Cooking for larger families.

[drkelli]

I only have 4 but I WOH 3-4 days a week. Freezer cooking and Costco have saved my life. I found a mama who has a 4 week grocery list and instructions but don't know if I can post the link here. Pm me if you are interested

[eljube112]

My mom always served bread as a side to help fill us up. I try not to do that if I can help it, but there are meals that I know aren't going to stretch and that is an easy and not unhealthy option for us.

[delicatefade]

These are all fantastic tips, ladies! Thanks for sharing! Right now there are five of us, but one more on the way, so we will be needing these tips in a couple years. My oldest can out eat my husband at times, and he is only seven! I always wondered why my mom served bread with a lot of meals...now I know!

[MyGlorylife]

we are a family of 12 and we do a lot of meal flipping. So I cook 2 roast chickens in my roaster/crockpot and thats one dinner (with sides) then harvest the meat left overs to flip to meal #2 like chicken tacos or stirfry, then for meal #3 boil the carcasses down over night to make chicken soup.

most of my meat dishes are like that and can be flipped into 2 or 3 meals. We also do "stretchy beans", make out own bread and yogurt. My food budget is $700 a month and we rarely go over that.

We do a lot of veggies and fruit. Rice cereal/porridge in the morning is a huge hit and also a flip meal. If I do rice with say a stir fry the night before I make extra rice so that I can do porridge in the morning.

[5timesmom]

Helpfull tips! thanks Mamas!
I am scared of the crockpot... somehow, I NEED a recipe to cook.. very not at ease imrpovising in the kitchen... I have to cook more!!!!

[HeatherlovesCDs]

We have a family of 8. One is only 11 wks. The rest of the kids are 7, 5, 5, 2, 2. Two are very picky, the 7 year old and one of the 2 year olds. But, we are to the point where I'm starting to have to double recipes. I can seriously only imagine how much we are going to go through when my 5 boys are teens with one girl thrown in to pretty things up a bit.

One thing I do is double up the veggies and sauce in a recipe, but not the meat since the meat costs more. So, I'll make pepper steak which calls for about 1lb of meat and 2 green peppers. I'll use 3/4lb of meat instead (since in that recipe the meat isn't the kids fav part anyway) and 3 large green peppers or 4 if they are a little smaller. Everyone gets meat, but they get more veggies. Then, I just do what everyone else does. We load up on sides, veggies and sometimes bread.

Which reminds me....off to make bread for tonight's dinner!

[BabyLuvinMama]

I use my Crockpot often and Have noticed I have to fill it to max compacity to feed our family of 6 PLUS use sides or I swear we will run out and it will be the night everyone wants 2nds or 3rds. so normally I would make a batch of beef stew with a 2lb roast plus about 3lbs of mixed veggies Now i have to use a 4 pound roast with 3-4 pounds of veggies Plus salad and bread or they are complaining they are hungry a few hours later.

we also tend to double our casseroles if I would normally have made 1 deep dish 9x13 lasagna I have to add a 8x11 to it and add a loaf of garlic bread and a decent bowl of salad... our kids are 17 12 11 and 9 so they are all healthy eaters...

I haven't noticed any savings shopping at sams or other warehouse stores. My big savings are just buying when its on sale even if I dont need it tossing it in the freezer and using it when I need it Otherwise we could end up at the store 2x a week spending $100 a shot

[NotLad]

Originally Posted by MyGlorylife we are a family of 12 and we do a lot of meal flipping. So I cook 2 roast chickens in my roaster/crockpot and thats one dinner (with sides) then harvest the meat left overs to flip to meal #2 like chicken tacos or stirfry, then for meal #3 boil the carcasses down over night to make chicken soup. most of my meat dishes are like that and can be flipped into 2 or 3 meals. We also do "stretchy beans", make out own bread and yogurt. My food budget is $700 a month and we rarely go over that. We do a lot of veggies and fruit. Rice cereal/porridge in the morning is a huge hit and also a flip meal. If I do rice with say a stir fry the night before I make extra rice so that I can do porridge in the morning.

My grandmother cooked like this for her family of nine (ten when I showed up!)

She could do a million things with potatoes. One of my wedding gifts was "101 potato recipes". Dh and I were poor college students and we ate a LOT of potatoes!

[beckstar]

twice baked potatoes stuffed with veggies are a good side and very filling. they also keep/freeze well for leftovers.

soup, salad, bread dinners are easy to double/triple/or more, freeze well and are very nourishing.

ive been meaning to bake eggs in muffin tins and then assemble breakfast sandwiches from english muffins and serve/freeze...that's an easy way to make a bunch of eggs at once and not have to be hovering over the pan.

frozen pizzas that you add veggies and meats to are a real big hit aroudn here. costco sells cheese pizzas that are surprisingly made from very whole, natural ingredients...tho i imagine making your own pizzas are more cost effective.

i really need guidance budgeting. we eat/take out a LOT.

[elioraimmanuel]

Ditto the doubling!

I have a huge crockpot, a huge stainless steel pot, a huge roasting, and a huge round pan for the oven that is 2" thick and a 17" Lodge cast iron skillet! The skillet is oven proof and is large enough to cook fried rice for the whole family w/leftovers or to do any casserole. I use the big round "cake" pan for casseroles, too. In the crockpot I can do meat, but not enough veggies....I have to add to the meal.

If I'm making a whole roaster chicken I add extra drumsticks so that the kids all get a leg. I stretch out meat when I make burritos, asian dishes etc by adding lots of rice and veggies! With spaghetti sauce it's more sauce less meat. HTH!