I'm having trouble keeping everyone fed.

[Anonymous]

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?

[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?

In the basement fridge. Currently it's empty but my kids are 7 and 4 (and girls.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, do you have a history of disordered eating? Not saying that to give you a hard time, but it may be why you're not serving an appropriate amount of food. If you do have a history of this, I recommend meeting with a nutritionist who may help you continue to serve healthy meals but also the appropriate sizes for your family and the right balances of protein, carbs, etc.

I had a 15 year long battle with bulimia and feeding my family has been difficult at times because of my checkered history with food. It's ok to say you need a little help and maybe you have an unhealthy relationship with food. That's part of what nutritionists are here for.

That is what it seems like to me as well.

OP, you need to increase the available food. Even your menu last night still seemed a bit skimpy. You could add baked potatoes easily by putting them in the oven with the chicken or lasagna, or add another vegetable. Do you eat any ethnic foods? Some different types of legumes, like a dal and rice may help to fill your teens up.

[Anonymous]

Omg you people are nuts. Op doesn't have an eating disorder. I can understand 3000+ calories for the super athletic boys, but average active kids don't need that much food. Look at it from am activity/calorie perspective op. It is okay for people to feel hunger occasionally!

[Anonymous]

are they dehydrated? They probably need more water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Omg you people are nuts. Op doesn't have an eating disorder. I can understand 3000+ calories for the super athletic boys, but average active kids don't need that much food. Look at it from am activity/calorie perspective op. It is okay for people to feel hunger occasionally!

They need more than 1.2 chicken legs or one rib!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have teenagers who are athletes (and a DH who is too). They eat like that, with the noteable difference that I don't buy Doritos or cokes. That's what stands out to me. Feed them more protein, good fats, and whole grains in larger portions at meal time. Limit snacks to healthy choices, they'll work it out. If the option is junk food, they tend to eat again.

OP, I posted the above, and have read most of the subsequent posts. My kids are also hockey players who practice 3 times per week, 2 games, plus soccer practices, plus games. So I'm not kidding that they eat A LOT.

You need to listen to some of the PPs about increasing the quantity. But seriously consider eliminating the junk sugar. As athletes, the concern isn't even that they won't burn the calories. You don't put low grade fuel into a Ferrari, right? That's what they always say. Put the right kind of fuel into your kids, and it curbs the need and desire to eat a lot of crap constantly. As I'm sitting here watching my youngest do homework, he has eaten a banana and two grapefruit--after having eaten his bowl of veggie chili. I haven't put dinner on the table yet, but will in about 30 minutes. They do eat nonstop.

I feel your pain, my grocery bills are around $800. A week.

It's a good investment.

Corrected myself.

To the poster wondering how people with lower incomes afford it, I think they cut out the grassfed, free range, organic blah blah. Sub pasta for faro, quinoa, etc.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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?

I think on tighter incomes, you worry more about quantity than quality or variety. Join Costco. Or go to the regular stores and load up on what's on sale every week, coupons etc; if apples or oranges are on sale, that's what you're loading up on -- not on berries. Lots of milk to keep kids full. Less/no emphasis on organic.

[Anonymous]

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

[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

Doesn't matter if it's homemade or store bought -- soup has next to no calories. If they eat a bowl of soup and a piece of bread, they'll wander back into the kitchen looking for food 15 min later.

Did this problem just crop up? I mean if your DSs are age 15+ -- you've been dealing with this for a few years, no? Boys tend to develop these huge appetites by 10 or 12 yrs old -- so is it new to you that they're always hungry and need more food?

[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

That's stock, not soup! I hope you added some rice, beans or pasta.

[Anonymous]

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.

Start going to Costco. Stock up on healthy proteins and veggies

[Anonymous]

The food you are serving sounds like diet meals for a middle aged woman. You need to serve more to teen and pre-teen boys. A kale salad with some chicken and rice isn't going to cut it.

[Anonymous]

I keep coming back to comment on this thread. OP seems to be hoping to garner support to convince her DH and growing teens that their food needs are excessive and that they should be satisfied with what she serves. I don't know what motivates someone to deny real hunger for healthy, non-overweight people especially growing teens.