Feeding a teenage boy

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My DS 15 is 6ft 3".

He is incredibly active, swimming once a week and at the gym 5 days a week. He rides there and it is about 20 mins each way.

I just can't fill the boy up.

Brekkie: fruit smoothie with either cereal or beans in toast.

Mid morning: snack in school

Lunch: school meal

Comes home from school and makes himself a meal.

Has another meal when he gets home, and often a snack before bed.

At weekends it's more, he's constantly eating!!!!

He's very tall, and very lean, in great shape and very defined all over.

I can't afford to keep feeding him!!

Are your boys like this? Will this ever stop?

Well what exactly is he eating? A smoothie and cereal is not very filling tbh

Maybe he is just snacking all the time instead of proper meals

I remember those days well. My son had a hollow leg. I recommend nutritionally dense calories and more protein, especially at breakfast to keep him going. Eggs, chicken, nuts, nut butters, cheese, etc, and if he'll eat a lot of veg, that's great, too. My son nearly ate us out of house and home.

His breakfast doesn’t sound filling at all. Definitely in need of some protein at least.

What specific foods is he actually eating/snacking on at home apart from that? I’d be inclined to give him packed lunches/snacks for school too. The meals there are often tiny and lacking in the nutrition that a teenager really needs.

Protein. Eggs are great for breakfast. Oats might be a better choice to add in the smoothie. What's his meal like at lunch?

Eggs for breakfast, ff Greek yogurt, hummous, avocado. Protein. School lunches aren't filling, at least here. I've got teen girls who walk in through the door like locusts. They eat babybel, peanut butter toast, noodles, more cheese.

Protein, protein, protein. I also got an air fryer so he could cook something quickly and easily instead of snacking. I fill the freezer up with yellow sticker items and say he has to pair things with plenty of veg to pad things out - even if it just lettuce and cucumber in a wrap with chicken after school.

I now buy large full fat yogurt tubs from Lidl and he has those with chopped banana and seeds on too. It is expensive and my DS is sporty too, we joke that his catch phrase is ‘I’m still hungry’

I have 2 at this stage. We are on holiday so the food is costing more than usual. We are making the most of hotel buffet breakfasts to fill them up at least until lunch time.

DS1 had 6 plates of food at breakfast today. He will be hungry again by midday and hangry by 2pm. DS2 is not quite so bad.

I agree with pp you need to up the protein early in the day with eggs, oats, cheese etc.

I have a 16yo DS who is similar. Tall, slim, exercises 4-6 x a week. I’ve ramped up breakfast- he now has two pieces of sourdough toast, 2 eggs, half an avocado and some smoked salmon if we have any. And a glass of orange juice because he likes it.

During the week I try to make dinners that create leftovers - curry, pasta, lasagne etc. So there’s something to heat up when he gets home from school as his extra meal between lunch and dinner.

If I don’t have enough food in the house he buys fast food on the way home so this is the cheaper and healthier option.

It does get expensive.

I make a big pot of chili or mince or something on Sunday, and it lives in the fridge for mine to help himself to all week. More filling and works out cheaper than snacks.

Also, as pp have said - a LOT of eggs.

I don’t have a teenager but he sounds like my husband. He’s 6ft 3 and very fit - runs 50 miles a week and does his weights every day. Honestly the man doesn’t ever stop eating! Yesterday I was literally putting dinner on the plates and he was standing there talking to me eating handfuls of raisins from the jar - I had to tell him to stop cause he didn’t even realise he was doing it. He eats an enormous amount of eggs and other protein these days which definitely seems to be working more than the way he was eating before when he used to have a lot of carbs. I know he can’t help how hungry he is but honestly sometimes I’m just astonished as how much the man can eat and still be 10 stone! Has a brother who is a year older than him and I always think of his poor mom when they were both teenagers. He said they used to get home from school and eat an entire loaf of bread just making slice after slice of toast until their dinner was ready.

Agree with more protein.

So add cheese or bacon to the beans on toast.

Eggs - loads of breakfasts include eggs.

Add nuts to the smoothie or the cereal.

Make a snack drawer in the fridge with baby bel or other portioned cheeses, nuts, salted chickpeas, cocktail sausages, more cheese.

I remember those days well.

How about getting him some recipes to make his own oat/protein bars (many of them don't even require baking) and will be way cheaper than buying them.

We used to buy a lot of bread and crumpets for snacks. Also - chicken thighs are pretty cheap, could bung a big packet of those in the oven with some seasoning and leave in fridge for snacking?

Prepare yourself OP, it will only get more expensive, that is boys. I have two adult DS’ still living as home. DS1 girlfriend stays a few nights a week too. Our grocery bill is huge every week.

My ds is the same. He's 15 and has grown 5" in the last year! It's the portion sizes that I'm amazed at. He has...

Breakfast: Two thick slices of good quality wholemeal toast with butter and marmalade, a banana or apricots, satsumas etc. Water

Lunch: School meal - usually spag bol or roast dinner, then sponge pudding & custard. Water

5pm: bags of mixed nuts, or bread, cheese, cherry tomatoes, cucumber.

Supper: Chilli & rice, or Chicken fajitas, refried beans and salad, followed by hobnobs or hot cross buns, or pineapple & creme fraiche.

Agree with PPs. Add more protein and more fats. Growing teens do not need a low fat diet when they are in manic-growth mode, and it helps keep them 'full'.

My ds is 14 and goes to the gym every day.

He eats

Breakfast 70g oats with maple syrup and semi skimmed milk. Sometimes he'll have bran flakes or shreddies.

Snack: banana, apple and crackers/cheese

Lunch: 2 wraps with whatever fillings I put in that day - usually ham and cheese with salad or tuna salad etc. more fruit, yogurt, crackers, chicken drumsticks.

Snack: home made flapjack with added cashews. He can eat 3 or 4 of these if I let him.

Dinner: whatever we are having, roast dinner, stew, chicken and jacket potato etc.

Snack; pasta and tuna or roast chicken, boiled eggs etc.

Another snack: cereal

He drinks at least 2 pints of milk a day and will eat a whole pot of grated cheese if I make the mistake of grating too much and leaving it in the fridge!

My DS is only 11 but eats us out of house and home. He's quite tall but lean and athletic. He was eating endless bowls of cereal so we've been trying to ensure there are always healthier options available. A typical day will be:

Breakfast - homemade beans on toast, tinned mackerel and a poached egg on toast, or porridge with fruit

Lunch - school dinner - he's in Y6 so I don't think it's really enough for him. I know he piles his plate high from the salad bar.

After school snack - 2 crumpets with marmite, a big chunk of cucumber, a piece of fruit and an oaty bar or similar (often homemade) - and then says he's still hungry!

Dinner - he loves pasta, risotto, curry, roast dinners, and eats a huge plateful

Evening snack - nuts, more fruit, all bran cereal or air-popped at home popcorn - or more than one of these.

Still seems a huge amount of food but it feels reasonably balanced.

Yes, 6 foot plus 14 and 16 year olds here and they just never stop.

They eat three decent, large meals a day. But whereas my idea of a snack between meals would be an apple or yoghurt - their idea of a 'between-meal' snack is 4 scrambled eggs on toast followed by fruit and yoghurt. I blink and 6 pints of milk has disappeared overnight. We could do with our own dairy cow tbh.

Costs a damn fortune to feed them and have ds3 coming up fast too 😬

Honestly, that's not a lot of food for a teenage boy, nor is that incredibly active. That's less than my tiny, sporty 10 year old eats. It's really expensive but maybe look at how you can fill him up. Smoothies for breakfast are expensive and not very filling compared to eggs or oats. What's he eating for school meal? Can you add more protein to his dinner?

This is similar to us and we have a 10 year old, tiny female athlete.

Breakfast- porridge with banana and peanut butter/bagel avocado and cream cheese/overnight oats /scrambled eggs,/ /poached eggs/

Lunch- avocado bagel/ ham wrap/ pasta salad/ chicken sandwich packed lunch with 2 x fruit, veg, Muller rice, cheese, biscuit etc. Ideally she'd have a nice school dinner but ours are rubbish.

Snack- depends on sports and hunger but fruit, nuts, toast, noodles, pita bread &houmas, veg, cheese, greek yogurt. If we've time, sometimes a small dinner in a food flask

Dinner- normal meal, adult portion, sometimes eaten and sometimes not. Supper always available after and we're finding more and more wanted as.she gets older..

Treats, ice cream, puddings, chocolate etc we can be really relaxed with too so she just can have whatever she wants.

Oops, wrong thread.

I have five sons and remember the teenage years well - I was from a family of 3 girls and I couldn't believe how much teenage boys eat 😂 I'd definitely start with a more filling breakfast - porridge with fruit, wholegrain/seeded rye toast and eggs. Cook a load of chicken thighs and keep in the fridge - my boys would get through a lot of tortilla wraps with chicken/ham/cheese, mayo and salad as after school snacks/evening snacks. Dinner I would generally make pasta/chilli/curry/lasagne/casseroles/fajitas/tacos and make double portions so there's leftovers in the fridge. Wholewheat pasta is more filling and cold cooked pasta salad with chopped up veggies and mayo makes a good lunch/snack meal. Always serve up wholemeal rolls with dinner too, to fill them up! Bananas and protein yoghurt are filling as snacks too 😊

4 (lazy) kids here, and unless you want your complete week's food budget gone in a day, these tips might help, it is probably going to have mumsnetters clutching at their pearls and saying it is not nutritious enough, but we don't all have time (or the money) for that.....
Have a slow cooker on with something, chilli, spag bol, stew, sausage casserole, curry, hearty soups, pasta sauces etc. and have the "accompanying things" nearby (microwave rice, pasta, breads, veg, salads, wraps, mango chutney, sweet chilli sauce etc.). Eggs, they are not as cheap as they were, but full of protein and filling. Chop stuff in advance - mine will take salad, but god forbid if they ever had to do it themselves, potato salad and pasta salad are faves, carrot sticks, cucumber. Cereal and milk. I know it is annoying when they take half a box at a time and tons of milk, but don't pander to the "I can only eat the proper "golden grahams" mantra" get the Lidl 99p versions and be damned. Bananas, filling. If you buy cheese buy the less attractive grated value type, if you buy babybels, they will eat all six immediately without ever stepping back from the open fridge, likewise anything nice and convenient. Always have bread (freezer bread is fine) and a combo of spaghetti hoops, beans and cheap noodles in. I add to this list canned meatballs, canned mac cheese and ravioli - whereas I am not keen on this, it is better than them finding the hidden babybels.....

Teen boys here too

Loads of avocado on sourdough with 2 eggs on top
Scrambled eggs on toast
Ready made tortilla from shop cut into quarters that are taken out and eaten b4 fridge door closed
I make loads of muffins with leftover fruit such as blueberries, banana and walnut, raspberries, courgette and chocolate chips, and freeze them in
batches.

My eldest son never stopped eating but he grew to 6ft 7ins tall by the time he was 20 so I guess he needed to eat a lot! He had at least 6 slices of whole meal bread toasted for breakfast, took a cheese sandwich to school for a snack then bought a school lunch. When he got home from school I was still at work and had to limit what he could eat so there was enough left for the rest of us to have for tea! He tended to snack on a whole packet of cheap biscuits and cheap crisps ( hid the decent stuff and I knew he would not be bothered to cook anything).

For tea, he ate huge portion sizes of whatever we were having in the evening, probably enough for three people followed by homemade cake - he refused to eat fruit and veg so I had to sneak it into casseroles and cakes! Every meal had something like rice, pasta, potatoes etc as well as bread and butter or my kids favourite, pastry pieces.

Later in the evening he mainly ate toast, I was a single Mum with three kids so money was a bit tight and although I knew it was not healthy, cheap bread filled him up - possible one loaf in an evening.

When he joined the army at age 25, he was known by all the catering crew as someone who would want seconds so they piled up his plate. They loved him as he ate everything and was very charming to them to get more!

Now at age 40, I think he eats a lot less, not growing anymore! He did go through a phase of buying a lot of junk food when he first went to live in the US but could not afford it really so began cooking decent meals for himself.

I know it best to eat healthy, balanced meals with decent quality produce but really he just wanted to fill his stomach and not feel hungry - and I could not afford to spend unlimited amounts on food. Fortunately my other two children had more normal appetites!

I was constantly baking to keep the cake box full. Big batches of fruit and cheese scones, buns, fruit cake and sponges (much cheaper than buying cake and easy to freeze). Always have a good supply of eggs and cheese and bread for more snacks. And milk and cereals.