Food NOT SO glorious food - depressing rant!

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

I feel so despondant about food

My teens are 15.5 boy 13.5 girl 11.5 boy

and can they EAT?

I am started to feel a bit miserable about it and know its pathetic but it seems so relentless. They eat much more than DP and I.

this week i am making a huge effort to feed them more and more to stop the rot. this includes extra breakfast cereal after dinner.

Today i cooked up a lentil dahl. I used one lb of split peas plus/potatoes/ onions and carrots.the pan was huge

i served it up with huge portions of brown rice ( like four times what it says a serving is on the packet) plus a full naan bread each
i laughed as i served it up as it looked so huge.
however....
my 11 year old finished first! its kinda funny but demoralising at the same time as nothing i do seems to be enough! i then had made a jelly (wth 2 jellies) iced cream and rasberries. this was obviously too light..i followed it up with a peice of fruit each....

ds1 was then getting the spare bits of fruit off dds kiwi ...i nearly wept

he then had two large bowls of muesli to finish off with

by now humour had drained from my being and i was moaning - dd said 'just give us less'
which is all very well but the kind of 'whats next?' looks also drive me nuts

anyone have a solution?

[ivykaty44]

This does sound a little excessive - teenagers do eat well, but this is as if the stomachs have stretched and they are used to the big portions?

I would reduce the food in the house and up the fruit in the bowl for a while.

Are they doing hours of excersise running around tennis, football etc?

[soapbox]

What is it that bothers you about the situation?

It doesn't take much more effort to cook bigger portions, so I'm guessing it isn't that?

Muesli is fairly healthy, so I'm guessing it isn't junk food related.

I'm not sure I can work out what it is that is getting to you - sorry

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

just the never ending hunger!! its like bottomless caverns!

i feel like the harder i try the worse it gets

I do have other children and feel all the joy has gone out of cooking as the quantities are soo huge.

its just like someone shifts the goalposts all the time so whatever i do it is never quite enough...

[soapbox]

I would just provide biggish portions at meal times and bulk buy muesli, bananas, apples, bread and leave them to sort themselves out for any top-ups they need!

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

yes i think that is good advice soapbox

i do remember there was once a comapny called 'buy bulk' i was wondering if they are still aroound?

[juuule]

Snap. I have ds18yo, dd16yo, ds15yo who are bottomless pits and when ds20y is home from uni it's even worse. They do seem to have lulls in their appetites occassionally though, particularly dd. Fortunately they will cook for themselves a lot of the time but just keeping up with the raw ingredients is a job in itself.
And one of the biggest problems is the cost.

[ivykaty44]

porridge aots - low carb filling food and really cheap. Then add the sultanas etc to make your own museli - much cheaper than actually buying museli.

Buy long life milk - next to the long life fruit juice in supermarket (this way you dont run out!)

Look on the bottom shelf of the yogurt fridge and you will find the large pots of plain economy yogurt at 36p/37p (much cheaper to buy this way.

Museli chopped banana and yogurt - cheap and cheerful to fill them up.

I have a collegue who shops every two days - if they do a weekly shop the food disapears in two days as they have teenagers shhh

I have an outside fridge, food gets hiden out there - they don't think to look

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

thankyou juule and ivykate

i do think boys are worse and i have at least two more fast growing ones!

will think hard re home made muesli..good plan

its such a financial drain - and strain physically - you cannot do home delivery every four days!!

only buy big pot yogs but will start looking lower down (as i do for the cereal!!) for bargain pots

[ivykaty44]

The other food that is filling is omlette - and eggs are cheap £1 for 15 eggs.

Make a large spanish omlette with potato filling and garlic - add a few vegtables that they like. I sometimes cook mine ain a quiche dish in the oven - take out to cool and put in the fridge, serve in triangle chunks cold or if you want to eat it straight away then hot with a bread roll.

Or make omlette for breakfast if they are having cereal at night.

Soup as a starter, some homemade chunky vegtable soup as a starter, then the main course. I just cut all the vegtables including potatos up into the same size chunks - pour over 2-3 liters of stock, using a 4/5 liter casserole dish with a lid. Pop in the oven for one to two hours on a lowish heat and then when cooked take out and blitz with a blender, use seasoning- garlic, black pepper and bullion stock when making.

Make sure there is at least a 5 min gap between starter and main - so you let them eat over a longer period and they are not rushing there food so much.

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

yes! those eggs sound cheap?? where do you shop!

[fingerwoman]

PYBF, make sure they are getting everything they need nutritionally.
ie, the meal you served today was mainly carbs right? they may be feeling hungry if they aren't getting enough protein too, for example.
so might be worth having a good look at exactly what they eat, and seeing if you can alter anything like that.

I only say this, ebcause I have been on dairy free and egg fre diet as it's causing probs with ds2 and I have felt so hungry ALL the time. must be because my body isn't getting everything I need from my diet.

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

dont split peas have protein in?

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

thanks fingerwoman but just checked they are hugh in protein

i do feed them meat maybe once a week or twice

and fish....

[AMAZINWOMAN]

I'm really pleased to see this post, as I have the same problem. I have two boys, and they are always hungry even though they don't stop eating. And they are both active too. They are slim too. So I know it isn't greed.

I am on a budget too and really struggle lokking for healthy, meals that are easy yo cook after being at work. I don't have a car either-so coping with the food shop is difficult too.

If only I had a pound for every time they said "I'm hungry" I would be a millionaire!!!

[Wisteria]

One word - potatoes, loads of potatoes, they're cheap and filling!

My xbf's 2 sons used to eat like beasts and they only way I coped was to supplement the food with plenty of carbs - mashed pots & porridge for breakfast.

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

Sympathy. I have 3 teens - they eat me out of house and home, particularly the younger two.

[Miaou]

Can you do bulk orders of dry goods PaulaYates? Eg Suma? Also you can buy bags of raisins, dates, peanuts etc in 3kg bags, as well as lentils, rice etc. I used to use a Scottish equivalent when I lived on an island for a few years (we set up a co-operative and I ordered in for the island as a whole). I know they are wholesale but there may be ways round this (piggyback on local health food shop order if you are friends with the owner?)

[Mercy]

What about puddings like apple crumble and custard?

Or porridge and banana for breakfast? Baked beans on toast?

Or banana bread?

Sounds nightmarish tbh - mine are much younger than yours and even I feel as though I'm running a cafe sometimes.

[chenin]

One tip... buy a sack of potatoes (55lb in weight!)... much cheaper than bags at supermarket.

When I cook mash, it is in a saucepan that honestly looks like it would feed a division of the army! Also pasta in a big pan is easy to cook... if your teens complain there is not enough sauce on it, tell 'em just to grate some more cheese over it!

Make your pasta sauces as you will never have enough quantity and it would cost too much with bought ones.

Good ones are tomato based ones (tinned toms, olives, bacon, herbs, red wine) or creamy based ones (cream cheese, mushrooms, bacon, single cream, herbs)

[Julienoshoes]

Oh I remember this!

After he retired my Dh took over the shopping-so i didn't actually know how much cereal he was buying.

I was at a home ed meeting and said that ds has been eating 5 shredded wheat since he was about three (in addition to normal meals)

On the way home Dd said, that she didn't want to contradict in front of other people BUT.......

So I asked Ds how many shredded wheat/weetabix he ate now?
he said

"For breakfast or supper" I said "both"

he said "on a normal day or a hungry day?"
I said "both".

he said "It is not my fault the bowls are not big enough"


I said "how many do you put in a bowl then?"
he said "three on a normal day and four on a hungry day."

"and how many bowls do you have?"

Ds said "three for breakfast and two for supper"

On a 'hungry day' he was eating 20 shredded wheat in a day!


This was on top of normal meals and fruit and snacks throughout the day.
All healthy and well balanced.

It got to the stage where it was embarrassing taking him to other peoples houses.
We went to Dss house and his partner cooked for us all. I did ask if I could contribute food for ds, as he ate so much! She refused and said it was fine.
Ds said he was still hungry afterwards and could he have "a few weetabix please?"
Dss told him to help himself.

It was only next morning when Dss looked for the new packet of 12 weetbix and found the packet in the bin, did they understand what ds meant by a 'few' weetabix.


Dss partner agreed to me bringing food for ds after that!

Ds was certain that everybody ate as much cereal as he did. So we had a maths challenge and asked everyone we knew in real life and on the internet.
We made graphs of the results!
We only found one other person who ate that much cereal-another teenage home ed lad in Cyprus!

Ds is 20 now and no longer eats so much-thank goodness!
He is still slim though and quite tall and very strong. But nowadays breakfast is one bowl of healthy cereal.

[fizzbuzz]

Oh PYBF, I know exactly how you feel. It is so wearing, they never ever stop eating.

It's not just the cost, it's physically ccollecting/carrying it all, and everything runs out all the time. I can't control the trolley when we do a supermarket shop, it is just too heavy and full.

As for the cookng, more like catering, and I think it DOES make a big difference having to cook more portions, becasue it is much more time consuming. I know exactly how you feel, and you have all my sympathy.

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

wow i feel much better now

i am going to look at bulk buying although scared to look at suma prices

it is odd that the quantities are sooo huge as ds ( although over 6 foot) is barely nine stone and like a wiry drink of water

Fizzbuzz - thans esp for your comments

Today as i 'catered' for the masses i was thinking over the comments on here and thought maybe i was being selfish ...but it is just like double the cost,work,time,clearing up and all gone in a flash!

They ate like horses tonight and i just offered them milk and biscuits because they had helped tidy house - three guesses what the answer was!

[chenin]

PaulaYates... you have my sympathy. There has just been two of us for a week or so to cook for and it has made a huge difference! Whatever anyone says, it is far more chopping, stirring and carrying when it is catering for the masses!

It is honestly what I imagine cooking in a school kitchen is like... and it doesnt half put you off eating sometimes...!

[fizzbuzz]

Cooking for 2 is bliss.

School kitchen is perfect description......huge pans everywhere........

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

lol!

takes the joy out of it !

when i only had three little ones it was fine i rarely moaned

now i feel more like cook than mother sometimes!