I'm kind of amused at the toddler moms commenting on how to feed teenaged boys...

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[b].

This makes me laugh! So true!

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

My husband says that as an athlete term he would polish off 3/4 box of spaghetti by himself (and sauce) in one sitting. He was a skinny kid in HS but swam and ran. You need to make more food. More of everything, protein, carbs and veggies.

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[b].

This makes me laugh! So true!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make more food. A lot more. If no one is overweight what are you worried about? It seems much easier to just make double or triple the amount of food all at once instead of being shocked that they are still hungry. My DH, 3yo and I could eat 10 chicken thighs for dinner in one night. It sounds like you vastly underestimate the amount of food your family needs.

+1

Teenage boys can eat a huge amount of food. You are surprised by how much they all eat. Make a lot more food, then they won't need another meal an hour later.

My sister has three boys. 2 are now in college.

She would come home from Costco with pounds of sliced turkey, the HUGE peanut butter jar, etc and they'd go through it all in a matter of a day. She would tell them pace yourself it's supposed to last a week. They are all well-over 6 feet and ran track, played soccer. It slowed down for the older two ---but the middle school-HS growing years--look out!!

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.

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 say this like it's a lot of food. But by my count, you have six people in your family. 10 chicken legs for 6 people??? That's less than two per person and two are teenaged athletes! You aren't making enough food.

Anonymous wrote:Make more food. A lot more. If no one is overweight what are you worried about? It seems much easier to just make double or triple the amount of food all at once instead of being shocked that they are still hungry. My DH, 3yo and I could eat 10 chicken thighs for dinner in one night. It sounds like you vastly underestimate the amount of food your family needs.

+1

Teenage boys can eat a huge amount of food. You are surprised by how much they all eat. Make a lot more food, then they won't need another meal an hour later.

It sounds like you have typical teenage boys, and will need to adjust your grocery shopping and cooking to accommodate that. Protein and veggies is a great way for a fully grown adult to get full on fewer calories, but that's not what teenage boys need -- their metabolisms are nuts, and they need a lot more calories than you do. Find healthier but calorie-dense options for them and they'll do better.

My children are all 8 and under and we can easily go through that much food. Do you yourself not eat much? I'm guessing you're basing their estimated consumption on what would make YOU full. Not enough food. Keep making more until you have leftovers. That's when you know you've made enough.

A 1/4 loaf of French bread? That's what, a slice per person? My kids could eat a 1/4 loaf each without blinking. All skinny. The fattest person in this house (me!) is the one who eats the least. They eat tons but are incredibly active and growing like weeds.

My 6 year old can eat half a rack of ribs, and he's not overweight, just active and growing. You can't feed children like a grown adult lady -- they need much more fat and protein and carbs.

My two children, age 6 and 10 go through two gallons of milk a week.

If money is not an issue, buy and cook more food. Not enough food at dinner.

Make more food. A lot more. If no one is overweight what are you worried about? It seems much easier to just make double or triple the amount of food all at once instead of being shocked that they are still hungry. My DH, 3yo and I could eat 10 chicken thighs for dinner in one night. It sounds like you vastly underestimate the amount of food your family needs.

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

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.