Feeding Growing Teenagers

Skintmama · 23 January 2006 at 5:48PM

I have been looking around on here for a while but cannot find an appropriate thread so hope you don't mind me starting this. Merge me by any means, I won't mind!
Along with cutting the food budget I also have children who have hit a growth phase and just eat and eat! (DS 12yrs and DD 14yrs) No weight problems so they aren't overeating but I wondered if those of you who have been through this could contribute some ideas?
I want to be able to fill them up healthily, tastily and economically, without spending my life in the kitchen. One thing I need to change is DS's liking for white bread. He will eat a HM wholemeal but haven't got the time to bake a big loaf a day. So am thinking of finally investing in a BM so they can bake bread themselves too. He likes meat rather than carbs, not keen on pasta or potato unfortunately. They all eat a fair amount of fruit.
DH is also trying to prevent weight loss so also eating massively. Need help because not including breakfast I seem to be preparing 3 meals a day for 3 big appetites and myself. I am feeling like I am chained to the cooker and starting to lose my memory of which meal we are on now!
Thanks in anticipation of your good ideas. Truly desperate!

cha97michelle · 23 January 2006 at 6:00PM

I have a similar problem with a permanently hungry DH who never puts weight on. I make sweet potato jackets with the usual staples (chilli, beans, cheese) which go down very well and are very filling.

I've been making flapjacks instead of him taking chewy bars in his packed lunch. He always has 4 slices of bread for sandwiches, so i make sure i cook one in the BM every day to day and a half. Bananas disappear quickly.

Noodles aren't too expensive and are quick to cook. I'm also trying to do HM soup starters to spread the meat main course further, also a nice packed lunch at this time of year and a good way to sneak in random cheaper veg like potato as a thickener, with cheap angel delight style puddings. Although rice pudding and tinned fruit disappear too.

bizzy_lizzie · 23 January 2006 at 6:53PM

I have two teenage boys too. Alway hungry & not a pound of fat on either of them. They open the fridge door as they come in the house ! Wholemeal will keep them fuller longer. My sons have three wholemeal pittas with peanut butter or something similar for lunch. If they eat white bread you need 7 each for them ! I make a lot of soup/stews with carbs in (chicken, potato.tomato,onion or lamb, onion, chickpeas & few potatoes)and then serve them with a side order of bulgar wheat (like rice but tastier) or rice & maybe more pitta. Breakfast is branflakes or porridge everyday because nothing else fills the gap. My sons would live on just meat if they had the chance but as long as its tasty then they eat pretty much whats on offer. I always cook more than enough for the day aswell. Then there some for the following lunch time & maybe even some to go with whatevers next on the menu. I dont freeze food after i have cooked it, thats about the only thing i can get them to eat. Also a big rice pudding or steam pudding which they cant help them self to a portion after a meal staves off the hunger for a little longer.
Hope this helps
Bizzy :j

I read the wholeemal bread thing backwards & had to change it. Must concentrate harder !

comping_cat · 23 January 2006 at 6:55PM

To get a bit of wholemeal into my children, ive been using one scope of wholemeal flour, two of white flour, the colour doesnt change too much, and they dont seem to notice the difference.
Catherine x
Just re read your thread, oopps!!!! with a BM you can choose how much and what you put in!!!

Queenie · 23 January 2006 at 6:56PM

Definately soups and desserts to eek out the mains! A good stick to your tummy suet pud can fill a empty tummy

Steamed and suet puds take only minutes in a microwave.

Dumplings and stews are brilliant this time of year. I put pearl barley into any stews/casseroles to bulk it (and tummies) out.

Porridge is cheap, cheerful, nutritious and filling

A Bread Machine is a worthwhile investment - only today I have made a wholemeal seed and honey loaf (it took care of itself for 3hrs) and then, made some Chelsea Buns for when the boys came home from school (with enough for their lunches tomorrow) . Fraction of the cost of buying them - and they do help fill everyone up.

bizzy_lizzie · 23 January 2006 at 7:00PM

oh yes, i forgot dumplings. Always popular. Gosh but i wish we had stew for tea tonight.

elisebutt65 · 23 January 2006 at 7:12PM

Start teaching them how to cook??? lol

So when the munchies strike you don't hear 'Muuuuuuuuum - I'm hungry!'

Seriously though - I've been teaching my 10 yr old all sorts lately - like how much flour - marked on the scales - how to mix it all together and knead it - He uses the bread hooks on the mixer as he hasn't got the upper body strength yet - lol. He loves it and has been 'experimenting' - chocolate chip and honey rolls anyone?

He has a real food disorder though and won't eat most things, which is why I'm getting him involved on food prep, just to get him interested.

He has a sausage roll for tea tonight and wouldn't touch the S & K pudding I made

Other one is only 5 and already eating me out of house and home, so I have to have a treefull of bananas and grapes around for constant grazing.

Smiley_Mum · 23 January 2006 at 7:20PM

I use wholemeal pasta a lot instead of refined white pasta as it takes longer for them to burn the energy, make lots of pasta dishes with tuna/peppers/corn etc etc. Also baked potatoes with usual fillings, beans, chilli, tuna/sweetcorn etc. They like porridge for breakfast, soak the oats with raisins overnight and it's a nice texture and they like that with other fruit - banana/peaches/apple and some natural yoghurt on top. My kids like oatcakes with cheese/butter. They like weetabix too.

White refined pasta and potato etc doesn't take long to be burnt off and that's why they can be permanently hungry. Wholemeal products keep them going for longer. Keep with unrefined products and they take longer to burn the energy off as the body doesn't convert the starch to glucose straight away as there is fibre to be dealt with first which is removed in refined white flours/pastas/grains etc. Same for rice, I use wholegrain rice. Tesco do a 1kg bag for 89p. You can soak the rice and make a nice rice pudding with it too, just the same as you would white rice. Banana/apple etc/yoghurt and chopped almonds etc are good too. Cereals that are a mix of grains like All in One (Lidl version of Special K) on special just now for 79p for a 500g box which has rice and wheat in it. Wholemeal tortillas you can buy in Morrisons or make them up and you can make burritos/fajitas etc or just fill with whatever you like. When I make homemade soup I always put in some wholegrain pasta to bulk it out or wholegrain rice. Potato wedges complete with skin, just give them a good scrub and roll them in some olive oil with some herbs/spices added and bake in the oven they like too.

Banana sandwiches made with wholemeal too keep my kids going for all of five minutes. :rolleyes:

Trow · 23 January 2006 at 7:22PM

I don't have teenagers - but I have to make the comment that you should be chuffed that your DS doesn't like white bread, and encourage the wholemeal thing - if you want your kids to eat healthily then wholemeal bread isn't just a good option, its an essential IMO.

Skintmama · 23 January 2006 at 7:32PM

Trow wrote:

I don't have teenagers - but I have to make the comment that you should be chuffed that your DS doesn't like white bread, and encourage the wholemeal thing - if you want your kids to eat healthily then wholemeal bread isn't just a good option, its an essential IMO.

Oh dear just seen my mistake in my OP. I meant to say that he likes white bread and will only eat wholemeal if it is home made. Sorry for the confusion I'll go back and edit that first post. Cannot claim the credit you gave me Trow, sadly. Well maybe just a bit as he will eat HM wholemeal!

Skintmama · 23 January 2006 at 7:48PM

I really appreciate all these good ideas and take the points about refined carbohydrates and padding out meals. Puddings a great idea too. DS always requests one which is usually fruit or yoghurt and probably not bulky enough.

I will try to get going with the porridge in the mornings again and see if I inspire everyone to eat it.

Tended to serve soups as meals in themselves but I can see that a bowl before a meal could work well. I have lots in the freezer to get me started.

We all really enjoy brown rice but had not thought of using bulgar wheat so I'll try that too.

Both my kids can cook some things but tend to also eat it all very quickly! I need to encourage them to bake double and freeze it before eating.

Sounds like the BM is going to be necessary so I'll go off and try to see what you all recommend in the BM threads.

Thanks again there are so many good ideas mentioned, all of which I will try to use. Also feels good that other people do manage to cope with this very well, there's hope for me yet!

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Feeding Growing Teenagers

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