teenage boys. How can we afford them?

[Denisemomof4]

Seriously. SERIOUSLY. On the grocery bill alone I just don't know how we can afford the. Honestly, where does all that food go? Their big toe? Their armpit hair? I just don't GET it. We spend over a thousand dollars per month for food, and they never have enough.

 

And they don't gain weight with all they eat? It's just SO unfair!!!

 

Again, where does all that food go?

 

It just AMAZES me to see the amount of food they can consume. I just never imagined.

:001_huh::001_huh::001_huh:

[elise1mds]

Don't scare me like that! ;) My daughter's going to be just as bad as my son, who already eats about twice as much as I do. I don't like thinking about it. I've threatened my son that I'll drop him off at Cici's Pizza every night because it'll be cheaper than actually fixing him food. Yeesh.

[Remudamom]

You have to raise cattle and have a big garden. Or teach them how to hunt and fish.

[RoughCollie]

My boys are thin and eat like they are horses. I knew what to expect because my skinny brother was like that.

 

Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, quesadillas, hot dogs, waffles (store-bought), pancakes, and homemade pizza are lifesavers here. Those are the between meal snacks, along with muffins, fruit, and cookies (once in awhile).

 

When I make hamburgers, I freeze or refrigerate cooked ones so they can pop them in the microwave for a snack. My boys are convenience oriented.

 

My sister bought the boys a quesadilla maker and they use that thing daily. They put cheese between the tortillas, which cheese I buy shredded and in bulk at Sam's Club.

 

I bought DS2 a stove top popcorn maker, because it is cheaper to use that than to invest in microwave popcorn.

 

The boys, OTOH, would love to eat out every day after school at some fast food place, or failing that, have our entire freezer stocked with frozen convenience foods. Our grocery bill would at least double if I did that, and it is already $1200 a month.

Edited May 10, 2010 by RoughCollie

[Colleen in SEVA]

Where is the emoticon for "she plugs her ears and can't hear you"? :tongue_smilie:

 

It already costs us $30 to go to Taco Bell (I remember when DH and I could both eat there for less than $10), I can only imagine what our food costs will be over the next 10 years. :svengo:

 

And for 10 years after that, I will have kids in college (3 at once for one year). :ack2:

 

At least I won't have to pay for weddings after that. :D

 

PS -- DH and I have already decided they will pay for their own auto insurance. OH MY!! :auto:

[RoughCollie]

Teenaged boys are the same. We were SURE we'd be rich once the oldest moved out, but the money just goes elsewhere. :glare:

 

Oh, don't say that! I was counting on have lots of discretionary income someday.

[RoughCollie]

My daughter's going to be just as bad as my son, who already eats about twice as much as I do. I don't like thinking about it.

 

Maybe not. My DD is a member of the healthy food police, which I would not have expected a few years ago. She eats yogurt and fruit smoothies for snacks, and hounds me about making healthy, low fat, low everything else that is bad for one, meals.

 

I keep hoping she will ruin the boys' appetites with her constant speeches on healthy eating. She thinks the boys are pigs, basically. I don't blame her. DS1 made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies the other night and they were all gone by dinnertime the next evening. The boys ate them, along with everything else in sight.

Edited May 10, 2010 by RoughCollie

[LibraryLover]

They really need to learn how to cook! I know cooking is costly, but reheating is moreso! lol My 16 yr old made himself scrambled eggs with veggies this morning. Later, he and his sister made banana bread, and had cheddar cheese on whole wheat bagels as a snack. For dinner, I made pasta with veggies, onions, ground turkey etc My son mowed nearly two acrs today, and seemed well-nourished. He drank a lot of water, too.

Around here, a frozen pizza is going to cost AT LEAST $6 but a plate of scrambled eggs won't. Deli cheese is costly, but baking muffins or the like with nutrient-dense ingredients is less so.

 

I do understand being able to cook is not the case for others, but the knowing how to cook basic meals without looking to the cabinets for chips or small boxes of microwave foods seems to matter. The homemade portion are healthier, larger, and are more nutrient dense.

[Sandy in Indy]

Buy another refrigerator NOW. Boys have two hollow legs and it takes massive amounts of food to fill them up! :w00t:

[wapiti]

Costco???

 

:lurk5: (four of my kids are boys, currently ages 2-7)

[RoughCollie]

They really need to learn how to cook!

 

My boys can cook basic meals. None of them enjoy cooking, but I'll be a monkey's uncle if they grow up to be like my DH, who cannot even boil an egg. The boys think cooking is women's work.

[Willow]

I'm worried my boy is just starting his growth spurt....and he is cealiac...its costs a fortune to feed him at the moment....NZ$7 a loaf, and he can eat that in one sitting.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I will have 2 teenage boys before long (well, you know how fast they grow) So I am sitting here with pen and paper taking notes :D

 

 

:bigear:

[TammyinTN]

Our guy is 12 and he eats like crazy. I make sure he gets tons of protein and I wish we had a cow out back because he goes through milk like water. ;)

[SABE]

I have 4 sons in a 6 year span. You're scaring me! It already amazes me how much food they can put away, and my oldest is only 7.5!

[Peela]

Mine hasnt been a big eater till recently- and he is starting to shoot up.

I am having trouble finding food he will eat. I wont buy sugary cereals, but he wont eat any others. He is allergic to too much wheat- can handle some. Has developed a milk allergy. All he wants to eat is meat and carbs, and we are not a big meat eating family. He makes himself pasta with pesto every single day, because he likes it. He sits and eats 5 oranges at a time. But he wont eat cakes or biscuits- just meat, pasta, white bread, lollies, and fruit. He will eat raw vegies if I cut them up for him. Green smoothies if I insist.

I want him to eat healthy- he doesnt want to. He just wants food, like a cave man.

[Osmosis Mom]

Well, at my house then yes, my non-eating ds began eating like a horse and is still going strong ike that two years later. However, my girls stop eating around age 15 (seriously, LOL!!) and end up being rail-thin and feeling so proud of their non-existing tummies, lol! With dd 16 I actually monitor that she gets some breakfast down and check her plates during other meals -except for when we are having ice-cream in which case the bigger portions, the better apparently.

 

Crazy kids.

[Carrie12345]

I'm trying to figure out whether I want more money, or more time!

 

Cooking from scratch has been helpful, but I'm so lazy when it comes to the time consuming things like baking.

 

Ds ate an entire (large) pizza the other night. I didn't realize it until I went to put leftovers away and didn't find any. He can eat 6-8 (homemade) tacos or burritos and be looking for more. 3 bowls of cereal are nothing. And eggs? Man, I wish I could have chickens!

 

He's only like that with his favorite foods, so I tend to lean toward his not-so-favorites. Then I feel guilty, wondering if he's getting the calories he needs.

 

When he has his shirt off, I can count every rib from across the room. :glare:

[nevergiveup]

I guess I will chime in and give a little hope to some. I have two boys but they, for the most part, do not eat me out of house and home. They are 15 and 17 and their growth has been steady--not shooting up several inches at a time, although the younger one had a quicker growth curve than the older one. Both are around 6' tall now--the 17 year old is very well muscled and manly-looking and around 170#; the 15 year old is a bean pole--around 145-150#.

[ciyates]

Whatever you do don't let them play a sport that burns a lot of calories like swimming. DS is eating between 4,500-5000 calories a day and dropping weight like you would not believe. Not that he had it to lose to begin with. Do you know how hard it is to get him that many calories on healthy food? We are throwing in a little more junk than normal just to get him up there! Of course he isn't complaining. :D

[Impish]

Please God, let us get to the acreage BEFORE Tazzie is a teenager! Please!

[kokotg]

Look at my sig to see why such threads terrify me. My almost 9 year old already eats an adult meal at a restaurant and immediately says, "I'm still hungry." 3 boys, with a 4 1/2 year total spread. And they're HUGE. The smallest one is in 90th percentile for height, 80th for weight. I didn't realize the consequences of marrying a tall guy until it was too late. 9 1/2 pound babies who quickly turn into bottomless pits. Thanks a lot DH ;)

[elegantlion]

Last year my ds had trouble finishing a happy meal. He now orders a 12" sandwich from Subway. :glare:

 

OTOH my dh has had a big decrease in his appetite. He's getting older and his metabolism is slowing down. Yesterday I told him that was to compensate for all the food ds is going to eat in the next few years. :lol:

[MamaT]

My ds11 has not started eating like that yet, but I know it is coming. My 16yo, on the other hand, ate a dozen scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning. :001_smile:

 

The part you don't see coming, IMO, is that when the friends of your son realize you cook every night - THEY SHOW UP!

 

I have at least two extra BIG teenage boys two or three times a week. I start looking for other things to add to the meal. One of the really big ones asks, "Is everyone through?" And then goes and eats the rest of the food in the kitchen every time. I want to tell my son I can't afford to feed him AND his friends, but then I realize they are at MY house and I know where my son is, who his friends are, etc. and I shut my mouth and cook.

[Lucy in Australia]

Whatever you do don't let them play a sport that burns a lot of calories like swimming

 

Oh, this is so true! My eldest is seriously into swimming, and the younger one swims once a week but also plays basketball. My goodness. I was feeling rather smug over summer because I seemed to be able to budget our groceries so well... Of course I was. The boys had taken a break from all their sports. As soon as the school year started (February here) so did the sports. I literally had no money left halfway through the month and couldn't work out why :001_huh: Now I'm cooking beans & pulses again. Fortunately my boys love lentils. :D And I'm seriously checking out ways I can get my meat in bulk. Just throw the whole cow at us.

[HayesW]

The oldest of my 4 boys turned 8 last week. He's outgrown the kids' menus at most places now. I don't know what we will do when ALL of them are teenagers! ACK!

[Lolly]

Eggs, lots of eggs. I really wish we could keep chickens. I also keep (or try to) cooked chicken breasts in the fridge. He uses it for sandwiches and chicken quesadillas. Rice pudding. Easy to heat up and fairly cheap to make. And, I always have boxes of cereal on hand. (He prefers to eat protein.)

[FaithManor]

I have three boys ages 10, 11.5, and 13. They already eat a huge amount of food and manage to stay completely skinny. I buy regular size pants with the adjustable waist for the oldest and then just pull them up maybe two notches. For the others, I have to buy slims with adjustable waist and still pull them up several notches. Its disgusting. If I look at that much food, I gain weight!

 

That said, I have discovered that with boys, yes they seem to need a lot of food, but they also have a tendency to eat just to eat...they don't have to be actually hungry. They just simply "get the munchies".

 

So, my rule is that they have to make something from scratch if they want to eat between meal times. I do not keep any kind of cereal, snack crackers, or other convenience food on hand. DS 13 is a budding chef so if they get the munchies between meals, they will sometimes convince him to make chocolate chip muffins, scrambled eggs, or no-bake cookies. I then set a limit on how much they can eat. Sometimes he cooks, sometimes he doesn't. They also get to have string cheese (one at a time and no more than one per day) or apples/pears which are cheap here in Michigan. Usually, a combo of string cheese and an apple will hold them over.

 

I make large bowls of mashed potatoes at just about every evening meal. This seems to help. I also usually serve something with cheese along with the entry because the fat goes a long way.

 

They eat soooooooooo much more than their sister ever did! My grandmother always said that the only way she could have ever fed her two sons was the huge garden and orchard they had. She canned, froze, and dehydrated huge amounts of food. My dad used to eat peaches right out of the can for her after school snack.

 

Faith

[Denisemomof4]

Maybe not. My DD is a member of the healthy food police, which I would not have expected a few years ago. She eats yogurt and fruit smoothies for snacks, and hounds me about making healthy, low fat, low everything else that is bad for one, meals.

 

I keep hoping she will ruin the boys' appetites with her constant speeches on healthy eating. She thinks the boys are pigs, basically. I don't blame her. DS1 made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies the other night and they were all gone by dinnertime the next evening. The boys ate them, along with everything else in sight.

oh, don't get me started on yogurt! We buy 8 of the large Stoney Field yogurts and they don't last a week. Younger ds will eat an entire one to himself but dh put an end to that, telling him HALF a container per day. Still - that's a LOT of yogurt!!!

 

Baked goods - no matter how many times I triple, quadruple, etc. the recipe, they're gone in a night.

[Denisemomof4]

Buy another refrigerator NOW. Boys have two hollow legs and it takes massive amounts of food to fill them up! :w00t:

 

oh, we've had two refrigerators for YEARS now. ;)

[babysparkler]

*I can't hear you* *I can't hear you*....

 

All three of my boys are big eaters... and they are no where close to being teenagers yet. :001_huh:

[LibraryLover]

LOL You're all making me laugh. :001_smile:

 

Who said eggs? I agree with eggs. They are so filling!

[T'smom]

I don't have teen boys yet, but seeing how much dh eats- I'll be in trouble when I do! Dh comes home for lunch- I'll have made something like tuna melts with grapes and carrots. He'll eat 2 of the tuna melts, tons of grapes/carrots but then he'll go back and make himself a bowl of cereal AND a peanut butter sandwich AND get out a bag of chips AND a carton of yogurt! Oh, and we also have green smoothies for lunch! For dinner, I'll make some recipe that is supposed to serve 6- we're lucky if we have any leftovers. Every time he walks in the door he wants to know what we have to eat! I feel like I spend all my time trying to feed him! And he still weighs the same amount that he weighed in high school- and he wasn't overweight then! He doesn't even have a physically demanding job- he's not sitting at a desk all day, but it's also not manual labor. I have no idea how he eats so much

[Snickerdoodle]

I'm afraid for my future.

[TravelingChris]

My only really big eater now is my 13dd. SHe is worried about that she is hungry. I thinks she just needs to eat. SHe has grown 2.5 inches in less than a year and she is still growing. SHe had a very long time with almost no growth (over two years) and now she is making up, I think. My problem is that she is extremely picky- guess I need another talk to her about what she actually wants to eat now.

[Leanna Tomlinson]

Maybe not. My DD is a member of the healthy food police, which I would not have expected a few years ago. She eats yogurt and fruit smoothies for snacks, and hounds me about making healthy, low fat, low everything else that is bad for one, meals.

 

I keep hoping she will ruin the boys' appetites with her constant speeches on healthy eating. She thinks the boys are pigs, basically. I don't blame her. DS1 made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies the other night and they were all gone by dinnertime the next evening. The boys ate them, along with everything else in sight.

 

Are you sure you don't live at my house? Or maybe our dd's went to the same food police school? My 2nd dd has trained my 6yo to ask if food has high fructose corn syrup. If it does, my 6yo will politely refuse.

 

Thank goodness for dieting daughters! Of course they are boiling mad that their brother can put away massive amounts of food and remain skinny.

 

My 15 yo is 6'5" and we go through two Sam's double boxes of Cheerios every week. He eats 3-4 bowls of Cheerios a day on top of 4-5 meals per day plus a protein bar thrown in here and there for good measure. And the younger two boys haven't even started their growth spurts yet....

[Jennifer in MI]

Yea. My boys are 14, 12, and 9. I swear the 14 yo tells me CONSTANTLY how hungry he is. I agree with the poster who said that she doesn't keep snack food around. That cuts down on the "I'm bored, feed me" eating. Around here snacks include:

 

fruit (apple with peanut butter, pears, melon, etc0)

Veggies (usually with homemade hummus)

 

When I offer pita with hummus, they'll go through two bags of pita in one sitting!!! So, veggies it is!

 

popcorn - We usually put parmesan cheese on it so we get the protein

Oatmeal - a couple of my kids put peanut butter in it.

Hard boiled eggs

PB sandwich

 

Occasionally, the kids bake. I do discourage it too much though because I eat too much that way!!! :lol:

[sassenach]

Dh and I had this discussion yesterday regarding our 7yo. He was at a friends house yesterday and dh picked him up with our girls in tow. The girls were hungry for lunch so dh asks ds if he had lunch yet. Ds answers yes, but he's still hungry. Dh asks what he had. Ds answers 4 hot dogs. :glare::001_huh: The boy goes on to eat 1/2 of a subway sandwich. He has not an ounce of fat on his body. I have no idea how we're going to afford him.

[mrsrevmeg]

My oldest can out eat me in almost every meal, and yet is skinny as a rail. My middle son does not eat much, but it is because he only wants junk food and we do not keep much junk in the house. He will eat fruit. We are going to go broke buying kiwis and raspberries to feed him! My youngest has been eating like a horse for the past year trying to gain 7 pounds. We went to The Space and Rocket Center last year. He weighed 43 pounds. To do one activity, the minimum weight is 50. He now weighs 47. :glare: I dread the next few years when the teen years are in full force, then comes college. :eek:

[FaithManor]

Oh, I forgot to tell you that when my third ds was born, the mid-wife gave me some advice. "NEVER, under any circumstances, allow your teenage sons to have their friends over for the afternoon on your grocery shopping day...You will live to regret it....they offer to help you carry the groceries in and then demolish all of it before supper time. $150.00 worth of groceries down the tubes with the only thing left being raw meat!"

 

I looked at her like she was relating some sort of crazy, delusion. After all, how could my sweet baby boy ever eat like that? Boy, was I wrong, the last boy out eats his father and he's only ten/skinny as a gumby.

 

Our 4-H group has 11 boys out of 15 kids. We have practically outlawed snacks because it could break the bank. Of course, its an issue because when we do metal castings, the meeting can be three hours long and boys just don't last three hours without calories. At least not without much weeping and gnashing of teeth. LOL

 

Faith

[Lolly]

Are you sure you don't live at my house? Or maybe our dd's went to the same food police school? My 2nd dd has trained my 6yo to ask if food has high fructose corn syrup. If it does, my 6yo will politely refuse.

 

Thank goodness for dieting daughters! Of course they are boiling mad that their brother can put away massive amounts of food and remain skinny.

 

My 15 yo is 6'5" and we go through two Sam's double boxes of Cheerios every week. He eats 3-4 bowls of Cheerios a day on top of 4-5 meals per day plus a protein bar thrown in here and there for good measure. And the younger two boys haven't even started their growth spurts yet....

 

My girls don't diet, they put away massive quantities too. Their growth period doesn't seem to last as long though. Just two or three years for them. I'm afraid for boys it just keeps going and going and going.

[Denisemomof4]

My only really big eater now is my 13dd. SHe is worried about that she is hungry. I thinks she just needs to eat. SHe has grown 2.5 inches in less than a year and she is still growing. SHe had a very long time with almost no growth (over two years) and now she is making up, I think. My problem is that she is extremely picky- guess I need another talk to her about what she actually wants to eat now.

 

both my boys grew 6 inches when they were 14. Both were 6 feet tall at 14. In fact, my younger ds is 6'1 and is still 14. And the food? I know it helped him grow, but seriously, I think feeding a herd of cattle would have been cheaper. ;)

:lol:

 

older ds's suit pants seemed shorter last week, so maybe he finally hit 6'2. He doesn't eat as much as he used to, and it's a TREMENDOUS help that he works in a kitchen and eats there most nights for dinner when he does work. The 14 year old more than makes up for him though......:glare:

[Cedarmom]

My son is finally leveling off. Through his teenage years it seemed like he ate 6 meals a day. His "snacks" were a huge plate of nachos, giant quesadillas, homemade pizza on english muffins. I couldn't keep food in the house. I gave up and bought some frozen food for him to heat up (pizza's) and giant cheap tubs of ice cream for him to make milkshakes. He is 18 now and doesn't constantly eat. Though after I go to bed I often hear him in the kitchen making himself a snack.

[RoughCollie]

Baked goods - no matter how many times I triple, quadruple, etc. the recipe, they're gone in a night.

 

Freeze them. I freeze cookie dough already scooped out into individual cookies. First I freeze the cookies directly on the cookie sheets. Then I put them in bags of 1 dozen each. It's the only way I can think of to limit consumption, because the boys never think of raiding the freezer for cookies. For other than drop cookies, I bake before freezing.

 

I do the same with muffins -- freeze them unbaked, but in filled muffin cup liners. I freeze them first in the muffin tins, then remove the muffins and stick them in a freezer bag.

Edited May 10, 2010 by RoughCollie

[Jennifer in MI]

Freeze them. I freeze cookie dough already scooped out into individual cookies. First I freeze the cookies directly on the cookie sheets. Then I put them in bags of 1 dozen each. It's the only way I can think of to limit consumption, because the boys never think of raiding the freezer for cookies. For other than drop cookies, I bake before freezing.

 

I do the same with muffins -- freeze them unbaked, but in filled muffin cup liners. I freeze them first in the muffin tins, then remove the muffins and stick them in a freezer bag.

 

I tried that once. I ate them. All.

 

I don't do that anymore!

[TXMary2]

As a mom of three boys, two of which are teenagers, I feel your pain. Our grocery bill is outrageous. They do eat tons of food, are always hungry and they never gain an ounce. I am glad they like pasta and rice!

[AuntieM]

Two teen boys here, one plays football and the other does Tae Kwon Do. I somewhat anticipated the increase in grocery costs, but wow, just observing the quantity of food they eat... amazing what they seem to really need!

 

Here are some things that I must always have on hand... eggs (as has been mentioned), peanut butter, potatoes, brown rice and cereal. Yogurt is good, too, but they polish it off rather quickly, it's hard to keep in stock! I find that I cook lots of beans and we go through tons of bananas and apples (shoulda planted an apple tree the day we moved in here :glare:). I cook chili pretty often and in addition to the beef I chock it full of turkey, corn, beans and various veggies. It's a good grab-and-go thing, they can easily pop a bit in the microwave when they need a bite. I would like to keep more quality cheeses and nuts on hand, I think that's good protein for growing boys, but those items are tough on the grocery bill.

 

I cannot harvest a successful crop of tomatoes because the boys and their friends eat them right off the vine as soon as they go red. This year I am going to plant designated snacking bushes.

 

Anyway, for me the big sticker shock has not come with feeding a house full of teenagers. No, it's the cost of personal grooming that is killing us. DH has an electric razor, but there are now 4 of us under roof that regularly use razor blades... priced those lately? Might want to start saving now! Not to mention deodorant, acne meds, shampoo, feminine products, nail polish remover.... This is a budget area that caught me totally off guard.

[Jennifer in MI]

Anyway, for me the big sticker shock has not come with feeding a house full of teenagers. No, it's the cost of personal grooming that is killing us. DH has an electric razor, but there are now 4 of us under roof that regularly use razor blades... priced those lately? Might want to start saving now! Not to mention deodorant, acne meds, shampoo, feminine products, nail polish remover.... This is a budget area that caught me totally off guard.

 

You need to look into couponing at the drug stores!!! I haven't paid for those things for two years now. But, I also get free toothpaste, Advil, Benadryl, etc. I've got enough that I give a BUNCH away at Christmas to family. I also let friends "shop" in my supply closet sometimes. It's a fun game for me!!

[AuntieM]

You need to look into couponing at the drug stores!!! I haven't paid for those things for two years now. But, I also get free toothpaste, Advil, Benadryl, etc. I've got enough that I give a BUNCH away at Christmas to family. I also let friends "shop" in my supply closet sometimes. It's a fun game for me!!

 

Thanks, Jennifer, I have heard of many people doing this, but I guess I need the "tutorial"! Now that things are slowing down for the summer, I have time to figure it out. Really, there has to be a better - more economical - way to keep stocked on these items.

 

Think I'll start a new thread...

[RoughCollie]

I tried that once. I ate them. All. I don't do that anymore!

 

My mother thinks I am an anomaly because I am not fond of sweets, especially chocolate. I will eat them, but only if (a) I am in the mood, (b) they are prepared exactly to my liking with the highest quality ingredients, usually by me.

 

For instance, I like peanut butter cookies, but only if they are criss-crossed with a fork, and very thin. I don't make them like that for the kids -- I form the balls and they flatten while they bake.

Edited May 10, 2010 by RoughCollie