sympathise - if I bake a cake, it disappears in a shot).

Weirdly I had a similar thought about my 6yo earlier, who's ramping up his food intake.

The conversation we had was about eating bigger portions of proper dinner.

He wants to eat dinner, then the bloody expensive fruit he loves, then wants snack food.

I've been letting him eat cereal (bran flakes or weetabix) but I could do with him eating a second helping of the relatively inexpensive and healthy dinner he'd had.

But he currently won't entertain that!

It's going to get expensive if I don't succeed , as obviously you are dealing with.

Can you get him to feed himself basic pasta or rice dishes instead?

You have my sympathy!