Suggestions for cheap/ filling meals for teenager sons who never fill up!

Floss

When my boys were teenagers, we used to have a loaf of wholemeal home-baked (breadmaker) bread on the table at every meal - they could fill up on this at mealtimes, which helped keep them full until the next meal. At weekends, my eldest would eat 4 wheat biscuits for his breakfast at 11am, then eat lunch at 12.30!

Also, if you feel they have no concept of the cost of things, take them with you when you go shopping - personally I think it is part of a young persons education to see how much food actually costs and what has to be done to keep a household running (this also includes laundry, ironing, vacuuming & washing-up!)

Uniscots97

What about Twink's hobnobs? They keep my household filled up till teatime. Also what about pasta salad?

Katem

Oh I feel your pain! My older kids are like this - they have no concept of what makes a "meal"! Examples are eating a whole chorizo for lunch!

Things I've implemented:
Having a hands off bit of the fridge, and labelling things with post it notes "DO NOT EAT" - I know it seems stupid but it works.
Portioning things up and freezing the bits I don't want eaten.
Putting various foods in the garage where they aren';t allowed to just help themselves.
And - this was by accident rather than design, when we had our kitchen redesigned, the only place our fridge could fit was the utility room. I really didn't want it out of the kitchen, but as a result, my shopping bills have decreased!

Recipes that are good for filling up/snacking include:
Cornbread - Hugh Fearnley Whittonstall has a great recipe, easy to do and you can customise it with loads of leftover bits in the fridge so it's quite moneysaving.
Tortilla/spanish omelette - again 6 eggs but you can bung in loads of leftover bits to bulk it out
Bread products like hot X buns, which are usually cheap, or teacakes (buns with raisins in them, I know we all call them different things in different parts of the country )
Home made bread in a bread maker - miles cheaper, you can set it off before you go to work and the boys can bring out their own bread - add jam/marmite/honey etc
Home made soup - massive pan
Corned beef hot pot? Quite a cheap option for a meal with beans (I don't know if it's a regional thing or not though - if you need the recipe please shout!)

trailingspouse

I'm concerned that your sons don't know how much food costs. Being able to budget is a life skill and what they learn now will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives. In fact, generally being able to look after themselves is fairly important!

This is what we did when my daughter was that age - one week, during the school holidays when she was about 15, we gave her a budget (I can't remember how much, but we based it on what she might receive in a minimum wage job), and she had to fend for herself for the week. She had to do all her own shopping (and pay bus fares if necessary), all her own cooking, all her own washing (I charged her the amount it would cost at a coin-op to 'allow' her to use the family washing machine). She could ask for a lift if she needed to go anywhere, but we charged her the equivalent of a taxi fare. It got the message across.

A friend went one step further, and expected each of her children to run the house for a week when they turned 16. There had to be food on the table, clean laundry for everyone, and so on and so forth.

Don't let your sons turn in to young men who are clueless and expect their girlfriends/wives to do everything for them.

kboss2010

One addendum would be, please don't turn your sons into my ex. His mother would make his bed, portion up and freeze his food and bake bread for him everyday. He was 24, living at home, couldn't cook.

One of the reasons I my current bf's parents is because his dad taught him to cook and his mum taught him how to bake and they made him clean up everything.

MrsAtobe

How about cheese and potato pie? If you can cheap spuds, that is. Easily microwavable to reheat, as are beans to go with it, although I have been known to eat it cold

Although I'd probably get your teenagers to peel the spuds, it's a job I hate...

babyshoes

When my brother and I went through the hollow legs stage we always had plenty of 2 minute noodles available - hot, savoury and quite filling if you make them soupy - and best of all cheap. Not sure if yours would eat those if they are health conscious though! Otherwise, we were generally allowed bread, fruit and leftovers - anything else we had to ask first, as it was probably ear-marked for a meal. Bread (a good thick chunk of white usually), with gravy left from supper (warmed in the microwave) was always a treat!

I agree that you need to set some ground rules about what they can and can't have as a 'snack', however you decide to go about it! Understanding costs would be a good start...

Floss

kboss2010 wrote: »

One addendum would be, please don't turn your sons into my ex. His mother would make his bed, portion up and freeze his food and bake bread for him everyday. He was 24, living at home, couldn't cook.....

Did I write this?! Sounds just like mine, and exactly the reason why I equipped my kids with essential lifeskills.

catandy

ok ive come home tonight to find the stew from in the slow cooker all eaten up so nothing for me....


next week they are responsible for shopping and cooking for the evening meals - I think its going to be an 'interesting week' and I likely will end up with the empty belly feeling by about Wednesday ...


wish me luck

kboss2010

Floss wrote: »

Did I write this?! Sounds just like mine, and exactly the reason why I equipped my kids with essential lifeskills.

Lol! I once joked that my cooking wasn't up to his mum's standards and he seriously asked me why I would try as it would never live up to his mother's high standards!! :eek: It got to the point where I was embarrassed for him. He was so proud that he could do his own ironing (but his mum did his washing) - :shocked::shocked::huh:

Sounds like you're taking a step in the right direction Catandy :T You might be hungry for a week but persevere, they (and their future partners!) will thank you!