Hi Keri! You should never leave your game when your family is hungry. You may have to initate the cooking of the meal by dropping one of the peeps on the breakfast bar. After they cook the meal they don't always sit down to eat by themselves either no matter how much you praise them for it, so you may have to pick them up one by one and put them down to eat. It gets boring, but it does keep your little peeps healthy. Big hugs!