Saving $ when teens hungry constantly all summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bananas are super cheap filling and healthy. Also “chipotle” style bowls with rice and beans as the base.

Yes, fake Chipotle bowls are a huge hit in my family.

We always have cooked rice available and every sunday we grill up skirt steak & chicken to be used in these bowls. We prep the veggies, too, so all they need to do is pull the ingredients out and heat them in a bowl.

If we didn't do this, they'd definitely rely on the fast food items like frozen pizzas, snacks, and other processed junk when they come home starving after practices and sports camps.

Another big hit is egg muffins. They are super cheap to make & store and reheat nicely.

The biggest money saving tip is Aldi. I buy all my produce, eggs, milk, and meat there now. Eggs were $1.14 this week at mine!

[Anonymous]

Are you sure they're not bored? Or are they legit hungry (athletic, involved in sports, at the pool all day...activities that truly make you hungry)?

Shop at Costco - Skinny Pop is our go-to, anything cheesy (bagel bites, quesdailla, nachos), and maan +hummus. Watermelon cubes, baby carrots, grapes

Are they confusing hunger (grazing) for thirst? It's easy to dehydrate and not even realize it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your post got me thinking. Yesterday, I fed 4 adults and 6 teens and made the following food from scratch. It took me around 2 hours because I wanted to make the meal a bit fancy. Normally I would have made rice and chicken as we are a family of 4, but I was trying to stretch the meal.

1) Vegetable rice. Ingredients - basmati rice, carrots, bell pepper, onions, potatoes, peas, ghee and spices.
2) Chicken curry. Ingredients - chicken thighs, onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, oil, spices.
3) Eggplant fry. Ingredients - Eggplants, chickpea flour, oil, spices.
4) Potato raita. Ingredients - yogurt, potatoes, cilantro, spices.
5) Green mung dal. Ingredients - green mung beans, ginger, garlic, onions, green chilli, cilantro, tomatoes, spices.
6) Salad. Ingredients - onions, tomatoes, carrots and cucumber, spices.
7) Roti. Ingredients - whole wheat flour, ghee.
8) Carrot halwa - Ingredients - carrots, milk, spices, sugar.

I make set my own yogurt, make my own paneer, make my ghee from Irish butter, grind my own spices from whole spices, make my own bread, make my own pasta and sauce, roll my own sushi rolls etc. I bake cakes and cupcakes at home instead of buying baked goods for desserts or treats.

I am pretty good in Indian, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Ethopian, Ameircan food. I spend money on getting good ingredients and organic veggies and fruits - so that pushes the price up. Mainly shop in Indian grocery stores, Costco, Asian grocery stores, Aldis, WF, Wegmans etc.

I am able to provide delicious, nutritious and healthy food to my family at an affordable price. Flipside is - I am spending at least an hour in the kitchen daily in cooking or meal prep. No getting away from that. I think if you want to put less time in the kitchen then you have to pay more for the convenience factor.

I would not let my kids, family members or guests go hungry. OP, You need to load them up on eggs, sandwiches, vegetable soups, pasta and meatballs, lots of fruits and veggies etc.

Rice, potatoes, AND roti all at the sane meal? I’d feel so lethargic afterward.

She's feeding 4 teens. Like was said in an old thread from a while ago, stop meal planning like a dieting middle aged woman and start meal planning for growing hungry teens. Growing hungry and active teens need about double the caloric intake of middle aged women. You only have to eat one of the carbs. The teens will eat the rest and it will fill them up and satiate the hunger.

Teems don’t need three empty or near-empty carbs in a single meal. Sorry, but no. Lean proteins, fruits and vegetables and the smallest portion in the meal being a single carb. They are welcomed to take seconds or thirds. They won’t go hungry and they don’t need junk.

That's great when you have an endless budget. Go back and read the thread title. The point is that OP is looking for ways to save money when feeding constantly hungry teens. The meal has plenty of protein and vegetables. But it also rounds out the meal with carbs. Active teens can eat a lot more carbs than middle age dieting women, so having the extra carbs to round out the meal with lower cost items is a good savings measure. The meal outlined above is an excellent way to provide a good round meal for everyone, but also produce enough food on a budget to make the budget stretch more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your post got me thinking. Yesterday, I fed 4 adults and 6 teens and made the following food from scratch. It took me around 2 hours because I wanted to make the meal a bit fancy. Normally I would have made rice and chicken as we are a family of 4, but I was trying to stretch the meal.

1) Vegetable rice. Ingredients - basmati rice, carrots, bell pepper, onions, potatoes, peas, ghee and spices.
2) Chicken curry. Ingredients - chicken thighs, onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, oil, spices.
3) Eggplant fry. Ingredients - Eggplants, chickpea flour, oil, spices.
4) Potato raita. Ingredients - yogurt, potatoes, cilantro, spices.
5) Green mung dal. Ingredients - green mung beans, ginger, garlic, onions, green chilli, cilantro, tomatoes, spices.
6) Salad. Ingredients - onions, tomatoes, carrots and cucumber, spices.
7) Roti. Ingredients - whole wheat flour, ghee.
8) Carrot halwa - Ingredients - carrots, milk, spices, sugar.

I make set my own yogurt, make my own paneer, make my ghee from Irish butter, grind my own spices from whole spices, make my own bread, make my own pasta and sauce, roll my own sushi rolls etc. I bake cakes and cupcakes at home instead of buying baked goods for desserts or treats.

I am pretty good in Indian, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Ethopian, Ameircan food. I spend money on getting good ingredients and organic veggies and fruits - so that pushes the price up. Mainly shop in Indian grocery stores, Costco, Asian grocery stores, Aldis, WF, Wegmans etc.

I am able to provide delicious, nutritious and healthy food to my family at an affordable price. Flipside is - I am spending at least an hour in the kitchen daily in cooking or meal prep. No getting away from that. I think if you want to put less time in the kitchen then you have to pay more for the convenience factor.

I would not let my kids, family members or guests go hungry. OP, You need to load them up on eggs, sandwiches, vegetable soups, pasta and meatballs, lots of fruits and veggies etc.

Rice, potatoes, AND roti all at the sane meal? I’d feel so lethargic afterward.

She's feeding 4 teens. Like was said in an old thread from a while ago, stop meal planning like a dieting middle aged woman and start meal planning for growing hungry teens. Growing hungry and active teens need about double the caloric intake of middle aged women. You only have to eat one of the carbs. The teens will eat the rest and it will fill them up and satiate the hunger.

Teems don’t need three empty or near-empty carbs in a single meal. Sorry, but no. Lean proteins, fruits and vegetables and the smallest portion in the meal being a single carb. They are welcomed to take seconds or thirds. They won’t go hungry and they don’t need junk.

What you describe is a really disordered way to feed athletic teens. It’s also pretty xenophobic.

Serving meals with multiple elements from the same food group is a hallmark of Indian cuisine. The meal posted was well balanced with lots of vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots and peas) and lots of protein (chicken, dal, chickpea flour, yogurt) balancing those out with a choice of several proteins makes perfect sense. If someone has been raised with a healthy attitude towards food they will take what they need, and presumably take less of each if they choose to take everything.

But on top of it, the kind of low calorie meal you are pushing doesn’t actually meet the the nutritional needs of teen athletes. I once tallied up what my teenager who was playing two sports and having a growth spurt ate, and he averaged like 5,000 calories per day, and that was at a point where he was slipping down the weight for height curve. To get those kind of calories in, you need calorie dense foods, and that includes a lot of carbs, because 5,000 calories of broccoli would make anyone sick.

The meal that the PP describes is perfect for teens. Mixing some of the carbs with vegetables or healthy proteins, and then also offering a whole grain carb on it’s own let’s kids figure out what they need and listen to their body not the disordered messaging about food around them.

[Anonymous]

Yogurt parfaits they can make with greek yogurt, if I have time I'll make a batch of easy granola
Saltines and Peanut butter
Pita chips and hummus
Fresh fruit of all kinds (not cheap, but at least whole foods)
Tortillas with lunch meat/cheese from costco
I try to make extra for dinner so there's solid leftovers to raid

[Anonymous]

My son starts most mornings with a protein shake or smoothie which helps fill him up until lunch (wakes up late) eats a medium sized lunch, big dinner with salad. Has either ramen, peanut butter crackers, apples with peanut butter in between if he’s hungry. He’s growing

[Anonymous]

Send them to sleep away camp and let them worry about it.
Boom. done.