Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to stock up on more fruits, carrots, celery, hummus, peanut butter, yogurt etc.

Make sure that salads of fruits, veggies, meat, egg, nuts and seeds are the first course of your meal, then the regular entree and sides and end your meal with a dessert of fruits, cheese, yogurt. You will be feeding them more variety and healthy stuff as well.

Increase the portion size as well. Also, you might think about giving them a sizeable meal, as soon as they get home from school (Lasagna, meatloaf etc - stuff they can warm themselves). And then also serve them dinner.

Thank you!! They snack on the things you mentioned all afternoon and evening as it is. They all enjoy hummus, pretzels and salads. To put the amount of food they are eating into perspective, last week we went through 4 gallons of milk, two jars of peanut butter, 2 dozen eggs, 4 packs of cheese, about 10 lbs of meat and 20 lbs of veggies, a couple loaves of bread, 6 liters of soda, a tub of smart balance, 10 (!) avocados and 3 boxes of pasta.

I'm just dreading summer when all my sons' friends are over just about every day.

My 2 boys, who eat lunch at school, still drink 3 gallons of milk a week.

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused by this and can't believe OP is for real.

Are you a blended family by any chance? Did the older kids just come into the picture? I can't fathom not knowing how to feed for children after this many years. Did you just recently become responsible for feeding a family of 6? Was a nanny or someone else doing the cooking and shopping before? How is this just now becoming an issue for you?

They have always been big eaters but I used to be in grad school and dh cooked all the dinners. He never likes to complain about stuff because he doesn't want to start an argument. I wouldn't argue but he always thinks I'll freak out when he tells me something.

I would like to address the eating disorder thing. I do not have one, and I do not have food issues. I would never restrict food from my daughter because I think she is too heavy. That's terrible and there's never an excuse to do that to a child. I want them to all have healthy associations with food.

I will start making double the food and buying more fruit and bread to have on the table as well

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.

They need calories!!!!!

Anonymous wrote:Either you are feeding them bird sized portions (not enough for seconds/thirds for everybody), or they dont like your food.

Would they order pizza after a taco night? After hamburgers on the grill? After chicken wings and steaks on the grill with mashed potatoes?

And when I say taco night, I mean at least SIX tacos for each of the guys - plus a side dish of beans and rice.

Honest question OP - do you have a history of an eating disorder / food insecurity / weight struggles / unusually slow metabolism compared to friends?

Either you are feeding them bird sized portions (not enough for seconds/thirds for everybody), or they dont like your food.

Would they order pizza after a taco night? After hamburgers on the grill? After chicken wings and steaks on the grill with mashed potatoes?

Anonymous wrote:Increase the portions. By a lot.

+1 I have two teenage boys who both are in sports 10 hours a week. They eat between 2500 and 3000 calories each and every day.

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

I don't have food issues. I just also feel like a pound of ground beef is a lot of meat. I will use two boxes of pasta for tonight and I'll make extra meatballs. I feel like a failure. Even when I order a pizza and wings for the family they are still hungry. At this point my goal is really just to have left overs so I know everyone is content.

It doesn't matter how you feel. 1 lb of meat isn't very much for a family of 6 with 2 teenage athletes, a husband, and 2 smaller kids. You should serve at least 1/3 lb meat/per person. The teenagers will eat more and you can eat 2 oz. When you serve meat that is on the bone, you just adjust up so that the 2 lbs you cook is for eating.

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused by this and can't believe OP is for real.

Are you a blended family by any chance? Did the older kids just come into the picture? I can't fathom not knowing how to feed for children after this many years. Did you just recently become responsible for feeding a family of 6? Was a nanny or someone else doing the cooking and shopping before? How is this just now becoming an issue for you?

+1

The boys aren't tweens, they're well into teenage-hood. Maybe they've always had pizza for second dinner and OP just noticed.

I am so confused by this and can't believe OP is for real.

Are you a blended family by any chance? Did the older kids just come into the picture? I can't fathom not knowing how to feed for children after this many years. Did you just recently become responsible for feeding a family of 6? Was a nanny or someone else doing the cooking and shopping before? How is this just now becoming an issue for you?

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

I don't have food issues. I just also feel like a pound of ground beef is a lot of meat. I will use two boxes of pasta for tonight and I'll make extra meatballs. I feel like a failure. Even when I order a pizza and wings for the family they are still hungry. At this point my goal is really just to have left overs so I know everyone is content.

OP, even when you're dieting, the standard recommendation is that your serving of protein with dinner should be four ounces; if you're not dieting, if you're male, especially if you're a non-dieting teenage boy, you need a larger portion than that. Your pound of ground beef, split 5 ways for you family, is a little over 3 ounces per person. You're not giving anyone even a minimum standard portion of protein, not even yourself or your youngest child, let alone your teens.

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

I don't have food issues. I just also feel like a pound of ground beef is a lot of meat. I will use two boxes of pasta for tonight and I'll make extra meatballs. I feel like a failure. Even when I order a pizza and wings for the family they are still hungry. At this point my goal is really just to have left overs so I know everyone is content.

Well what you "feel" had proven to result in hungry kids so I suggest you follow the 9 pages of advice you have received. It's frustrating following this thread because you are not giving your kids enough food. End of story. Make more
FOod= your kids won't be hungry= you will not feel like a "failure."

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

I don't have food issues. I just also feel like a pound of ground beef is a lot of meat. I will use two boxes of pasta for tonight and I'll make extra meatballs. I feel like a failure. Even when I order a pizza and wings for the family they are still hungry. At this point my goal is really just to have left overs so I know everyone is content.

I think that's a good plan. Don't depend on whether the meal looks like a lot of food in your grocery cart. Make dinner. Write down how much you made. If there aren't any leftovers, plan to increase the meal by half next time. Repeat until you have leftovers.

OP, why do you feel like a failure? It sounds like you feel you are failing because your kids are big eaters. That is normal! Good! It is much less expensive to toss multiple boxes of pasta down their gullets than to order pizza, no? A pound of pasta or a can of beans costs about a buck on sale. Is it that you don't think pasta is healthy? Or that you don't like to cook that much food because it makes you feel anxious? A pound of meat is a lot of meat for your size family only if you have money or environmental concerns, in which case yes, you are right. But if that is your concern you now need to substitute, and double down on the pasta and cheese and tomato sauce to make up for stretching the meat.

How about you imagine you are cooking for two dinners at once, and see if they eat it all? I imagine they will. And then they won't want pizza afterwards, and you'll save money!

I also think you need to toss those boys into the kitchen to make some food for themselves. How about they make dinner for the family at least once a week?

Teenage boys are black pits. Teenage athletes even more so - they likely need 3-5 thousand calories a day. I see that you're weary of carbs - athletes are really the only people who have legitimate reason to eat loads of carbs. I wouldn't hold back on letting your teenage athletes eat tortillas & rice - that should be part of their diet. Also - a can of black beans, especially when served without rice, feeds about two people.

I haven't read all nine pages, but I hope you're planning to see a nutritionist if all these responses haven't convinced you that your sense of what's reasonable needs to change.