serious problem

I had an older brother and a younger sister. Imagine when we were all teenagers at the same time.

If you were hungry, there was always bread and peanut butter. Chips were a rare treat. The big event was when my Dad made a thin crust homemade pizza on a Saturday night for a snack!

I'd reduce the snack, and start buying milk one at a time. I'd read them the riot act too. There must be some pain point you can use to hold over their heads. Xbox, TV or Internet time, etc.

Good luck. You are already performing a miracle in feeding them for $75 a week. My family of 3 is probably double that.

Don't want them to munch their way through every expensive, empty caloric food you have in the house? Don't buy them. We keep a pound of cut up carrots, cheese sticks, and apples in the fridge at all times. Once or twice they've eaten an entire pound of carrots, but carrots are .50/lb.

Having trouble getting them to eat what you cook? Stop giving them an out. Children adapt. There's no "kid food" in my house, and my kids eat things some adults won't touch (spicy foods, sushi, curry, leafy veggies.)

Having said that, I'm incredibly disturbed that you've grounded and beaten your children for eating. Way to ruin their relationship with food. Children need tons of calories and are disorganized eaters. YOU teach them how to eat. If you don't want them to eat over priced snacks, don't buy them. Providing the right foods is your job. When I was eight I was left alone with half a watermelon for eight hours. I knew it wasn't kind to eat all the watermelon, but I was hungry and it was available. I was shamed for it (not grounded or beaten). I never forgot, and it was one of the major events that formed the basis for my opinion that I was a fat glutton.

Recoiljpr...... if they would EAT the food I made and not ALL the snacks and junk and treats in one or two days I wouldn't care.

But now it's like I'm wasting money on good food going in the trash, and snacks n treats for anyone else for the week because they want to Hoover it almost before its in the door.

If they ate b/l/d then had a snack I'd be happy as a clam! But they don't. I can't afford to keep tossing food in the trash off their plates nor buy snacks they will inhale which doesn't last more than a day or 2.

Stop buying snacks.

They will either learn to eat the healthy food you have, or they will go hungry (which they won't). Don't have popcorn or chips around period. My mom did this with my brother, and he eventually started eating the chicken and veggies etc that she cooked.

Cut up carrot and celery as snacks, with ranch dip or PB. If the kids don't have the option of junk, they will eat whatever is available.

So here's my completely irrelevant position on this situation..

I can completely understand the OPs frustrations and think it's good for a person to vent from time to time. I recently took in my two nieces and my nephew because my sister was deemed unfit by the state. Unfortunately, before now I haven't had a lot of time with my nieces and nephew aside from holidays. I was completely oblivious to the fact that my sister was struggling with addiction. I've been in the military and have been out of state since I turned 18. I'm 25, single, and now all of a sudden a parent to a 6 year old, a 9 year old, and a 12 year old. I had to put college on hold so I could take care of the children. I have to wait an extra year now to reenter the physical therapy assistant program I was in. There was just no way I could manage school, work, and the 3 kids when they first moved into my household. Things around here can be tough because It's me and only me. When they moved in they had absolutely no manners and hadn't had any type of structure for the longest time. I've worked really hard with the children on their behavior. The children can devour food. I've really struggled keeping food in the cabinets on my limited budget. I do buy the kids snacks.. and not always the healthiest stuff. I now have rules set up in the household. I am really strict about what comes out of the fridge and the pantry. Nothing gets eaten without asking first. $75 dollar per week is a tight budget and I'm sure the OP is aware of that but sometimes you can only do the best you can. I feed the 4 of us for around $100 per week. Our budget is what I would consider shoe string. My job is't the greatest job especially since I've had to cut my hours to be home when I need to for them. I am squeezing every penny I can. I buy what's on sale and I use a lot of coupons. It's been almost 6 months and I haven't received any aid from the state yet. I should be getting my first check next month. It will be close to around 500 dollars. That will definitely make things easier around here. It will at least cover groceries for the 3 kids.

Don't get me wrong.. this post is a rant.. and I AM b*tching. Not at anything in particular. Not at my sister. Not at the children. Not at the state who has taken their sweet time helping with aide. I am just *****ing because sometimes it's all I can do to keep from going crazy. Life's hard.. lol.

With that said, I love my nieces and nephew. I will continue to support them and raise them like my own as long as necessary. They have been a handful but I love them with all of my heart.

... *Exhale* Rant Over.

OP, we're going to need an update, ok??

Dinner ...oven baked chicken, homemade mashed taters n gravy homemade cream corn.

Oldest ate corn n meat. Youngest had meat n taters. Middle ate meat with gravy. There is enuf in there for each to have 2-3 complete adult sized meals. Dinner was an hour n half ago. Already I'm hearing "there's nothing to eat! I'm hungry! "

I am done.