serious problem

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  • zacksnana
    zacksnana Posts: 3,230 Member
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    Buy a small locking fridge for what you need for your meals. Continue to cook meals for them but no chips etc. put leftovers from dinner that they don't eat in fridge. Mark their own containers, whatever. When they cry hungry again send them to their leftovers. If they don't want that they probably are not really hungry.
  • shaynak112
    shaynak112 Posts: 751 Member
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    Stop buying snacks, junk, treats, etc. If YOU want something, lock it up somehow.
    If I had family members going through all my stuff, hidden at the back of my closet, etc., then there are other issues besides food.
  • debgetzfit
    debgetzfit Posts: 15
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    Stop buying the snacks like mini Doritos bags and popcorn. It sounds like you make enough food at meals to have leftovers which they can have for snacks the next day when they're hungry instead of the snacks...and it does sound like you need a locking cabinet as sad as it may be. I don't have grown boys, but a 6 year-old and I'm not looking forward to that phase!
    Good luck!
  • lil_bit_crazy
    lil_bit_crazy Posts: 161 Member
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    If you're that strapped for cash, check out your local food pantry. Situations like yours are exactly what they're for.

    I bargain shop. I can get ENOUGH to last for the week. Its not that I'm strapped for cash. Its that they eat it all within 2 days. It wouldn't matter if I bought double, hit food banks, cleaned out a grocery store. If its in my house they EAT IT ALL!

    I get meat on sale. Bread I make homemade. I buy freezer items in bulk. I use coupons. Last week my total was $260. After the coupons, buy 1 get 1, sales and MVP discount card my total was $81. I really know how to bargain shop...newspapers are my friends.
  • PicNic00
    PicNic00 Posts: 269 Member
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    I tell my family once it's gone, it's gone... I only go to the store once a week. So if they eat everything 2 days later.... they wait until I go to the store again. (And i hide my expensive goodies.)
  • kmm7309
    kmm7309 Posts: 802 Member
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    Stop buying snack foods. Seriously- nothing. If YOU want snack foods, make it non-perishable, and it goes in YOUR room, under the bed or something.

    My screwy sons did the same crap for awhile (15 and 14). Now they just don't get snacks. No cereal. Nothing. I have eggs- they have hands and they can cook if they are hungry. I provide dinner and lunch, so they can cook their own breakfast.
  • _Sara_A_
    _Sara_A_ Posts: 113 Member
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    Couple options are have the boys get jobs for treat such as chips, chocolate, cereals full of sugar. That way your money can go to nutritious foods that you want in the house. If they're preteen boys, they can get paper routes, cut grass, shovel snow, etc. Teenagers can get jobs anywhere. Another option is if they're old enough sit down with them and show them the food budget and meal plan for the week, so they can understand where you're money is going for food. Maybe they have some ideas that you haven't thought of.
  • WickedBean
    WickedBean Posts: 244 Member
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    Can I make a suggestion? It might sound crazy but Its the only way I could stop my one roommate (we share the food bill) I stopped buying the snacks.

    I ask what he wants when I go and he will say "what ever food is food" but the second the snacks came in then he would eat that and nothing else.

    as for the cereal and the milk, freeze one. Milk will thaw and be normal if you buy 2 and freeze one they will slow down - my mom did this when we were growing up, and to this day when we go home she always has 2 but only has one in the fridge and one in the freezer. We all know its there but milk takes forever to thaw so we were sure that we always saved the milk - no one wants to wait for milk in the morning lol when you notice you have about a cup left take the other one out of the freezer and thaw it, by morning you will have enough for your protein or w/e. Dry cereal that isn't easy to eat dry makes it harder to devour the whole box when you have no milk.

    Basically make it difficult, my mom made are rule in our house - thing we REALLY wanted we had to wait until saturday. And then we could have crackers or chips or what ever we wanted because thats when she would go grocery shopping and to this day (I am almost 30) I don't have any kind of snack food in my house until saturday and then I go and buy it and eat it and I am good until next week. It also helps with eating the good food, they will only starve for so long before they weaken and give in.
  • rugbyphreak
    rugbyphreak Posts: 509 Member
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    until they're really starving, they won't eat what you make. trust me, if they're hungry enough, they'll chow down on some celery or even grass if it gets down to it. that's what it took for me to eat dinner, 3 days of forcing myself not to eat because i didn't like what my mom made. that hunger strike didn't last long and i learned to appreciate what food i was given.
  • karimlakhani
    karimlakhani Posts: 21 Member
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    For me carb or sugar heavy foods like cereal, milk, popcorn, and chips are very easy to overeat and don't really satisfy my hunger for long. I recommend buying foods that are high in fiber, fat, and protein instead. Foods like that are more filling, so your kids will probably need to eat less and will feel less hungry too. Good luck!
  • going2befit4ever
    going2befit4ever Posts: 225 Member
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    to stop the arguments we gave the kids (6) $8/week to buy their cereal they were cereal killers and would do the same the 1st week they did the same with the expensive "bad" and then had to eat toast or steel cut oats till the following wednesday the extra money was for their junk food amazingly they began to buy cheaper cereal, the ones which when I bought them were greeted with complaint and the middle son has a side business of selling his cereal to the highest bidder, and for me peace
  • dinosnopro
    dinosnopro Posts: 2,179 Member
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    I really don't know where else to go to get ideas or vent. I am on my cell phone so yeah, I'll be txt typing.

    I have a VERY limited budget for food. As in @$75 per week for 5 people and 3 of those are growing boys.
    I buy healthy lasting items (freezer bulk things) and try to get a few things like a bag or 2 of chips or popcorn for a snack to last a few days.

    Today I went to the store and spent $35 on enough food for 4 days. I got 2 gallons of milk and cereal for them for the next 2 mornings. They have been told over and over and over DRINK WATER or koolaid.

    Tonight I go in the kitchen to get my 8 oz milk with my protein mix....ALL the cereal is gone. There is no milk left. The chips are gone. I am almost completely out of food again! This happens every time I go to the store!
    There is hamburger chicken potatoes green beans corn carrots and water left until Saturday.

    When I make food they wont eat it. Then cry they are hungry. I am not a short order cook. This is not a restaurant. If I cook breakfast lunch dinner from now til Saturday the food wont last.

    I thought of getting a locking cabinet but I shouldn't have to lock up food.
    They are pigs. They are inconsiderate and thoughtless. This has gone on for MONTHS!
    I have grounded, taken things, stopped buying treats, and yes I've busted their *kitten*. I don't care that they eat SOME but they eat ALL. Example ..I'll buy the 25 pk of popcorn for 2 weeks. Every last one is GONE within 2 DAYS. I've tried hiding food. Locking my bedroom door. Doesn't work. They ask to get something like batteries and go in, next thing ya know popcorn has 1 by 1 disappeared.
    They aren't starving. They are healthy and active.
    what would you do? I'm so tired of running out of food because they think they have to eat it all the day I buy it.



    Is this Alec Baldwin? They are growing boys they need to eat. If they are old enough to cook stop buying the junk and buy more whole foods and make them cook it.
  • JuneBPrice
    JuneBPrice Posts: 294
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    Teenage boys eat like you wouldn't believe. All I can say it, make all of their meals and say that if they don't eat that, then go hungry. That's my parents did with me.
  • tishad58
    tishad58 Posts: 110 Member
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    Don't buy the snack/treats/junk food. You'll save money and your kids will be healthier.
  • JosieRawr
    JosieRawr Posts: 788 Member
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    how old are they?
  • kr3851
    kr3851 Posts: 994 Member
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    Growing up we didn't want for much - but we NEVER had mini bags of Doritos, popcorn, or other snacky foods like other kids. My mum made a batch of choc-chip cookies and that was our snack for the week. 4 kids and 24 cookies don't go very far - but we knew that once they were gone, we wouldn't get any more until the next Sunday. If we were hungry, we ate what was there or went without.

    It's hard to deny your kids, but eventually they will learn that you have what you have, and if they are genuinely hungry, they will eat the apples or whatever you can afford for them to eat. Make them aware that what you buy for the week is FOR THE WEEK, and if they finish it all before the week is out, that's it, no more.

    Make sure you fill the fruit bowl and show them how to prepare simple snacks to replace the easy-to-grab stuff. Toast, grilled cheese, veggie sticks. Get them involved in the shopping so that they can see how much things cost and can compare the cost of a bag of Doritos to the ingredients of a simple meal for 5. They shouldn't be worrying about whether or not you can afford to feed them, but they should be aware of how much more food you can buy if you stick to the staples and cook bigger batches of things that you all ENJOY eating.
  • subcult
    subcult Posts: 262 Member
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    Old fashioned pop corn should slow them down some too plus you can get a lot for little. If they have to pop it them selves and are forced to clean the mess it makes a big difference . I find I make it for myself way less often due to that fact.
  • Fasbold
    Fasbold Posts: 29
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    Don't buy the junk food. Once it's gone, they have to eat what you fix. I remember being a teenage boy and eating everything in sight. By the end of the month I was eating lots of saltines & peanut butter. Active teenage boys are bottomless pits. If I buy junk food, like a bag of chips, my youngest eats it in one sitting. I know this, so I rarely buy junk food. Plus it is expensive and brings out his ADD. I took him off meds because I don't keep junk in the house.

    If they don't eat what you fix, then save their plates and they get leftovers until it is gone. It is not child abuse to make sure there is food on the table. If you are worried about germs, then you fill their plates. Do you sit at the table? That also makes a world of difference.

    You are the mom. Don't let them set the rules. It will drive you and them crazy.
  • ZoeyRobinson
    ZoeyRobinson Posts: 301
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    I would say stop buying snacks and only bring in the food you are going to make meals with.
  • jennifer_a00
    jennifer_a00 Posts: 186 Member
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    My kids eat TONS of bananas, carrots and celery with peanut butter, which are all pretty cheap. I know how it is, I have 3 kids and I am a student and my hubby is underemployed right now. I don't buy chips or popcorn or anything. Don't give into the kids demands. You are the parent and decide what they eat.
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