Cooking for a large family can be a challenge in more ways than one. Kids are notoriously picky eaters, so finding meals to please everyone can be hard.
I know many families simply make a different meal for their picky eaters; this may work well for parents of only one or two children, but when you have a large family, it simply isn’t feasible. We have five children, and if we had to cook 5 different meals every night, we’d not only go broke, we’d run out of dishes!
In addition, most recipe books only have recipes designed to serve 4 people, sometimes less. There aren’t many large family recipes available.The serving sizes are usually not very accurate, so it’s hard to guess whether you should double, triple or even quadruple the recipe.
So what is the best way to feed a large family? Obviously, that depends on you, your schedule, your budget, and of course the types of foods your family likes to eat.
We watch a lot of cooking shows in our house, so David does a lot of experimentation based on what we see on the show. Most of the time, we create our own recipes; not only do we make sure they’re healthy, but we also make sure we all like them.
Another problem many large families face is the expensive grocery bill. I’m sure we could easily spend $500 a week on food; however, we spend less than $600 each month. The secret to feeding a large family on a budget is to buy in bulk.
If there is a Sam’s club near you, or a BJ’s, become a member. You will save so much money just by buying everything in larger quantities. Most people think of buying in bulk when it comes to household goods such as toilet paper or paper towels, but not about food.
Instead of purchasing boneless, skinless chicken breasts, buy a whole chicken. It costs less AND lasts longer. The less prepared a meat is, the less it [usually] costs. For example, if you want to make a stew, don’t buy the pre-cut stew meat; buy a roast and slice it yourself. It doesn’t really take that long to slice the meat, but it’s cheaper!
You can also save money by cooking large meals. The main reason we’re able to feed our family on less than $100 per person per month is because we cook huge meals and save the leftovers. The kids don’t really like left overs, so once in a while we will get creative, and make new dishes with foods that are left over.
You really can feed a large family on a limited budget. One thing we’ve discovered is the more processed food you buy, the more it’s going to cost you. Besides, home cooked foods taste better! 