Seattle, Wash. ? Check your watch or cell phone. If two hours have passed, it’s safe to assume 15-year-old Quinn Sterling is hungry.

This is why mom Eileen arms her kitchen with 44-count sacks of flour tortillas, mega packs of shredded steak, dozens of eggs and gallons of juice and milk. Then there’s the extra fridge downstairs, the one that comes in handy when Quinn’s two older brothers come home from college.

“If I was doing pasta, or chicken fajita mix, I’d do three, four pounds of it and always have leftovers,” Sterling said. She speaks of when her water-polo-playing sons were shorter than the fridge, back when she and husband Kelly still had to urge them to eat more.

Soon enough, the goal became preparing enough food to make it through the day.

Welcome to Cooking for Teens, a time when many parents, especially those with sons and daughters into team sports, dance, skateboarding and other calorie zappers, suddenly notice food evaporating from the pantry.

It’s a time when a little planning can prevent endless pizza deliveries and fast-food drive-through runs to sate their hunger. It’s also a vital time for nourishment and to pass down good nutrition concepts that can last a lifetime, says Cynthia Lair, a member of Bastyr University’s nutrition faculty and author of cookbooks “Feeding the Whole Family” and “Feeding the Young Athlete.”

“It’s not just going to the grocery store and filling your grocery cart with packaged foods and shoving it down your teenager’s gullet,” Lair said. “You want food around that you feel good about them stuffing down.”

On her list: whole-grain bread, high-quality nut butters, brown rice and oatmeal; whole-grain wraps that easily can be stuffed with meat, tofu, cheese or vegetables; frozen fruit and quality yogurt for quick smoothies in the blender; hearty soups heavy on the beans and lentils.

Ultimately, Lair said, any chance you have to provide an alternative to fast food and junk food adds up, even if it’s just making sure there’s a sandwich and banana in your teen’s backpack before he or she heads off to school or practice.

What to do when teens ignore your advice or efforts? Call in the reinforcements — coaches, pastors, teachers — to point out the short-term benefits of healthful eating, including higher energy, greater stamina and oftentimes a healthier appearance.

But back to the front lines: our kitchens. Faced with suddenly ravenous offspring, many home cooks suggest planning at least a few meals in advance, keeping a rotation or cooking ahead to avoid constant trips to the supermarket, a real budget buster.

Grace Steiner of Edmonds, Wash., plans out menus for the week and considers how she can best use leftovers to feed her five children, two of whom are teens. Iole Aguero of Bellevue, Wash., an Italian cooking instructor, created multiple batches of homemade pasta sauce and soups she could store in the freezer to feed her husband and three sons.

“I always make enough for four meals. You have it in the freezer. You pull the sauce out from the freezer, make salad, pasta and bread, and you have one meal a week that is done and not that expensive.”

To make all these eating habits stick, parents also should encourage their teens to feel at ease in the kitchen, Lair says, even if it’s just showing them the basics of cooking rice and beans and other simple dishes. If no one in the family’s a confident cook, experiment together.

“I think our job as parents is to help our children be able to live on their own,” she said. “One of the things that’s been lost that’s terribly sad is the ability to cook a meal for themselves.”

Karen Zapata of Shoreline, Wash., agrees and is proud at least one of her four sons now cooks regularly. She worked nights as a nurse while raising her brood with her husband, Frank, and leaned on brown or Spanish rice and corn tortillas as the base of hot dishes of meat and vegetables she’d prepare in advance so her kids could zap something nutritious in the microwave. Easily reheatable meatloaf and turkey chili with plenty of celery and tomatoes were repeat performers as well.

One way to slip more wholesome food into teen diets is to have meals or snacks available when they are hungriest: at breakfast and after school, Lair says.

“They get home from school, and they’re looking for anything. They just eat the packaged junk out of the cabinet because that’s when they’re starving. You make this nice dinner, and they’re not interested in it. If you’re going to make the beautiful curry and rice, save it and have it ready to be warmed up after school.”

Big Mo Minestrone

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large onion, diced

2 medium carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 medium potato, diced

1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoon salt

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup fresh or frozen corn

1 cup fresh green beans, cut into 1 1/2 pieces

1 can (15 ounces) kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Black pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (optional)

Parmesan cheese for garnish

In a large soup pot over medium heat add olive oil, butter, garlic and onion. Saute until onion is soft. Add carrots, celery, potato and saute about 5 minutes more.

Add the tomatoes, oregano, salt and chicken broth. Bring heat up enough for the soup to simmer. Cover and cook 1/2 hours.

Add corn, green beans and kidney beans and simmer for about 5 minutes or until green beans are tender. Stir in fresh basil and black pepper to taste. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top. Serves 6-8.

— From “Feeding the Young Athlete Sports Nutrition Made Easy for Players and Parents,” by Cynthia Lair with Scott Murdoch

Linguine With Prawns

1 pound linguine or fettuccine

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or to taste

1 pound cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 pound prawns deveined but the shells left on 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 to 2 tablespoons reserved pasta cooking water

2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the linguine or fettuccine according to package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking liquid.

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper and cook until the garlic is lightly golden (do not burn.)

Add the tomatoes and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the mixture starts to bubble.

Add the prawns in their shells, salt to taste and cook until the prawns change color, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the pasta to the sauce and cook together to heat through. Adjust the seasoning and add a little of the pasta cooking water if the sauce seems too thick. Add parsley and serve.

Note: The prawns can be deveined by carefully cutting through the shells and removing the vein but leaving the shells on to add flavor during the cooking process. The shells can be pulled off the prawns as you eat. Serves 4.

— From Iole Aguero

Pasta All’ Amatriciana

10 ounces lean, thick smoked bacon cut into about 1/2-inch pieces

2 large cloves of garlic, crushed

1 medium-size sweet onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 can (28 ounces peeled, crushed) tomatoes

1 pound gemelli or penne pasta

Grated Romano cheese

In a medium sauce pan, cook the bacon over medium heat until brown, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, onions and crushed red pepper and cook about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the tomatoes, bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and add salt if necessary.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt and pasta and cook according to package direction until the pasta is al dente. Drain the pasta, add the sauce and serve with Romano cheese on the side. Serves 4.

— From Iole Aguero