conuly

My condolences; welcome to the Pre-Teen Years; just be thankful you've got girls and not boys. Girls are hungry enough, but sheesh, boys turn into Ravening Eater Beasts, and then they hit the growth spurt. My brother would drink a quart of milk like it was a glass of milk; his feet grew two full sizes between June and September one year - one could practically watch his sleeves and pant-legs shortening even as he stood there. The kids I looked after, my Merry Band and my Wolflings, came home from school like a marauding army every day, and devoured anything remotely food-like they could find.

What's needed is complex carbs and healthy fats. Pasta with olive oil, rice with coconut oil, popcorn with real butter - all of which are inexpensive and easy to make. The problem with fruit and veggies is that kids can eat vast quantities of them without ever really getting enough calories to satisfy their fast-growing, fast-metabolizing, highly-active bodies.

Nuts in the shell are way cheaper than nut-meats, and they're an excellent snack for kids because cracking them takes some time and keeps the hands busy. A lot of kids don't like raisins just plain, and they don't satisfy appetite much either; better to put 'em in a recipe, like oatmeal cookies or apple cobbler.