School summer holidays - 3 hungry teens

Islandmaid

Hi all,

This is my first new thread, so be gentle with me

The kids broke up from school/college today - a long summer looms ahead, I am lucky as the kids are teens and pretty much entertain themselves and we live by the sea, so swimming is a daily activity.

The downside is that they eat me out of house and home during the hols...:eek:

I bake loads, but the more I cook, the more they eat...:cool:

Basically I want some of your lovely tips to help me keep them fed without emptying my bank account.

Any quick, teenage friendly lunch ideas (they think making a sandwich is a task) - the snack of choice is noodles, but they can,t eat those everyday apart from the health thing, it,ll cost a fortune for 3 of them. !Need ideas that they can grab, make quickly during their kitchen raids...

They are all being house trained, but i,m not quite there yet....:rotfl:

booter

If you're expecting them to feed themselves, in my experience, I'm afraid even with training anything in the cupboards is fair game . (I hide the chocolate otherwise I never get a look-in! ).
Make sure they have a good breakfast of porridge (even if they get up at midday :cool:) for the slow release energy. Pasta with tuna/sweetcorn/tomatoes/peppers etc (or any combination)? Can be pre-prepared and kept in the fridge ready to be eaten (hot or cold) and it's filling! Nuts? Bananas? If they like fruit, get in lots! (inc.dried fruit). Wraps and rolls are easier than sliced bread. Grate a load of cheese and keep it in tupperware in the fridge - it's easier to load on a wrap/roll.
Incorporate cooking/meal preparation into their training!?
Good luck!

Islandmaid

Booter thanks for the reply.

I must be having a brain fart as I didn,t think of loading the fridge with 'grabables' - off out to Mr L and Mr S in a bit armed with a teen friendly shopping list - added new water bottles to list, otherwise they will want cash to buy sugarloaded 'energy' drinks all summer.

Thanks again

Peabel

Sorry Islandmaid, I can't offer much advice, only sympathy.

We are on winter hols here (Aus), only two weeks, but it's a real eye opener. A friend suggested that I offer five small meals a day to keep them from getting too hungry. That morphed into five full meals a day!!!

I resorted to proper breakfast and dinner and tried not to worry about the amount of carbs they were stuffing themselves with in-between. That's ok for two weeks, but probably not for six?

Good luck

Peabel

minniemaus1970

I always pepared lots of cut up Cucumber, peppers, carrotts & dips for snacking, good main meals, they like junk food so I re create healthy Fajitas stuffed with salad and chicken nuggets a little mayo and piri piri sauce- yum!, bolognaise on D*ritos with grated cheese is a nice change and quick for dinner, sandwhiches and crisps, plenty of fruit they will eat it it if nothing else is about, cheap fizzy also in stock, but don't expect them too make anything! And having to assemble food is classed as ' there's nothing here to eat' so sometimes it's handy to have things ready (soup, stew.....)
MM

Fruball

Potato wedges can be cooked the night before and either snacked on cold or warmed in the microwave (kids don't usually care as much about texture from micro'd stuff as we do) and are filling and very cheap (until the price of spuds soars!)

Omelet for breakfast with beans is very filling - lots of protein so keeps them fuller for longer.

RAS

With respect to noodles - the cheapest are 11p from the supermarkets. Do something that they can stir in and it will be cheap enough.

kiss_me_now9

Make them bake for their sins, they'll learn a new skill, it'll take time to get the products and there's only so many chocolate cupcakes a teenager can consume

LameWolf

Islandmaid, my DH is on a course next week, so I'm falling back on HM quiche for chucking on a plate quickly - I make a vegetarian one, but you could always substitute ham for the Quorn.

I make a short pastry base (5 oz flour, a pinch of salt, 2 oz butter and enough water to bind), line an enamel pie dish (I think it's 8" diameter) with this, and fill it with a sliced tomato, a good handful of Quorn chicken-style pieces, some diced onion, some basil off the windowsill, and a good helping (probably about 4 oz, I don't measure it) of STRONG Cheddar cheese. Then mix 4 oz Troll cream (ie extra-thick cream - trolls are traditionally considered to be thick lol) with 2 eggs and a good sprinkling of black pepper; pour this mix over the top, and bake the whole thing at 180 C for 45 mins. A quarter of this, when cold, is easily grabbable, and makes a nice filling snack/meal. (I say a quarter, because one quiche as described feeds the two of us for two dins.)

If you have enough pie dishes, you could make more than one quiche at a time, and fill the oven with them!:D

Even better - get the teens to make them; it's not a difficult recipe!:rotfl:

HTH

BJV

I suppose I am luck my two are 6 and 9 and I can still tell them what they will and will not eat.

I always leave the fruit bowls stuffed and make them have three meals and day. The house rule is that they can have what ever and as much as they like when ever they want. But even at that age they still try to carry out fridge raids.

Try having wraps instead of bread is cheap.

You can stuff them full of salad and they don't know the difference. When they try to make them themselves it is a lot less messy.

We also have a big bowel of rice salad in the fridge so that if they do raid at least it is healthy. It is also cheap as the rice pads everything out.

Gave up buying treats a long time ago. God I miss chocolate.

No matter how much I tried to stop them eating it all in one day it was almost a challenge for them, and because we do not have it in the house they can not eat it.

Again have to admit I am lucky God help me when they get to Teenage.

Fruball

HM Pizza is fabulously cheap and can be eaten hot or cold