Anonymous
06/02/2025 20:05
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Lots of pasta and as others have suggested, frozen family size meals.
If it’s really something I can’t stretch and I’ve already started cooking, I will put out veggies and hummus, fresh fruit or cheese and crackers for everyone to snack on before dinner. That helps the meal go further.
I’ve had to learn to roll with it a lot. Some nights it is just my family of three and other nights it’s us and 1-3 additional teenagers.
If it’s really something I can’t stretch and I’ve already started cooking, I will put out veggies and hummus, fresh fruit or cheese and crackers for everyone to snack on before dinner. That helps the meal go further.
I’ve had to learn to roll with it a lot. Some nights it is just my family of three and other nights it’s us and 1-3 additional teenagers.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:58
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Anonymous wrote:We generally have various kinds of burgers and buns in our freezer. Also ground meat or Costco shredded rotisserie chicken that we can turn into quesadillas or nachos. Frozen ravioli and sauce, insta pot bbq quicken sliders (we usually have chicken thighs in the freezer and bbq sauce + buns), spaghetti and frozen meatballs or meatball sliders. Rice bowls are always popular with grilled salmon or another protein but are more labor intensive. We have a chest freezer and order from Butcher Box and stock up from Costco. Now that I’ve mastered quick defrosting methods there’s a lot I can pull together from stuff on hand. Rice and beans and egg-based stuff (huevos is rancheros, breakfast burritos, omelettes) too
OP here, thanks. Do you just defrost in the microwave for something like chicken thighs or frozen burgers or just cook from frozen?
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:56
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
We generally have various kinds of burgers and buns in our freezer. Also ground meat or Costco shredded rotisserie chicken that we can turn into quesadillas or nachos. Frozen ravioli and sauce, insta pot bbq quicken sliders (we usually have chicken thighs in the freezer and bbq sauce + buns), spaghetti and frozen meatballs or meatball sliders. Rice bowls are always popular with grilled salmon or another protein but are more labor intensive. We have a chest freezer and order from Butcher Box and stock up from Costco. Now that I’ve mastered quick defrosting methods there’s a lot I can pull together from stuff on hand. Rice and beans and egg-based stuff (huevos is rancheros, breakfast burritos, omelettes) too
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:51
Subject: Re:Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Honestly usually I just put on a pot of spaghetti. It’s easy and you can keep it on hand.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:50
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Anonymous wrote:Or just tell them to go to their respective homes for dinner...
This isn't Sweden.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:48
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Or just tell them to go to their respective homes for dinner...
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:46
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
If it was on once in awhile I’d just order pizza. Otherwise I always have pasta and jarred sauce around, plus keep frozen meatballs and garlic bread in the freezer.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:41
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Anonymous wrote:i would probably feed them something frozen as mentioned above. i don't have enough of any dinner to feed 3 teenage boys without notice.
if it happens all the time, start making bigger dinners. if no extra teenagers, then leftovers and you can skip cooking once in a while.
This. I’d feed them separately. You’d need at least two lbs of meat extra to feed them.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:41
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
I keep boxes of the Costco taquitos in the freezer for nights when it’s not a dinner I can stretch. They love them.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:39
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Frozen meatballs
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:34
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
i would probably feed them something frozen as mentioned above. i don't have enough of any dinner to feed 3 teenage boys without notice.
if it happens all the time, start making bigger dinners. if no extra teenagers, then leftovers and you can skip cooking once in a while.
if it happens all the time, start making bigger dinners. if no extra teenagers, then leftovers and you can skip cooking once in a while.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:32
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Stouffers (or similar) frozen lasagna, enchiladas, etc. The family size ones.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:29
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Frozen pizza, frozen ravioli, and just ... extra - extra veg, extra of whatever protein you normally make. These can be leftovers if there's not extra kids for dinner.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 19:25
Subject: Re:Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Costco chicken nuggets (those chick fil a copy ones)
Frozen tortellini
Jars of Raos sauce
Keep a box of frozen turkey burgers and brats
You could just add any of these things to a meal you had already planned.
Frozen tortellini
Jars of Raos sauce
Keep a box of frozen turkey burgers and brats
You could just add any of these things to a meal you had already planned.
Anonymous
06/02/2025 18:52
Subject: Teenagers staying for dinner last minute
Do you have any ideas for what we can make last minute if there are 2-3 teenagers staying unexpectedly for dinner? Seems to be happening more often and last time I was lucky because we were making burgers and had extras but some nights this definitely wouldn't work so would be great to keep some things in the freezer for these nights. Trying to avoid ordering in all the time.