Teenagers eat. A lot.
I didn't have any kids until i met my SO and she came with a 13BS, who is now my 16SS. I buy groceries once a week, spending anywhere from $100-200 a week depending on what we need. Ideally, my SO goes half or we try to make it as fair as possible. She has zero desire to limit her 16SS. For a while i was feeling upset that I was spending so much on groceries and he had no consideration for anyone. I have lost my temper at times, nothing like going to the pantry for my favorite cookies and find one cookie left, lol welp y'all know how it is. So I have stepped back. I stopped spending so much on groceries because if she isn't going to implement and rules on his consumption, I'm not going to waste my money just so he can go all willy nilly and eat everything in the damn house.
so to save my sanity, i have backed off of spending so much. I'll ocassionally hide a soda or gatorade in the back of the fridge. Otherwise I'll be lucky to have any before SS16 consumes it all. I have suggested getting a mini fridge for our room. My SO did get a little conatainer box for my favorite snacks ( i am quite the snacker, never have a huge appetite but love to have snacks).
So my question is how do you all manage food in your homes? Are there limits, rules? I don't think my SO is ok with telling her BS he can't have food. But I know she can see where I find SS16 inconsiderate and selfish. I suppose it wouldn't be crazy to buy a mini fridge. Just curious and open to suggestions. After reading many post, I can see that this is an issue in most homes. Teenagers eat. A lot.
I hide things
I’ve had too many instances where I’ve gone to the fridge or the pantry to discover that whatever I’ve purchased for myself is gone. Now, if I know that I really want something, I hide it. My DH refuses to set any rules with his kids, so I have to resort to hiding things in my own home.
DH and I don’t have separate accounts - which I don’t recommend - so spending less money on food isn’t an option, but I usually make him pay for extras out of his budget for the week.
I tell SS15 that we have
I tell SS15 that we have bought him x, y, z. It is to last the week and if he eats it all before then, we're not replacing it.
I've also lost my shizz a couple times when he eats something of mine. I don't lay claim to much but the one or two items that I do, don't you dare touch it.
If you skids are anything like mine, it's easy to hide stuff. SS15 is far too lazy to work for anything. Just hide it in plain site - in a cupboard or shelf that isn't usually used for food. I have found this has slowed SS down considerably.
DH and I have 4 kids between
DH and I have 4 kids between us - 2 boys, 2 girls. The boys are now grown and moved out. We still have the girls - DD18, SD17. When the kids were younger, we had the problem of the boys eating our special food. DH and I got a mini fridge for our room, and we had the most wonderful assortment of snacky stuff that we would eat in the evening while watching TV in our bed. Good cheese, crackers, salami, little candy bars, cream cheese for pretzels, a bottle of wine. It was awesome!! We no longer have our little fridge since the girls don't eat everything in sight, but it saved our sanity many times when we wanted our special snacks. We always did and still do keep our bedroom door locked when we aren't home.
Clearly identify expectations & then hide the good stuff.
Hiding good ice cream on the bottom shelf of the freezer behind the fish. Crackers & cookies hidden in the Tupperware cabinet.
SO laid down rules; itemized "free-to-eat" versus "hands-off." Unfortunately, SGD-now-15 had an eating disorder so there was a lot of hidden night-time eating, bags under the bed, leftover food w/the innards missing, shamed hiding of empty boxes, etc. We spoke of locking the fridge & putting non-perishables into padlocked footlockers.
The emotional eating isn't the same as ravenous-teen-male. My BS-16 can put away a lot of food. I have doubled my food allowance.
Sounds like your SO needs to start dividing the food bill in 4. One portion for you, one for her & 2-portions for her growing child. It's not unusual or unfair to adjust your budget accordingly.
OSS 13 is literally hungry
OSS 13 is literally hungry every hour and wanting to eat whatever he can find. Whatever is in the pantry he will eat it. The things I don't want him to eat I leave in my room or hide in the fridge. I go to the grocery store once a week and when it's DH's weekend to have the skids over or a holiday visitation he will tell OSS that the food has to last for a week and if he doesn't then he is SOL.