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What do your teens eat?


amdirel

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Arrghh I've just thrown out yet another bin full of food out of the fridge, because my teens go straight for 2min noodles and plain pasta, every time. The 18yo is the worst, and doesn't really eat anything that involves more than opening a packet. The 13yo will eat premade falafels, and sometimes make ham and cheese jaffles, and he'll cook some premade meatballs when I buy them. Oh and tins of tuna.

When I get cranky and tell them to use their brains and *make* something, they look at me blankly and say there's nothing there. They just don't seem to be able to look at a fridge full of ingredients and make anything different to eat. Which is what I used to do when I was a kid.

I was thinking maybe I need to write them a list of ideas of quick and easy meals. I don't know.


What do your teens make for themselves? For breakfast lunch and snacks?

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That sounds like my husband.


Do they ever cook dinner for the family?

Do you have a leftover section in the fridge?

 

Yes and yes. Certain leftovers they will fight over, others just get left there until they go in the bin.


They can follow a recipe to cook dinner. But they can only follow the recipe. No creative thought.

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Meh I get it. I struggle to look at ingredients and see a meal. I need recipes. I can’t do creative thought when it comes to cooking, it’s overwhelming and too much potential to go wrong!


My teens eat noodles, pasta, rice, toast and eggs when they have to do it themselves. They can cook but they like quick and easy and back to what they were doing. They eat well at meals, so I just let it go.

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A lot of people don’t have that skill. Some people develop it after years of cooking, some people just never get there.


If they have any interest, I would do a ready steady cook type night where someone buys 5 ingredients for $x and someone else has to use it up creatively. I’d also get them watching shows like The Best leftovers on Netflix and get a few cookbooks like Save with Jamie. They might like the cookbook Matt Okine put together from the tv show, I forget the name now.


If they don’t have any interest, I think you’re probably stuck with writing up a few ideas.

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Not teens, but I have a child with coeliac and his ability to imagine food to go into his lunchbox sounds similarly frustrating. About 2 years ago I did up some flash cards for him to look through to choose - he is very visual, and somewhat argumentative. Meant I wasn’t putting out ideas for him to say no to, and he got the suggestions in a different way.


Prompts aren’t the end of the world parenting wise if they help. I use them for myself at times too.


Also what I’ve been working on lately is a meal plan including snacks. It was an area our nutritional values were falling down, so planning to do something about it on the weekend means less packaged snacks and more protein and vegetables. It could be an activity for the teens to do if they’re capable of making a meal?

Eg make a batch of anzacs on the weekend. Or make a batch of egg muffins. Or chia puddings etc. I have no idea if they’d go for this - as usual my ideals about what my kids will be able to do are probably way off but I am hoping to help them build their food repertoire and life skills like meal planning. I acknowledge this may well be as futile as hoping for a toddler who doesn’t tantrum.

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I think for some teens, by the time they are hitting the kitchen, they need food and they need it now.


DS has been making sandwiches, he goes through a lot of bread. He also likes to put sliced salami in the oven to make chips, so he is happy to wait in those circumstances. Drives me nuts because I come home to a house that stinks, and I get extra frustrated when he has done this on a stinking hot day.

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Jersey Caramel

I would just put a list of ideas on the front of the fridge according to what groceries you have bought for the week. I do the same for myself for packing lunchboxes. I often have a complete mind blank when it comes time to make food.

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VeritasVinumArte

We have a Ham&Salami sandwich monster (Mr13) here.


Mr 15 is a Toasted Cheese sandwich and Fruitless Hot Cross buns (cooked in oven). He will also bake weekly (minimum time restrictions by mum) Chocolate Chip Cookies. He also makes himself pizza (pizza oven using Pita Bread base).


Mr 15 did a semester of Nutrition where he was cooking every week. Grade 7 Mr 13 had his homeroom teacher lead a lunchtime cooking session as a virtual get together during lockdown.

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Arrghh I've just thrown out yet another bin full of food out of the fridge, because my teens go straight for 2min noodles and plain pasta, every time. The 18yo is the worst, and doesn't really eat anything that involves more than opening a packet. The 13yo will eat premade falafels, and sometimes make ham and cheese jaffles, and he'll cook some premade meatballs when I buy them. Oh and tins of tuna.

When I get cranky and tell them to use their brains and *make* something, they look at me blankly and say there's nothing there. They just don't seem to be able to look at a fridge full of ingredients and make anything different to eat. Which is what I used to do when I was a kid.

I was thinking maybe I need to write them a list of ideas of quick and easy meals. I don't know.


What do your teens make for themselves? For breakfast lunch and snacks?

 

Snacks/lunch will often be a toastie, either with bread or roti. Breakfast is often left overs (this morning it was fried rice), otherwise something with eggs, or a smoothie. DS doesn't often to get to open packet food as we don't often have, other than tinned spaghetti.

 

I think for some teens, by the time they are hitting the kitchen, they need food and they need it now.

That is so so true

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Meh I get it. I struggle to look at ingredients and see a meal. I need recipes. I can’t do creative thought when it comes to cooking, it’s overwhelming and too much potential to go wrong!


My teens eat noodles, pasta, rice, toast and eggs when they have to do it themselves. They can cook but they like quick and easy and back to what they were doing. They eat well at meals, so I just let it go.

 

A lot of people don’t have that skill. Some people develop it after years of cooking, some people just never get there.


If they have any interest, I would do a ready steady cook type night where someone buys 5 ingredients for $x and someone else has to use it up creatively. I’d also get them watching shows like The Best leftovers on Netflix and get a few cookbooks like Save with Jamie. They might like the cookbook Matt Okine put together from the tv show, I forget the name now.


If they don’t have any interest, I think you’re probably stuck with writing up a few ideas.

 

Yeah I know, some people just can't do it. And that's ok.

Sorry I probably wasn't clear in my OP; I'm past the point of trying to get them to be creative; they're obviously just not those kind of people.

I want to write them a list of ideas and mini recipe type things that they can reference.


Thanks everyone for the ideas so far.

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Do you have pie maker? Or the Kmart sausage roll maker?


Quick and easy to make even things like frittata etc.

 

Sausage roll maker?? Sounds cool. Off to Google...

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Ok that looks like fun. They both like sausage rolls too. And Taste has a section of recipes just for it!!


Other than that, we just have a jaffle maker. I'm wondering if a standard flat sandwich maker would be good too, maybe. Not sure about a pie maker. 13yo can be a bit of a doofus when it comes to waiting for food to cool down lol

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VeritasVinumArte

We have both a flat and jaffle maker.


Mr 13 has also made himself Nachos (from teacher lunchtime lessons).


ETA his homeroom teacher was Male so a great role model teaching the boys how to cook (boys school).

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Jersey Caramel

I should have added some of the things I have on my fridge list in case anything takes your fancy (some things I premake on a Sunday so they are in the fridge ready for the week):

- Hard boiled eggs (good sliced on cruskits/toast or smashed with mayo and lettuce on a sandwich)

- Brekkie jars of layered yoghurt/granola/berries and I do a layer of chia pudding in mine- kids less keen on the chia though) - great to grab and go with a spoon

- Bliss balls (Google for recipe - essentially fresh dates, coconut, oats, cocoa etc all whizzed up and made into balls - various types/flavours)

- Hommus, tzatziki or other dips with crackers/ carrot sticks

- Toasties - ham & cheese, pesto & cheese, tuna & cheese etc

- Popcorn

- Trail mix (nuts, sultanas, nutrigrain etc)

- Celery sticks with peanut butter

- Frozen dumplings/dim sims - can steam them in the microwave easily

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Ok that looks like fun. They both like sausage rolls too. And Taste has a section of recipes just for it!!


Other than that, we just have a jaffle maker. I'm wondering if a standard flat sandwich maker would be good too, maybe. Not sure about a pie maker. 13yo can be a bit of a doofus when it comes to waiting for food to cool down lol

 

People make other things in the sausage roll maker too. Have a look on YouTube. I’m sure I’ve seen things like apple pie ala maccas.

If you get a grill, get one that slopes down, then they can grill sausages/bacon etc on it as well. GF grills now have removable plates for easy washing too.

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Its so hard, isnt it! My teens wont cook anything more than 2 min noodles! They can cook, but they dont like to. They would just pack two slices of bread when I tell them to make their own lunch! They will make fruit smoothies quite regularly, which are nice and filling, I usually have berries and bananas on hand for this. they also snack on:

tuna

boiled eggs (I will boil 10 at a time and they disappear!)

hommus and crackers/carrot/cucumber/capcicum, but only if I prepare it - they wont do it for themselves

sandwiches when they are motivated

apples and watermellon

carrots on their own


Naturally, they always claim they are always hungry..

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DS is only 10 so not a teen yet. He’ll make himself cheese toasties under the grill or peanut butter and jam toast/sandwich. If there’s leftover pasta ... plain or with sauce he’ll reheat and eat. Other than that he grabs fruit, yogurt, cereal, nuts or popcorn.

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Mine go straight for the bread (sandwiches and toast), milk (cereal and milk) and fruit. I'm just waiting for the next growth spurt (they're 12 and 13) and then ill really be in trouble ..

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On the one hand you shouldn't have to do this when they're not children anymore, but on the other hand, it works, so: cut up the carrots and celery before they go into the fridge, and put them in little containers. Ditto watermelon and other fruit, even just cutting the green bits off strawberries. If fruit and veg is as easy to pick up and eat as packaged food, it gets eaten. And you shouldn't have to tell them what food they like either, it's frustrating, but still effective: eg "there's carrots and that dip you like, have that" or "you could spread that celery with peanut butter; I already cut it into stalks".

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