I seem to have inherited another teen child in my house - how on earth do I feed an extra mouth?

[stirling]

Ds 17 is in a full on relationship, spends time at gf's house but honestly, she's here an awful lot. We live close to the college so it's convenient for them both to come here. And then they're standing staring at my usually empty fridge.

Meals were usually good quality meat/fish but enough for three- ie me and my two teenagers.

Now we have an extra mouth to feed and I feel like I should stock up on larger portion stews, casseroles etc but expensive!

What do you leave out for teens and their friends /lovers?

Honestly at age 17 they need to hear and should be ok with hearing that it may not always be feasible for you to feed her all the time. Create a plan and stick to it maybe say she can eat at yours twice a week or something like that.

You don't have to feed her every day, surely? A cheese toastie and a mug of tomato soup if they're in for lunch, and an invitation to family dinner once or twice a week maybe. Not sure about 17 year olds having 'lovers' - whatever happened to boy/girlfriends?

Why would you leave anything out for them? Why don’t they contribute by cooking the family meal once a week. Supplying snacks is expensive.

Don't be such a mug ... do you want your DS's GF round all the time? When my DS was that age he had a serious GF but they certainly weren't 'hanging out' together all the time and if she came for a meal it was by prior arrangement. I certainly wasn't facilitating a 'lover' arrangement....

Some job adverts for part time hours in McDonalds seems like a good thing to leave out 😂

If that’s not what you mean then they can make beans on toast or egg on toast and bananas and custard soup and bread. Quick easy filling good value.

Straight from the fridge prepacked snacks are a big no for value so I wouldn’t go down the crisps and biscuits route.

"Right, we're having dinner in about an hour, so best you head back home for yours also, don't want your parents to think you've gone missing eh".

Simple.

I don't have a teenager (yet), but I was the teen who's house everyone congregated at. Mum never bothered to cater for us all, I doubt it would have even occurred to her! We soon learnt to just bring snacks with us.

Thanks for the ideas and yes agree it's unreasonable, I'll talk to him. I said lovers because it was quicker to type than girlfriend /boyfre😦

If you do want to continue feeding the gf, stews and casseroles can easily be extended with more veg and carbs. Meat, especially, goes well with beans to also extend the protein component.

It is difficult, though, to leave the sort of food teens like to snack on without spending a lot in terms of either money or time.

Jacket potatoes with baked beans is a cheap, filling and nutritious meal that my teens like, and can be made in minutes in the microwave.

I get a large sack of potatoes from the local farm shop £6 lasts for a few months and make a big batch of potato salad and a large pot of potato and onion soup ….. if they are hungry both are tasty and filling and cheap …..

It is expensive enough at the moment, so I can understand why this would be stressful.

We aim for free reign of cereal, porridge, fruit bowl, bread, cheese, bacon, peanut butter, jam, hummus, veg, crackers, frozen chips, crisps, biscuits jars etc

Supermarket value biscuits are ample to fill jars. There’s always juice, tea, coffee etc.

Meals I need to know in advance as I no longer cook surplus and only order what I need for each meal to avoid food waste.

Yes!! Jacket potato, they can do it themselves... And potato salad - brilliant

This. A couple of times a week she can stay, not every night, and be firm about dinner food not being eaten. If you can afford it get in whole meal bread, pasta, eggs, porridge, milk - much better than biscuits as it fills them up

Lovers?
Ew. Please let’s let that expression die a permanent death!

I used to just feed whoever was around and loved a full table. I think you can bulk up most meals relatively easily - more rice and extra beans in a chilli, some garlic bread with a lasagne etc. They’re not around quite so much once they’ve left for university, so I just enjoyed a house full of youngsters when we had it.

I forgot tinned soups, beans, frozen baked potatoes, pasta (and batches of frozen tomato sauce).

All quick lunches if extras pop up.

Can they cook? It could help you out too.
Things like pasta or rice and curry should be quite straightforward.

Yes they can sort of cook. And they're going to have to. Just went to the supermarket and did a major stock up of a lot of suggestions upthread, plus bought a 1kg bag grated cheese to stick in the freezer, tubes of tomato puree and packs of pitta bread to make their own DIY pizzas - with diced onion and herbs. I used to live on this as a teen and it's cheap.

Oh, and the huge tub of cottage cheese and crackers were finished in one go this afternoon!

If you have freezer space, grab the yellow sticker fancy breads- garlic naans, foccacias, flat breads etc

Keep a bag of carrots on the go

Whenever you need to stretch a meal, do smaller portions on the plate and bulk it out with bread and some crudités

Lentils in soups and stews extend a meal and you can add a pack of chipolatas and more veggies to a roast to inexpensively stretch the dinner.

Thank you, really great suggestions everyone

Are you going to say anything about the cottage cheese and crackers?

You need to put your food down and stop being such a doormat.

I’m a fan of chucking split peas or lentils into stews or spaghetti bolognese to make it go further. (Also heaps of grated veggies like carrots, corgette, aubergine, cauliflower, fried off with oil, garlic and onions.)

17 year old girlfriend not the 7 year old neighbours kid. 😂

2 minute noodles.
Maccas is around the corner.
Supermarket is up the road.

Noodles. Lots and lots of noodles and toast.