meal plans for large families

thriftwizard

Just the 5 just-about-grown kids here, two of whom have now left home, but two more have moved in instead! One technically a lodger, and one a partner of one of the kids. So we're feeding 7 adults most evenings & weekends, sometimes less, sometimes more, with or without notice. Two members of the household take lunches into work, too; usually leftovers from the previous night. I'll freeze portions to cover days when there's nothing left over.

We tend to buy 25Kg sacks of potatos rather than individual bags; it's still cheaper, even with the recent massive price rises. A sack will last somewhere around 4 weeks; when we get to the time of year when they sprout pretty fast, we share a sack with next door; although there are only 4 of them, they are veggies, so go through them as fast as we do! There'll be baked potatoes at least once a week, sometimes with fillings (which can be as easy as baked beans & grated cheese) or sometimes with a sausage or a liver & bacon casserole. There'll be at least one pasta meal, one rice-based meal and one veg-heavy stir-fry, which might be with noodles or with bulgur wheat. Stay away from supermarket "aspirational" stir-fry veg like baby sweetcorn or mange-tout peas & use mostly cabbage & seasonal veg along with beansprouts, which aren't hard to grow yourself but they're usually around 50p a pack anyway. One red pepper gives you that lovely splash of colour; I find they're much cheaper at the greengrocers or on the street market - most things are. You don't need much meat in a stir-fry and can generally make them up according to what's available. There'll also probably be at least one egg-based meal like omelette - French or Spanish - as we keep chickens. I buy cooking cheese in big packs, and onions & carrots by the sack too...

I make dough in my breadmaker for pizzas & everyone can roll their own out & make the topping of their choice & snip their own salad from the windowsill saladings. I also bake a loaf overnight a couple of times a week, and sometimes do sourdoughs, croissants & rolls by hand as well, though generally a couple of loaves from our excellent market bakers keep us going; I'm not a great fan of supermarket bread.

There's always a big roast on Sundays, even if I'm working; several of the kids are very proficient cooks & the lodger's an ex-trainee-chef. Again, the best deals come from our market butcher, who's been feeding us for 20 years now & has watched my kids grow up. Whatever is left over goes into something like beef stroganoff or chicken chasseur on a Monday, then anything left from that will go into pies later in the week. Leftover gravy & veg is made into soup for stay-at-home or flask lunches for the week; if there isn't much left I'll pop a ham shank into the slow cooker on Monday. Those are excellent value as I can get enough meat for a pasta meal, and a pie, as well as stock & tiny bits for the soup off two shanks, and currently the market butcher is selling them at 3 packs of 2 shanks for a fiver. A good hearty soup with fresh bread & cheese, followed by an apple, is a perfectly good meal in its own right. And mince - kheema with naans or chapatis makes a great alternative to chilli, bolognese & cottage pie.

We do do puddings; in autumn/winter I'll cook a big crumble or cobbler with the roast on Sunday & at other times it might be a clafoutis or yogurt (LIDLs Greek in the 1L pots, usually) with whatever garden fruit is available. Or possibly rice pudding (if too much milk) or bread & butter pudding, if the one that works in a shop brings back on-its-sell-by-date bread. Although it's not a big garden, we grow lots of top & soft fruit as well as keeping chickens; what the kids lost in playspace, they gained in picking raspberries, red & blackcurrants, strawberries & peas straight from the bushes & having plenty of places to hide!

There's a lot to be said for meal-planning, but keep it flexible so that you can adapt it to whatever's in season or a good deal when you shop. I refuse to work Fridays, as that's the best market day here, and I reckon that shopping there and planning the week's meals around whatever I find has saved us far more than I could have earnt in that time. I also store food in some funny places, like under the cooker & the units in the utility room, so that I can take advantage of good offers & bulk-buy deals; however you need to only buy what you know you'll eat, keep track of where you've put things, plan to use them & be sure to rotate stocks so that nothing goes out of date & gets wasted! Sorry if that brings grandmothers & eggs to mind...

I'll second (or third!) wraps - or pancakes - more or less the same thing! - which can be sweet or savoury. I'll also mention kedgeree, fish cakes & fish pie, which can all be done quite cheaply & easily. Forget the celebrity chefs' versions of things & stick to Marguerite Patten, Mrs. Beeton & get hold of a copy of Doris Janzen Longacre's More With Less cookbook - plenty of good ideas in there, even if it is American. Also, stay clear of bought snacks, if you can, and make flapjacks & other traybakes that fill them up with better nutrition for less money overall.

Anyway, that's quite enough from me! Looking forward to reading other people's tips too - there's always more to learn & more to save...

zaxdog

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bagpuss38 wrote: »

Thanks zaxdog,

Wot Is chicken myers?

1. stick some broccoli florets in an ovenproof dish
2. add some cubed chicken that have been sealed
3. pour over a mixture of: condensed cream of chicken, celery or mushroom soup, a good dollop of mayo and a shake of curry powder
4. top with cheese and bake until all golden and bubbly

Can be served with: pasta, rice, bread etc or with a pile of veggies :j:j

bagpuss38

A wealth of information thriftwizard.

We have a couple of markets here and tbh i havent really given them more than a glance.
But i shall do so.
It would be great to save money on things like veg and especially fruit and the kids all love it but i find it very expensive.

I love my breadmaker but sadly i think it has died. it no longer rises the bread and i end up with a big stodge of loaf.
Looking on ebay for a new one.

I love a good baking day but find demand far outstrips supply sometimes lol.
Especially fairy cakes.

Thanks for that zax dog. I'm really enojy this thread and learning new receipes