Food for 2 weeks for lazy 18 year old!

Bronnie

Pooky wrote: »

Why not suggest he plans a nice romantic dinner with his GF, that might give him the spark of interest.

Now he might think this is a good idea..... he can get his gf round to cook him a meal:rotfl:

Wonder what they'll have for dessert??????????????

Sorry, Mae, only joking, some of the replies are this thread are soooooooo intense!!

jha

I would just buy whatever you buy normally just for 1 person instead of how ever many you normally buy for.

Claire_Bear

To be honest I wouldn't be so hard on him about not having a job and just wanting to chill and do nothing for a while. I know it must be annoying him being so lazy and unwilling to cook for himself, but he's due to enter three years of being forced to become self sufficient and having to cook for himself and going to the supermarket etc. I can see why you would want to spend time with your girlfriend and friends before leaving as the liklihood is that everyone is going to be scattered all over the country, and won't get to spend a lot of time together over the next few years. I know most people think uni involves loads of dossing around but your lad will have to deal with getting a job, studying hard, shopping, cooking etc and won't have you around to help him like he does now. I'd cut him a little bit of slack, this is a perfect opportunity for him to have a taster of what living away from home is going to be like. Instead of just leaving him to fend for himself, talk him through the best way to budget, useful shopping tips etc.

Sorry that this turned out as a rant, it's not meant as anything personal, just I think you're being a bit harsh on the lad :P

oystercatcher

I typed a long reply yesterday and then we lost our internet connection :mad:

I too have one of those 18 yr olds who is 'having a rest' before uni. It's quite infuriating that he's packed in his part time job to do nothing. However looking back to myself at that age it is a strange stage. I think he's in a kind of limbo, waiting for results and not 100% sure he will make it to his chosen uni and quite worried about coping if he does go there!
I'm sure they will cope when they go but it's a huge change so meantime I think he's cocooned himself and withdrawn from anything stressy or difficult. It's his last chance to be a child before venturing out into the big wide world. In the grand scheme of things another couple of months of being dependent won't hurt them or us !

We are going off for two weeks leaving him and 19 year old brother, who works shifts. I will be leaving pasta, pasta sauce, onions and peppers, frozen quorn mince and tinned chick peas/beans. I know they make veggie bolognaise.
Tinned curry/ chilli con carne and boil in the bag rice is quick and easy. Eggs and bacon. Oven chips and veggie burgers, frozen chicken steaks. Frozen veggies.
Lots of frozen bread. Sensible breakfast cereal (ie not sugar coated)
I will be leaving some money for shopping for the second week. Won't leave too much fresh food as they may well waste it. They both have their own money for emergencies and I can reimburse or not depending on the cause of the emergency!! (They have been warned no drunken sleepovers on my brand new settes !!)
When we left eldest on his own at that age he ended up staying over with friends for a good bit of the time as he found it quite lonely in the house on his own!

Fozz

Just wanted to join in, as I have 17 yr old and 15 yr old daughters. The youngest I could leave to cook for herself, she even makes up her own recipes sometimes. Her 17 yr old sister would live on pot noodles & cereal, and is very slow at looking for a part time job. They are totally different in their attitudes, despite having been brought up the same way.
Teenagers just don't think the same way we do, I come home sometimes now my eldest daughter is on holiday until college restarts, and rant because the place is untidy and dishes undone, but she just doesn't seem to see the mess. I admit I have made a rod for my own back because I didn't make them do chores when younger! It's very difficult to strike a balance I find between making them stand on their own two feet and helping them out, which you naturally want to do!
At the end of the day he won't starve, I would just leave basics like pasta & sauce, pizza, cereals, bread, cheese etc, stuff that needs minimum preparation.
Enjoy your holiday!

Claire_Bear

Thanks Oystercatcher, that's what I was trying to get at, you just put it better than me This is probably going to be the last time you're living under the same roof, you should be enjoying it and spending some quality time together instead of worrying about him being bone idle and stressing about leaving him alone. Letting him chill for a few months and rely on you for things isn't such a bad thing, as it's just a little while before he has to take care of himself for the rest of his life. Like Oyster said, he's probably got a lot on his plate as it is, worrying about results, and anxious about moving away and making new friends, I don't blame him for not wanting to add the stress of a job on top of all that as well.

Valli

When I was 16 my family all went away and I didn't go and she left me (among other things) tinned rice pudding.
I discovered a lot that week.

You can eat tinned rice pudding cold.
You can eat tinned rice pudding out of the tin.
No one notices if you don't wash up until you NEED to.

(And I'm a girl BTW - but such a good girl that I did not DARE throw a party...)

recovering_spendaholic

I have an 18 year old who can cook but is lazy and if I were you I would be more worried about the state of the kitchen and the rest of the house when I got back, than what food to leave! I only went to a hospital appointment one afternoon and when I came back DD1 had left the grill on making bacon and had gone upstairs with her bf and I came home to a burnt out kitchen and two fire engines in attendance:eek:

I would leave some money and some meal ideas and let him get what he needs that way. That way, if he blows it all in the first few days it's his lookout!

Claire_Bear

Or don't leave him money but don't do the shopping either, why not take him round the supermarket, give him a budget and see what he picks out? That way you can put your foot down about him spending it all on beer and give him some helpful hints as well. An you'll know he has enough food/ingredients to last him the two weeks.

meanmarie

I used to leave easy to prepare chicken, chops, burgers for my teenagers when the rest of us went on holiday, the second year that I came back to find none of the stuff in the freezer touched I decided not to do it again.

I would ask him to plan his menus for the two weeks, write a list and do the shopping from 75% of 2 weeks JSA, and give him the balance for top up fresh things that he may need.

The lad is only 18, he already seems to pull his weight ( except for the lawnmowing) around the house, as others have said, he may feel he needs this chill time before he leaves home for uni...he will survive

Marie