I picked up my daughter from drama/dance camp yesterday afternoon and as she complained about being hungry all the way home (the complaining got louder when we passed McDonalds), I decided to make dinner early.
I took two huge chicken breasts (totaling about a pound) out of the refrigerator and painstakingly cut them into paper thin slivers. I seasoned the meat and sauteed it in olive oil, then made my daughter a nice sandwich on a hamburger roll that she topped with barbecue sauce. She asked for more when she was done and I gave her more meat, but said I wanted to save the rest of the rolls for everyone else’s dinner. My son wasn’t hungry at the time as he had eaten the last bag of salad an hour earlier, hence no vegetables with this dinner. My daughter asked if I was hungry, and said, not right now, and went upstairs to write.
An hour later, I heard the garage door, finished the sentence I was writing and went downstairs to fix my husband’s plate. I looked in the microwave where I had placed a plate full of the chicken I had cooked, and it was gone. After surveying the kitchen, all I could find was a single hamburger roll, and a plate where the chicken had been. There was also a bottle of barbecue sauce and a bottle of hot sauce on the counter.
“Where’d the food go?” I asked my kids. My daughter explains that she made my son’s plate and had a little bit more. I never really did get a straight answer, but I can tell you that all of the food I had cooked, (a good pound of chicken) plus the hamburger rolls were gone.
I had some chicken marinating in the refrigerator for the next day, so I prepared to cook that for my husband and myself. I quickly found that we were out of anything that would have helped to make that chicken into a meal. We had no onions. We had no fresh vegetables. We had no instant rice in the pantry. We had no bread. They had eaten everything.
My husband and I ended up going to the outlet mall near out house and got some Japanese takeout from the food court.
This is not a rare occurrence. Ever since my kids hit puberty, it has been impossible to keep food in the house. Snacks that used to last a week lasts a few days. The same meat purchases that used to last 2 weeks now last about one. If my kids get hungry, and they get hungry often, they cook. While they are cooking, they snack so they don’t waste away waiting for the meal to be ready. My husband and I have to buy things we know they don’t like in order to not starve to death.
I know it’s not their fault. The hormone changes in their bodies and the growth spurts they experience triggers a massive appetite. I understand that. However, it does nothing for my growling stomach. I guess I’ll have a bowl of raisin bran, that is… if they haven’t finished all of the milk.
If you liked this you should also read my blogs at the home blog, the parents blog, and the frugal blog. You can read my recent posts here.
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