I'm having trouble keeping everyone fed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need a 'zombie thread' disclaimer when people resurrect a 5-year-old thread. OP's kids probably don't even live at home anymore.

Sort of my fault. There was a new thread about an OP trying to figure out how much to feed her kids, one of whom was a teenage boy and I told her she should come back and read this thread...and I linked it. I bet someone clicked on the link and decided to resurrect the thread.

Well, I gotta say, thanks. This is still one of my favorite DCUM threads of all time! Simultaneously DCUM at its most ridiculous and DCUM at its most helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need a 'zombie thread' disclaimer when people resurrect a 5-year-old thread. OP's kids probably don't even live at home anymore.

Sort of my fault. There was a new thread about an OP trying to figure out how much to feed her kids, one of whom was a teenage boy and I told her she should come back and read this thread...and I linked it. I bet someone clicked on the link and decided to resurrect the thread.

Well, I gotta say, thanks. This is still one of my favorite DCUM threads of all time! Simultaneously DCUM at its most ridiculous and DCUM at its most helpful.

This thread is amazing! I was just lectured by a budgeting person because I spend too much on food. But kids like to eat. I also think food isn't as nutritious as in the past, even healthy fresh foods and this causes kids to want to eat more.

[Anonymous]

I missed this thread the first time around and it's hilarious.

Love it when OP acted indignant about her family of 6 including 2 teen boy athletes eating 10 chicken legs - TOTAL. Or that she seriously expected one rack of lamb to feed them all!

[Anonymous]

Ha! Thank you I also missed this one first time around. Don't know if I should have stayed up until 3 to finish, oh well.
My comment is regarding the PP who said 40 wings was an app for 2 people. Come on! Obviously OP was way off on the portion sizes to start, but I really was surprised at how much meat others were recommending. I wonder if we'd still make the same recommendations in 2021.

[Anonymous]

I'm crying rereading this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op again

My eldest sons play soccer and ice hockey 3x a week. Anytime I try to give them a soup for dinner they freak out and basically refuse to eat it. Last week I made 10 chicken legs for dinner. Every last one was eaten in about 25 mins. When I feed them till they are full, it's like preparing a meal for an army. They managed to eat 10 potatoes worth of mashed potatoes the other day. I cooked a rack of ribs and they were still hungry after.

A rack of ribs each? or one rack total? One rack is definitely not enough. 10 chicken legs? I would think teenage boys would eat 4-5 each, my 8 year old will eat 2-3. Seems to me you are not making nearly enough food, especially for an active family.

One rack for the whole family. It seems like my toddler has gone from eating a few pieces of fruit and some crackers to eating the same amount as my dd

NP here. That is not enough. We go through one rack of ribs for my family which is 2 adults and 3 yo twins. We are not overweight and not particularly athletic.

It sounds like you have two adults, 2 teen boys (15 and 17), one 8 yo daughter and a 3 yo. With six to feed including 2 teenage male athletes, I would think that you would need 2 or 3 racks of ribs to feed them. I would assume each teen would eat a half rack of ribs themselves, then about 1/3 rack for the adults and 8 yo and about 1/4 rack for the 3 yo. This plus sides and bread. My two 3 yos can easily polish off a 1/4 rack of ribs each plus steamed veggies, bread and some fruit for dinner.

When you make your dinners, make a double batch, serve half for dinner and then put the second half in the fridge. If/when your teens get hungry in an hour (and it does happen, often teen athletes each a full meal 4-6 times a day) they can snack on the healthy dinner leftovers that you have in the fridge.

Also, $800 is not that much. $200 per week? For a family with 2 adults, 2 teen athletes and two other children? No wonder everyone is starved all the time. I know two families similar to you and they spend about $600/week, so about 3 times what you spend. Yes, with teen athletes, it is not unusual to go through a gallon of milk a day, a full large fruit bowl, a dozen eggs, 2-5 lbs of meat, and a loaf of bread a day. And that is just for meals. Then add in additional fruit and veggies, dips (like hummus), cheese, nuts, etc for snacking between meals. It seems like you are feeding your family like a family of dieting middle age women rather than a family of an adult male and two teen athletes plus 2 other children.

This makes me laugh! So true!

[b]The unbolded last sentence, I.e., dieting middle-aged women

As a mom of two teen boys, this thread is hilarious! I wonder if the OP can look back on this and laugh too.

[Anonymous]

I have turned boys. They eat 2 dinners a night. They play sports and have a practice or game 6 days a week. It'd THOUSANDS of calories a day for each of them.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad someone ressurected this thread. I was saw the other thread that referenced this. My toddler kid just ate 3/4 of a rack of ribs. I laughed when I thought how 1 rack of ribs would feed an entire family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need a 'zombie thread' disclaimer when people resurrect a 5-year-old thread. OP's kids probably don't even live at home anymore.

Sort of my fault. There was a new thread about an OP trying to figure out how much to feed her kids, one of whom was a teenage boy and I told her she should come back and read this thread...and I linked it. I bet someone clicked on the link and decided to resurrect the thread.

Well, I gotta say, thanks. This is still one of my favorite DCUM threads of all time! Simultaneously DCUM at its most ridiculous and DCUM at its most helpful.

This thread is amazing! I was just lectured by a budgeting person because I spend too much on food. But kids like to eat. I also think food isn't as nutritious as in the past, even healthy fresh foods and this causes kids to want to eat more.

You mean that the raw ingredients are less nutritious now? Why do you think that? Do you think the veggies are growing in depleted soil?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teenagers and boys of all ages, eat a LOT. Plan for more food. Maybe put bread on the dinner table.

Maybe make double portions of each dinner and then put the leftovers in the fridge. When everyone announces they're hungry, just pull out the leftovers for round two.

These kids eat about a loaf of bread every day. We usually have a quarter loaf of French bread (the long one) on the table each night. We also have butter and garlic to add to it as they like. And also we have dessert just about each night. But yeah there are usually never any left over at all lol. I try to make enough for each person to have a serving of each item but sometimes I think each of my kids could personally eat a whole chicken.

Quarter loaf of French bread does not sound like a lot.

And one serving each obviously isn't enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need a 'zombie thread' disclaimer when people resurrect a 5-year-old thread. OP's kids probably don't even live at home anymore.

Well damn. I thought this seemed familiar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here

Thank you all. It just seems like there is a ton of food in the grocery cart each week. In fact the cart is full. Outlawing junk is not gonna go over well with my kids.they are able to self regulate and not each too much.

OP you are crazy. The problem isn't outlawing junk, it's getting more wholesome food so they won't need the junk. Stop starving them and get a second cart. Fill it with good things. If you actually fed your family, they wouldn't be eating pizza, doritos and soda.

Geez.

Um yeah...

I did 4 carts once a week with 7 kids between 2 and 14, and the two eldest were sedentary girls, not teen athlete boys. No junk, but we filled one refrigerator totally with vegetables, the other half way with fruit and the rest was dairy and meat for 2 days. The freezers were meat and frozen fruits and vegetables, and there were multiple 5-10 pound bags of fruit on the counter. I did a crock pot full of corned beef, expecting that it would be 1/3 or less of the meal; a crock pot FULL of beans could be split between immediate need and the next 2 weeks.

Kids are moving and growing. They need to eat healthy food in whatever quantity their body needs.

If you want to cut down on costs, get dry beans instead of canned. Get quantities of cheap cuts of meat and cook them with a lot of moisture on lower heat for longer. Get a subscription to the produce company that ships the produce that looks less attractive and costs less. Get a subscription for 2-3 boxes per week to a coop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm astonished by the food descriptions given by many posters with only 2 or 3 children. How do people without good incomes afford to feed their families this quality, variety and quantity of food?

Food stamps only go so far. Food banks supplement like crazy, as do teens who work to put more food on the table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My takeaway from this thread:

I'm going to need a second refrigerator in 5 years.

I was thinking the exact same thing, especially after reading 21:40. Am I the only one who lives in a small house? Where are you supposed to keep all of this food?

It's that or do multiple grocery shopping trips per week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op again

My eldest sons play soccer and ice hockey 3x a week. Anytime I try to give them a soup for dinner they freak out and basically refuse to eat it. Last week I made 10 chicken legs for dinner. Every last one was eaten in about 25 mins. When I feed them till they are full, it's like preparing a meal for an army. They managed to eat 10 potatoes worth of mashed potatoes the other day. I cooked a rack of ribs and they were still hungry after.

You tried to feed your teen boys SOUP for dinner? That is diet food.

Yeah I suppose it can be diet food but it was homemade soup. I put celery, peppers, onions , seasonings and a chicken carcass in the crock pot all day. It was delicious but they didn't eat it. Oh well

They know that it won't keep them full, and worse, they'll be even hungrier as soon as all that liquid moves on through.