big boys eating my Shabbos food before Shabbos

bubbebia

Sun, Sep 29 2013, 3:07 pm

Teenage boys are bottomless pits. They never seem to not be hungry. If your son wants to make himself a pot of noodles on Fri afternoon, let him. He'll leave the Shabbos food alone and he's making it himself. But that also means he has to clean up when he's done.

How about if you post a Shabbos/YT menu ever Fri morning and let it be known that this is not for Fri public consumption? Make a list on the frig of all the food that is available for Fri consumption. I know some families that make a small cholent for their bochurim for Fri or a pot of soup. Potato kugel too. And I like the hot dog idea too. If they know what is and what is not available to them, it might help a bit.

oliveoil

Sun, Sep 29 2013, 11:40 pm

m in Israel wrote:

oliveoil wrote:

Isn't it easier to just make extra Shabbos food with their Friday afternoon eating in mind?

That's what we do (and lots of other people I know).

I often make an extra kugel or two for before Shabbos. Or if I'm making roasted vegetables (sweet potato & potato & asparagus) I'll make an extra tray or two for the afternoon. And when I make shnitzel, I do a baked one, and I'm happy for that to go in the afternoon as well.

I find that by the Fri night meal most peopel are not that hungry anyway (not to mention, it's healtheir to fill up earlier in the afternoon/evening and eat lightly late at night).

If you serve them the Kugel, veggies, and chicken in the afternoon, of course they are not hungry by the meal! Wink

In homes where they don't eat the Shabbos food early, people are hungry by the Shabbos meal, and as mentioned earlier, there definitely are people who hold that there is an inyan to dafka not eat a lot on Friday so as to have an appetite for the Shabbos meal.

Not really - everyone just finds other stuff to fill up on. I would rather they eat the Shabbos food, even if it's earlier.

Also, I find that when people come to the Shabbos meal hungry they fill up on Challah and dips and not the real food, which is a) a waste of cooking, b) unhealthy.

Volunteer

Sun, Sep 29 2013, 11:48 pm

My dh used to have this problem with shabbat desserts. He would come home late on friday exhausted and famished, and there was a warm cake sitting on the counter. At first it really stressed me out, but then I realized that the more dessert he eats, the less I eat, so all the better! But, seriously, I used to just make 2 desserts: 1 "real" dessert that I actually wanted to eat, and 1 decoy dessert which I wasn't in the mood for and was meant for him on friday afternoon. At that time, I also made sure to have a fresh lunch made for him, but he really just wanted the dessert. Later on, though, he decided that he wanted to start eating healthier food, so he requested that I not make the second dessert, but have lunch prepared for him. It doesn't have to be anything special, just something he likes that he can grab and eat immediately, and is hearty enough to satisfy him when he's really hungry. It's one extra dish to prepare, but it saves us a lot of annoyance in the long run.