Unable to fill up my teenager - they are always hungry. What can I give them ?

[rumgy]

I am aware my ever hungry, fast growing, skinny, sporty teenager is always hungry. I dont want to just resort to cheap carbs as it does not seem healthy.
Any ideas ?

Ds has up to 7 weetabix for breakfast.
And more when he gets home from school.

My Aunty had 3 boys. I've had 3 boys.... Her biggest bit of advice to me has been about food. She always said that at tea time they had giant portions of meat / fish, veg, pasta / rice. Then some fruit or some sort of fruity pudding and maybe a yoghurt. When she was confident that they'd had enough protein, carb, fat, fruit and veg she made them "fill in the gaps" with cheap carbs like porridge, healthy cereals like shredded wheat or toast. She is a great cook and money wasn't hugely a problem but her view was it would have been extortionate to allow them to fill up on more expensive food. My boys are way off the teenage years and are like a swarm of locusts: when other parents are handing out a cereal bar at the school gates I have sandwiches and bananas. DS2 would have your arm off if you didn't feed him the second in comes out of reception . I'm planning on getting a Costco card and stocking up on cereals, bread etc once a month. Think DH and I will need second jobs . Good luck, OP.

Chicken drumsticks, balloon?

Is he OK with houmous?

Guacamole and stuff to dip in?

I'm having to face up to this with 2 pre-teen boys who can't eat cheese or chocolate. Trying to train my hyperactive 11yo into not foraging for sugary crap all the time and choosing healthy treats like fruit and nut mixes rather than sodding sweets. He's done a lot of growing already, this year and went through an horribly bony period because his appetite fluctuates and we were struggling to get enough calories in the form of something nutritious into him. I suspect his teens are going to involve a lot of toast!

Balloon, you could try chicken pieces, rice and vegetables fried up, with some seasoning. It can be microwaved so you could make up a load.

My DD likes baked sweet potatoes with tuna on top.

Aw thanks for the suggestions guys, you are kind They are generally what I give him. The problem tends to be when he wants something and I am not around to guide him in the right direction - he won't go to the fridge and make himself a Scooby-doo type sandwich as all "his" sandwich fillings are quite dull. Instead he'll go to the shop with £2 and buy 6 bags of three-for-£1 sweets, or eat a whole 6 pack of crisps if I am stupid enough to leave them in the house (he denies it but the ones he's allergic to are always still there!). Then he'll moan he's got no pocket money left.

Rice is really filling and is slow to digest so they feel full for longer . Can be eaten with stew, chilli con carne or turned into an instant stir fry with eggs and peas.
We keep jars of frankfurters and frozen baps for instant microwaved snacks.

7 WEETABIX?!! ~faints~

Good lord... All I currently have is a DP who's on a gym boost which means the dam man is endlessly empty(!) his fave filler upper snacks are currently:
Malt loaf.
Greg's
Jaffa cakes
Bowls of brown rice with veggies and seasoning ("but it's not fluffy, why are you feeding me this crap?"... "Oh, it's pretty filling" )
There's always now a mahoosive bowl of steamed new potatoes and other veggies in the fridge because he'll eat a handful for a snack when he pokes his head in and its probably better than crisps... Which no longer reside in this home!!!
Pasta pesto as a snack for supper. I'm trying to phase in brown pasta but he's being a little "resistant" to it(!)

At least a double, nay triple portion of whatever I have for lunch and dinner (my portions are currently cal controlled by moi because I discovered that eating along with him is NOT great for my health!)

I don't do all of this for him- it's definitely a team effort... Less easy with teenagers but I really recommend a "graze bowl" in the fridge at all times. Ours is usually cold veg because he loves it but sometimes it's salad and hummus and pita, sometimes pasta salad. I absolutely second getting a pork joint and making your own ham too. That saves us SO much money!!!

In my growth spurt year(s) food was closely guarded, always was. So I discovered icing sugar. No one noticed me eating it by the spoonful. Gave me the energy boost I desperately needed. I also wound up as fat as butter apples would have been nice. I like apples. But they were expensive.

Bread and butter alongside dinner helps along with cereal and milk before bed or as a snack. Tried to stop buying biscuits and crisps as they disappeared within a day.

I think wholemeal toast and non sugary cereal are our friends here. And bananas. And chocolate digestives. Being realistic.

Ds loves rollmops and tinned pilchards from the can. He also eats cold potatoes and boiled eggs which are always in the fridge. He puts olive oil on everything. He grew six inches this year.

More carbs = more hunger. Good fats and cheap protein are my suggestions.

This is all very interesting and helpful. I'm standing on the edge of this, with a 13 year old DS who periodically over the last 3 years has gone through phases of being literally unfill-able and now it seems as though the phases are getting closer and closer together. Plus he is at a school who like the Characterbuilding Effects of Lots of Team Sports (which I don't disagree with as they do it with a certain amount of good humour and inclusiveness) and is just about to start rowing as his option this term. Which ain't going to dampen down his appetite I suspect.

My only strategy so far for snacks outside of meals seems to be "you need good stuff with the carbs". He is a big fan of the real lentil-weavery peanut butter, so it tends to be that on toasted bagels at the moment, which is pretty good. Also pb on various types of toast. And pb with apple. Plus we tend to have around homemade loaf cake type things - banana bread etc, which is pretty benign I think. He likes a bowl of shreddies before bed, and DH has started buying that Jersey full fat milk to go with it.

If I ate like DS, i would be a total heiffer. You can see all of the bones on his spine and he has no fat at all.

I have two teenagers who manage to go through the kitchen like a plague of locusts without my knowledge. Problem is they leave the wrappers behind so I still think we have some food left.

I think breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so nutty fruity porridge is a must, but I basically put out a full healthy spread (toaster, no butter, brown bread and jam etc, cheese, ham, yoghurt, cake, fruit). DS 16, aka The Vulture, eats what he wants and takes something for break time. Home alone for lunch so he scavenges from the fridge and fruit bowl, then gets a healthy cooked dinner of rice or pasta, meat, veg and occasionally pudding. Fortunately there are no stocks of crisps or chocolate as they get bought and eaten within minutes! Pocket money is all saved up for video games.
He has a morbid fascination with the dodgy chip/burger/kebab sellers outside his school and sometimes borrows from his schoolmates to get a fix, then shamefacedly asks me for the money. It must be terrible to be so HUNGRY all the time!

Cheese toastie very well received this evening !
Some great ideas here thanks

Get some protein in there... Keeps you fuller for longer,.. My daughter likes 'pizza toast' = tom purée, Italian herbs and mozzarella on toast.

Lentil soup?

I've just bought some Tilda rice and quinoa in a pouch which you can microwave in 2 mins (and is currently half price in Waitrose), Stir in some tuna and/or chick peas, peas or cherry toms& cucumber.... An instant, nutritious and high protein meal.

Snacks: Home made chelsea buns
Home made flap jack
very thick bread jam sandwiches
tons of apples
tons of bananas
tons of grapes
home made vic sponge
cereal and full fat milk
toast and butter
Older boy eats eggs which is a godsend. so will ask and then cook omelettes etc if hungry after supper.

2 teenage 6' 4" sons.

Meals normal stuff, never any left overs.
Tonight Jamie's meatloaf.

Crisps I buy a multipack from Lidl once a week, no more after that finishes.

Any biscuits left over from picnics, but tend not to buy as I think that crisps are enough 'empty calories'

Milk. Gallons and gallons of it.

Omelettes.
Pasta with a jar sauce chucked in and some chopped up chicken.
Waitrose ready meals.

These are DS's go-to snacks which he will rustle up himself.

Has been known to have Sunday roast, seconds and a pudding, and be knocking up an omelette less than 2 hours later.

He's a rower, 6'2" and still growing. Tis a thing of awe ??

I cook a 1kg packet of penne on Sunday, separate it into 3 dishes and do one with tomato sauce, one with tuna mayo and sweet corn and one with chicken and peppers.
Gone by Friday.
Along with bagels, popcorn, instant noodles, those little pots of jelly, rice pudding, cheese, French bread pizzas, fruit and mini sausages.
These are snacks for ds1 (16)
He has football training every day, runs 5k every morning and he is impossible to fill up.

oat cakes are good for filling up the unfillupable!!

Let me know if you want the recipe

Bananas are a good filling snack.

Banana sandwiches for something a bit more substantial.

When my brother was going through that stage, my mother introduced (just for him) him an extra meal at about 10pm at night - quite often egg and chips or scrambled eggs on toast, or bacon sandwiches with grilled tomatoes or a large plate of pasta! He was thin as a rake then, and still is, 40 yrs or so later!!

And as for ordinary meals, some types of fish can be quite filling (salmon steaks), agree with the person who said lots of lentil soup and lots of filling slow-cooked stews (less expensive cuts) with heaps of mash and dumplings.

Good quality peanut butter is good too! And sardines (forked in to a puree with lemon juice and lots of black pepper on buttery toast!)

Oh yes, oats are fab. Forgot to mention that!

I'd love the oatcakes recipe please! Trying to avoid too many flapjacks

Toast wholemeal pitta bread and serve with tuna mayo with sweetcorn.