son eating me out of house and home

Hedgehog99

Wow - very glad I don't have a teenage son if this is "the norm"!

You say you cook from scratch - does he know how to cook too, or just re-heat pies & pizza?

If he can't cook, you could try either cooking from scratch every day (rather than freezing batches) so he can't use the raw ingredients or, better still, deliberately label things wrongly with your own code, e.g. if he hates rhubarb, label your favourite pie "rhubarb crumble", then put rhubarb crumble in one labelled "yummy pie" - ha ha! If all your freezing dishes look the same wrapped in foil, he'd never notice. You can put a savoury crumble topping on there to look the same as a sweet crumble. He'll have wasted 20 mins waiting for the wrong thing! Then he might realise how you have to waste time looking/re-shopping for food you need that he's eaten.

Is he a fruit & veg -phobe? Eating junk all the time doesn't fill you up & you feel hungry again sooner.

PasturesNew

Lock on the fridge. My mate's dad used to padlock all their food away.

millysg1

Personally OP, it sounds like you've let him get away with a lot, spoilt him and mother him. He is very nearly an adult and its your job to prepare him for the real world by teaching him lessons in life.

I agree that tough loving maybe required here. He is your son, so sit down and tell him the rules and teach him not to be selfish and take YOUR food if there is plenty of his own stuff around.

If it goes in one ear and out the other then let there be consequences, he maybe a teenager but not for much longer and he needs to learn how to treat you, your house and the food that you supply with respect and appreciation.

I don't see being a teenager an excuse to be lazy and eat you out of house and home.

FatVonD

AngelOfTheNorth wrote: »

Hmm. There's clearly a problem here, but at the same time if he's not putting on weight, he evidently does need to eat a lot.

This ^

and if he's sporty at all he's likely to be even more ravenous than the average teenage boy.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/131657-how-many-calories-does-teenage-boy-need/

Deeeliteful

He is a teenager boy - you are lucky you still have an arm to type with, because if that was food it would be gone by now.

Ask anyone who has ever had a teenage boy to feed and they will all tell you the same thing - they will eat you out of house and home and yes they don't care or understand that food, nowadays, is not cheap to buy.

My son used to do the exact same thing and told me there was nothing to eat in the house. So one day I went shopping, called him up and asked him what did he want me to buy to eat. He told me "I don't know". I told him they don't sell "I don't know in the supermarket"

So from then onwards, I bought food for meals and he had to like it. He now has a job and lives on his own and has many a time called me up and I have had to buy him food shopping.

You need to explain to him or take him food shopping so he can see how much things really costs - its a choice heating or eating.

There have many a time when I have told my son I have eaten already, so that he could have a hot meal, I would just have sandwich.

Cookers, ovens, frying pans - teenager children are allergic to them.

Have fun!

esalad

Lol a lot to think about here thankyou:)
I definitely know there is no weed or drugs being consumed. We have a non smoking household so I would know straight away.
He does like his carbs homemade chips and stuff and I did tell him he would need to learn to cook. His answer was "Well it can,t be that difficult can it?"
He was home alone last summer while I was away for a few days and despite stocking the fridge from Iceland on all his favourites found out he had been using just-eat to order expensive takeaways.
I do often ask him if there's any particular dish he would like and he just says he doesn't know.
Most annoying is when he sees there is only a pint of milk left in the evening and ignores making tea or squash and makes a pint of milkshake leaving no milk for tea in the morning.
I have tried talking to him and he just says the reason he lies is because I,'ll say no.

wiogs

Might be time to consider counselling.

Seriously

Deeeliteful

Might be time to consider counselling - please don't take offence - but don't be ridiculous.

He is just a teenage boy! that is it, he is growing and needs to eat it is as simple as that.

Unfortunately, we i.e. parents cannot keep up with their appetites. My son did same, buying from just eat when I had made dinner, but luckily that was his own money.

ariba10

You say you are a single parent and then mention your "other half"

Have your O H to have a word with him.

esalad

My daughter who has two kids of her own has been known to pull a fast one too. A while back she had a delay in her benefits being paid and came to me saying she had no food in the house. I wasn't about to see the grandkids go hungry and went and bought her three bags of staples ie mince, pasta and tinned stuff. I went to her house to put it in her cupboard and found she had more food in there than I have! A couple of days later she was looking for a babysitter to go down the pub. Guess who said no?