The Eternal Challenge of Feeding Boys

“We need milk,” my husband said. “Again?” I asked, “How much milk do we go through in a week?” His reply was “About a gallon a day.” I find that unbelievable. How in the world can a family of four consume a gallon of milk everyday? That’s 30 gallons of milk per month! At approximately $3.00 a gallon, we’re spending about $90 a month on milk alone. I don’t know why I’m surprised. I have two teenage sons. The amount of cereal we go through is equally staggering.  Growing boys eat an incredible amount of food. The term “hollow leg” comes to mind. My boys would probably eat 3-4 bowls of cereal as their after school snack if we’d let them. I don’t buy much in the way of snack foods, so if they want a snack they immediately reach for the cereal. Box macaroni and cheese and Ramen noodles run a close second to cereal as the snack foods of choice for my guys. I understand that my kids are hungry when they get home. The eat breakfast at about 6:45 am and lunch at around 11:00. That leaves about 6 hours between lunch and dinner.  I literally have to race them to the kitchen and then smack their knuckles with a wooden spoon to keep them from eating while I am cooking. There are weeks when I get groceries on Saturday and the cereal is completely gone by Tuesday. And I’m not talking about those small boxes either. I’m talking about those big bags and the biggest “family size” boxes. When I talk to my friends I realize that my problem isn’t uncommon. I remember my older brother sitting down and eating an entire box of cereal after school and still having dinner. That makes me wonder if I could ever keep up. Some days I think if I only bought cereal I would kill 2 birds with one stone. They could eat as much cereal as they wanted after school and I wouldn’t have to cook dinner. I recently analyzed our budget and was astonished at how much money we spend in groceries each month. As the boys get bigger, the budget gets higher. I remember being so happy when I didn’t have to buy diapers or pay for daycare anymore. What could I do with all of that extra money? It turns out I use it to buy food, and of course, milk.

Published March of 2011