Crying for food constantly

My boyfriend‘s boy cat cries for food constantly, even though he has an automatic feeder that goes off 2 to 3 times a day, but he also gets a little wet food twice a day from the fridge. A few months ago, he got a second cat which now copies his boy cat so in the mornings, there’s two cats non stop meowing crying, waking us up for food and they also meow every time you step foot into the kitchen thinking you’re going to feed them everytime. Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this behavior or is it too far gone? I’m moving in soon with my two cats who are very quiet never cry for food and have an automatic feeder as well but they kind of free feed from it and don’t usually finish everything. I’m just afraid now there’s gonna be four cats meowing all the time. I suggested trying free feeding and just having extra food in the bowl all the time but he’s afraid they’ll get fat and eat everything anyway and then throw it up.