I'm having trouble keeping everyone fed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wings aren't the main course! They just want wings somewhere on the table.

Regardless, 7 wings is not enough IMO.

Try this..

http://calculate-this.com/how-many-chicken-wings-buy-calculator

[Anonymous]

.. and then double it. I just put in our family's information and there's no way that calculator allowed enough.

[Anonymous]

This is sort of how I imagine dinnertime looks like with two athletic teenage boys, just with proportions scaled up for humans. (Spoiler: 2 cats eat 20 raw fish in 30 minutes. Entrails warning.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M9K4mGUU0A

[Anonymous]

Okay for Mother's Day, I asked to go to a really nice buffet place. I got a feel for exactly how much food my family would eat in a sitting. Well they ate for what seemed like an eternity. So, I see how much they can put away, I just need to figure out how much they really need to fuel themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay for Mother's Day, I asked to go to a really nice buffet place. I got a feel for exactly how much food my family would eat in a sitting. Well they ate for what seemed like an eternity. So, I see how much they can put away, I just need to figure out how much they really need to fuel themselves.

Lady - you just saw how much they need. About four times what you have been offering! But I thank you. This thread has been amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op again. I'm talking about Chinese. We usually get an order of wonton soup, a large fried rice, an order of broccoli 2 meat entrees, and an appetizer or two.

For your whole family?! Seriously, you aren't fit to parent.

I'm impressed that OP can get this for $30. We live in PG County where it's cheaper than NoVa or MoCo and that would cost (I just checked our local takeout place's menu on-line):
soup ($3.50 serves 2), fried rice ($7), broccoli ($7), 2 meat entrees ($10 x 2), 2 appetizers ($4 x x) = $45. And this is the cheap Chinese place. The other one is more expensive. We also get a similar amount...for our family of 4 including 2 adults and 2 preschoolers. I can't imagine how you can feed a family of 6 including 2 adults, 2 teens and 2 grade schoolers on that without everyone still being hungry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 teenaged boys and an 11 yo DD. DH and I eat norm human quantities.

I don't want them filling up on cereal (both for cost and for nutrition), so for breakfast I buy (weekly) 3 large containers of full-fat greek yogurt, a large bag of sliced almonds, 4 pints of berries, and 3 boxes of granola. I also make on the weekend and freeze an entire package of whole-grain pancake mix, which they eat with nut butter. I also boil 2 dozen eggs. I also buy a bag each of apples and oranges and several bunches of bananas, all of which they also eat with nut butter and/or greek yogurt. We also go through a jug of maple syrup each week to sweeten all the yogurt. And I get them each a gallon of whole milk (literally theirs--their name goes on it and if they run out, that's it). I always keep boxed muffin mix in the house in case we run out of breakfast food before grocery day.

For lunches I buy: 6 loaves of bread, an entire ham, 3 cans of chicken or 6 cans of tuna (I mix up a salad on the weekend), and ingredients for a big batch of lentil "sloppy joes). I also buy several heads of lettuce, some avocados if they are on sale, a few lbs of tomatoes, some onions and mayo and several blocks of different kinds of full-fat cheese.

When they get home from school/practice we have vegetables for snacks. Each week I buy two large bags of baby carrots, 3 heads of celery and some mushrooms or broccoli or peppers (rotate according to sales for some variety) which they eat with dip (2 tubs of hummus and 2 tubs of full-fat sour cream with ranch seasoning mixed in and 2 jars of salsa. They each get 2 large boxes of crackers per week (again labeled), which varies with sales/coupons). I also buy 6 or so sweet potatoes and roast them on the weekend so they can just pull the skin off and eat with butter. I also buy a huge tub of spinach and about 6 heads of romaine per week and 3-4 kinds of salad dressing and toppings (subflower seeds, nuts, croutons, cheese, olives, etc.).

For dinner, I serve them each double what I would eat, and always have either 1 cup (uncooked measurement) brown rice per kid, or 1/2 loaf of french bread or 1 large russet potato to go alongside dinner per kid. If they are still hungry after dinner they are welcome to make pasta and sauce or have more of their snack stuff or bake some of the afforementioned muffins.

Omg. My 14 yo nephew is about to move in with us. If this is what they all eat like our grocery bill is literally going to triple overnight.

I have two boys, 15 and 13. Yes, this is what most teenage boys eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My mom is getting that way- she wanted to make a measly box of couscous mix as the main dish last time I was visiting! And will tell me that she ate a baked sweet potato for dinner. I don't think she eats enough.

People get less hungry as they get older. I'm fifty, and if it were up to me, I would just have a bowl of cereal for dinner.

I'm 50, and have a hard time eating less than 2300 calories a day. Of course, I work out regularly and am still building muscle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay for Mother's Day, I asked to go to a really nice buffet place. I got a feel for exactly how much food my family would eat in a sitting. Well they ate for what seemed like an eternity. So, I see how much they can put away, I just need to figure out how much they really need to fuel themselves.

Uh huh. So you're still going to restrict food based on what you "think" they need. You have no clue what a reasonable amount is, and they MIGHT be overdoing it because the food is finally available. It sounds to me like you have some issues with food, and you're going to pass that on to your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op again, how much do you guys spend when you order take out?? We usually spend about $30 for everyone and since I wasn't spending enough on groceries, in wondering if I'm not spending enough on takeout nights.

We went out yesterday for Mother's Day brunch, four of us, and it was just over $100. My teenagers eat even more. Split an app, full adult entrée, one had dessert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay for Mother's Day, I asked to go to a really nice buffet place. I got a feel for exactly how much food my family would eat in a sitting. Well they ate for what seemed like an eternity. So, I see how much they can put away, I just need to figure out how much they really need to fuel themselves.

You are kind of thick. You have a gazillion pages of help here.

If you don't see now what your kids need, I don't know what to tell you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay for Mother's Day, I asked to go to a really nice buffet place. I got a feel for exactly how much food my family would eat in a sitting. Well they ate for what seemed like an eternity. So, I see how much they can put away, I just need to figure out how much they really need to fuel themselves.

Do you come from a highly food restricted family of origin, OP? Are you anorexic, yourself?

[Anonymous]

I guess my 5 year old DD eats as much as OPs teenaged boys!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay for Mother's Day, I asked to go to a really nice buffet place. I got a feel for exactly how much food my family would eat in a sitting. Well they ate for what seemed like an eternity. So, I see how much they can put away, I just need to figure out how much they really need to fuel themselves.

Uh huh. So you're still going to restrict food based on what you "think" they need. You have no clue what a reasonable amount is, and they MIGHT be overdoing it because the food is finally available. It sounds to me like you have some issues with food, and you're going to pass that on to your kids.

+1. I've gone from being mildly entertained by OP's cluelessness to feeling really sad for her kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My mom is getting that way- she wanted to make a measly box of couscous mix as the main dish last time I was visiting! And will tell me that she ate a baked sweet potato for dinner. I don't think she eats enough.

People get less hungry as they get older. I'm fifty, and if it were up to me, I would just have a bowl of cereal for dinner.

I'm 50, and have a hard time eating less than 2300 calories a day. Of course, I work out regularly and am still building muscle.

I'm 50 and only moderately active. I work a desk job. I get a lot of my activity from chasing, carrying, playing with preschooler twins. Recently I have been eating 1800-2000 calories a day because I need to slim down. I've lost 6 lbs in 4 weeks eating this amount. If I were trying to keep a stable weight, I'd eat 2000-2200 calories a day.

And yes, I am eating less now than I was in my teens, 20's and 30's. Then, I was much more active and probably ate around 2400-2600 calories a day and wasn't gaining weight. When I was in my 40's and started slowing down a bit, but still eating the same is when I gained the extra 25 lbs.