Feeding our 5 children
Feeding our big family requires planning. We have 5 children: 9 years old, 6 year old twins, a 3 year old, and a 1 year old. I tried meal planning, but our schedule is constantly changing. If the baby doesn't nap and the toddlers get sick and our elementary kids come home with too much homework, how do I commit to a meal I planned 3 days before? I found that I would grocery shop for meals that didn't get made, which meant ingredients I had to re-purpose, which meant waste, because the ingredients would go bad before I used them.
Well-stocked pantry and a Costco run every 2 weeks
Because I am a woman in America, I of course have a not-so-small girl crush on Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. One of her concepts is having a well-stocked pantry. I will leave Ree Drummond to talk about what that means, so check out her post: "Stocking Up."
With a well-stocked pantry, I have a lot of flexibility to make easy, on the fly meals for our large family. How do I do this?
I keep a recipe book with tried and true family favorites, meals that I can make in a flash, and I buy recipe books that stick to the pantry staples that I already buy. This also extends into how we grocery shop. I make a point to go to Costco every 2 weeks. There are, of course, some ingredients I cannot buy at Costco, but I keep a list for those and I probably hit a "real" grocery store once a month, on a regular month, or every 3 months if I'm on my A-game. I will also say that stores like Target that carry a variety of items are clutch. As much as I try to avoid Target, the siren call gets me and I find my mini van swerving in. That's when I pull up my "grocery list" (compared to my "Costco list") and see what staples I can pick up while I'm there (and, also, should I redecorate my entire house??? Do I need picture frames?? Candles?? NEW THROW PILLOWS??? TARGET, TELL ME.)
All right, so here are some things I make sure we always have:
1. Annie's Mac and Cheese from Costco
It takes 4 boxes to feed my 4 boys (9, 6, 6, 3-- our youngest has a dairy allergy and can't eat it). While I do not like boxed mac and cheese nights, they happen. My boys are also able to make this with supervision. So if my hands are tied with the toddlers, I can set my older 3 on dinner.
It takes 4 boxes to feed my 4 boys (9, 6, 6, 3-- our youngest has a dairy allergy and can't eat it). While I do not like boxed mac and cheese nights, they happen. My boys are also able to make this with supervision. So if my hands are tied with the toddlers, I can set my older 3 on dinner.
2. Pasta
Pounds and pounds and pounds of pasta. I try to keep about 12 pounds of a variety of pasta noodles in the house at all times. Spaghetti noodles, bowties, elbows, fettucine... really, just loads of pasta.
3. Pesto
Is pesto magic? Yes.
4. Frozen ground beef and frozen chicken
These are the two staple meats that I heavily rely on. You can do so much with even just a little meat!
5. Butter/olive oil
With our daughter's dairy allergy, I now rely on a variety of oils, but olive oil is my favorite butter substitute. Before her allergy, I was all about butter with oils occasionally used. Now we are all about the oils with butter thrown in there. I keep about 12 sticks of butter and panic when it dips below 4.
6. Heavy cream/Ripple milk
The magic milks. Ripple milk is because of our daughter's dairy allergy. Before that, it was all about heavy cream. You don't need a lot of heavy cream to elevate a recipe, but it adds so much depth that milk just doesn't do.
7. Pioneer Woman's pantry staples
See her blog link that I posted above and now here too: "Stocking Up."
Recipes with similar ingredient lists
I do use the internet to find recipes, but, for the most part, I am a book in binding type gal. My favorite recipe books are:
3. I recently bought "Clodagh's Irish Kitchen: A Fresh Take on Traditional Recipes" by Clodagh McKenna
6. "The Petit Appetit Cookbook: Easy, Organic Recipes to Nurture Your Baby and Toddler" by Lisa Barnes
7. And finally, the noble "France: The Cookbook" by Ginette Mathiot which is a heavy and stately volume with far less pictures or explanations than the other cookbooks, however, still very simple and direct recipes with ingredients I have in my kitchen. My family has really enjoyed having these recipes mixed in when I'm feeling adventurous and I've benefitted from the skills I've acquired from this book.
When I am looking for inspiration online, I hit up:
3. Food Network: Alton Brown recipes (Note: his recipes are not always my favorite. He has really good ideas and explains concepts when I struggle, but I find his recipes to be, on occasion, too complex and time consuming than when I'm trying to whip up food for angry toddlers!)
4. Also, if I only have a couple ingredients, I go to Google and in the search bar type in "Pioneer Woman" and then the ingredients I have. For instance, if I have chicken. Or if I have pasta or spinach. I would search "Pioneer Woman chicken pasta spinach recipes" and then start my search with whatever she has to say. One thing you should always remember when feeding your family is that the Pioneer Woman's got your back.
Favorite kitchen appliances and go-to recipes
All right, so you have well-stocked pantry. You have your recipe books. You have the internet. But now, what do you make for a huge family?
I mentioned I have go-to's. My favorite kinds of meals hit up all the food groups in one pot. That doesn't mean I use one pot to actually cook the meal, but it means I don't make sides and have to chop up a salad or stress about the vegetables. Everything is all mixed in. I want a complete well-rounded meal.
With that said, I also keep an ample supply of frozen vegetables. I have this Pampered Chef Microwave Cooker that you can buy on Amazon that is absolutely clutch. I put in enough vegetables for our family, fill with water until the vegetables are just covered, and microwave between 6-8 minutes, depending on how done you like your veggies. Then I strain the water (which is done with the holes in the lid that also serves to vent while you microwave) and grind some pepper and salt over the top, maybe mix in a little olive oil, and done. Easy veggies. My favorite easy side veggies are peas, green-beans, and broccoli. I like a green veggie. My kids like corn, the least nutrient dense "vegetable" ever. I do keep frozen corn though because it is a great addition to a lot of meals that helps bulk up the satiety.
Back to recipes. Here are some that I can make all the time:
Frittata's are amazing. Call it an egg pizza. You can mix in an amazing amount of vegetables and your kids will wolf it down. Takes very minimal time to prep. Knife skills help a little to make it faster. You can put in anything. This is a great way to use up leftovers (even leftover French fries!!!). Dark leafy greens go great in this. Cheese and potatoes make it even more filling. This is also a great way to use up lunchmeat or leftover steak you don't know what to do with. The possibilities are endless. If you need frittata inspiration, just Google frittatas and see what kind of frittatas are out there and go to town. I bulk up this meal by adding sides like sweet potato fries, rice maker rice that I dump in tomatoes and onions, mustard greens, or a side salad and crusty bread.
2. Clodagh McKenna's Creamy Macaroni with Smoked Bacon
There isn't a link on the internet for this recipe. It is from "Homemade" by Clodagh McKenna, but the point is a good, hearty, stick to your bones mac'n'cheese recipe goes a long way. You can find one you like. I don't usually add the bacon and I pretty much mix up this recipe from start to finish, depending on what I have on hand or what flavors I feel like eating. I've spiced this up with crushed red peppers. I love the mustard and will load up the paprika. Or I will omit all those spices and use exotic cheeses or use up cheese that I don't know what else to do with. I don't like wasting food and recipes like this are a great way to use up things I don't want to throw out, but don't have enough of to make a whole meal. This recipe is one that I will make some frozen veggies to go with it and it is one of my few pasta recipes that is so hearty that we will often have leftovers, even though it is only a pound of pasta!
I don't think you know how many times I have made this (or some variant of it) or for how many years I've made this! haha! It is so easy and nummy. One of the things I like about this recipe is that it is a great way to extend chicken for a big family. We buy organic (or local) and so meat can be really expensive feeding our big family. This is really tasty and-- bonus-- the meat and vegetables are all mixed in, making for a super easy and quick family dinner.
Hands down one of my favorite recipes. This is such an easy, easy dinner and really delicious. I like to make vegetarian meals and this is meatless. It also makes for a tasty side if you are trying to bulk up a meat meal or stands alone if you are trying to whip up a tasty and quick dinner. Full of goodness and also sticks to your ribs. We tend to clean the pot on this one, so sometimes I double it if everyone is starving and this is all I'm making. It makes delicious leftovers, so I never worry about "too much." The tomatoes make a great (and healthy) addition, but I do make it without if I don't have tomatoes (or if my tomatoes have reached the point of only being sauce worthy...).
A roast chicken? Easy? Yeah, easy. You can do this. It smells so good and there are few things more satisfying than eating a home roasted chicken. The skin is perfectly crisp. The house smells amazing. And the bones are so useful (keep them-- throw in a freezer bag and use them later to make stocks for soup, if there isn't much meat left). I sometimes make a pasta on the side, like noodles with pesto, or I make rice in my rice maker. This is another time that microwave frozen veggies are handy! I try to always have one or two frozen whole chickens on hand. I defrost them in my fridge and once defrosted is roast chicken night!
Alfredo sauce is a must. It is so filling. It can be used on a lot of other noodles than fettucine. I put this on egg noodles, which Costco carries over fettucine. I put on spaghetti noodles a lot. But this sauce is really easy and makes for a great side when you make a meat meal. I like to have hearty sides when I make meat, because it tends to extend the meat I have to make.
Those are my staple recipes. I can prepare these on pretty much any night and these are where I start when time has slipped away from me and I need to whip up a filling and easy meal with little prep time.
How do I make a meal quickly when I didn't defrost meat or check my pantry? For starters, Google is amazing with the substitution ideas! It also helps a lot to substitute with what you have to mix up the recipe and give variety to your family. It might be the same pasta and the same sauce as four nights ago, but it is served with a different meat and has different seasonings which gives it an entirely different flavor profile.
While I can't roast a frozen chicken without preparing for that in advance, I can pretty much defrost any other meat somewhat quickly and deliciously with my Dutch oven. I am crazy for my Dutch oven. I feel like the crock pot crumbles my meat while the Dutch oven keeps its texture and flavors. I defrost things like steak and pork in a water bath (takes about 10 minutes) and chicken and ground beef in the Dutch oven on low with the lid on, turning as needed. I also make all my crock pot meals in my Dutch oven over the crock pot, as both myself and my family like them more. There are times I use a crock pot, but the Dutch oven can cook quickly without burning as a pot would. It cooks evenly all around without hot spots. So if I have frozen prepped "crock pot" meals, I can dump them in the Dutch oven and have them ready within the hour. I know crock pots have a cult following and Dutch ovens aren't as popular, but I use my Dutch oven almost every single day and have not been able to get my crock pot to work for me with similar results. You can get large Dutch ovens at great prices at Costco or Amazon. Here is an Amazon link for one.
Feeding schedule and house rules for snacks and mealtimes
Feeding a big family isn't always about the right recipes though. I have found that, for our family, we need regular meals. When we had one kid, or even three kids, snack times weren't such a big deal. Now that we have five kids, it is pretty much impossible to stay on top of who is hungry when and who had what snack and making sure that our kids don't descend upon the packaged snacks like a plague a locusts. To do that, we have some family rules.
1. Structured meal times
We eat breakfast. The toddlers usually have a morning snack. We have lunch time. An afternoon snack. Then we have dinner time. We do not snack in between meals (clearly there are special circumstances). And you get to eat during those set times. If you choose not to, you can wait until the next meal or snack time. I also do not let them skip meal times to chow down at snack times. If they start doing that, I cut off snack times for them.
2. Regulate snack foods
We don't need to get into how unhealthy even healthy pre-packaged snacks are, but they are also expensive. Most granola bars come in a box of 5. That is one box per sitting for my kids. If everyone has two granola bars, that means we ate through two boxes of granola bars in one sitting. Since granola bars are about $5 a box, that means we had a $10 snack. Now, my elementary kids are 9, 6, and 6. Two paltry granola bars are not enough to be filling for them. There are some things in our house our kids can only have one of (such as, an applesauce pouch) and some things they can eat all they want (grapes, carrot sticks, celery sticks, apple slices, etc). If they are eating to eat, they tend to lock it up after so many celery sticks. If they are actually hungry, I pull out some peanut butter (or almond or sunflower oil butter) to dip their sticks in. Or I make a cheese plate. But it is pretty clear when they are hungry and when they just want to eat all the packaged snacks.
3. Push water
Did you know your body often sends a hunger signal when you are actually thirsty? Yeah. Push fluids. I notice this a lot more in summertime with our kids when they are playing outside a lot, so I keep water bottles handy. During the summer season too I like to keep hydrating options on hand, like freezing healthy juice/frozen pops for them and making sure they take a water break every 30 minutes (or more/less depending on their activity and level of activity). I also try to make sure our kids drink good beverages, not loading up on filling juices or pops that inhibit their appetite during a mealtime (and thus making them hungry later). We stick to milk or water and throw in other non-caffeinated options as a treat (like when we go out to eat).
4. You aren't a short order cook
Every family has picky eaters and there is a lot you can do to accommodate different tastes. For instance, one of my kids loathes tuna. And of course the childhood onion aversion. One of my kids hates butter-- for real. And our daughter has a dairy allergy. If I use the word "spicy," none of my kids will ever even think about eating again in their life times. I do a lot to make sure that my kids are happy during mealtimes, but it doesn't really matter what I do, someone won't be happy. I don't know why. I can make the boxed mac'n'cheese and packaged potato chips they are demanding, and one of them would still throw a fit and someone still wouldn't eat. (I know this for a fact. We have been there, many times.) So I don't take it personally when fits are thrown over my cooking (or, at least, I try not to). I enforce table manners-- rude things are not okay to say. I give very small portions of foods that I know might be too "exotic" and I strongly encourage that everyone tries everything on their plate-- at least one bite. I also have items on the plate that are non-negotiable. For instance, if I make fries as a side, they can't wolf down their fries and not eat the salad and main dish and demand more fries. Once they have eaten what is on their plate, I let them pick and choose what they want more of, within reason. Following up on my fry example, if one of my boys wolfs down his food as fast as he can and starts asking for more fries, I let him eat as much as he wants to a point. He can't eat all the fries when I know his brothers will also want more fries. So I let him eat one or two extra portions before I say, okay, we need to leave enough for everyone to have more. So, yes, I do keep their personal tastes and texture preferences in mind when I make food (like, I chop the onions as small as I can and often use less than called for just so they aren't a problem), but I also make one meal for us and that is what is for dinner.
5. Don't set them up for failure
And then sometimes I make two-- or three-- meals. Because parenting means doing what we say we will not do. There are nights that I make a spicy meal or a really adventurous meal or a meal I know that the kids don't like. On those nights, I try to have a back up plan. For instance, if we have a lot of leftover pizza, I might make a small "grown up dish" and feed the kids the leftover pizza. That way everyone is happy and the leftovers get eaten. There are other times that I'm trying to introduce them to new flavors-- like a horseradish coleslaw I made the other day-- but I know will not be well received. I think it's important to try things, but I also keep reasonable expectations and don't want to frustrate the kids.
Do what works for you!
I think one of the biggest things to remember when feeding your big family is to do what works for you! I say that with all sincerity. You have your own, unique skill set and your children are their own unique people. I always say in our family that we are going to stick with something until it doesn't work for us. There are times where I cook a lot and there are times where I don't cook at all. During the times when I don't cook, we will sometimes buy big family style meals from take out or order in food; we buy frozen dinners. That's not bad. It's not bad to like your crock pot or to hate cooking. Every family has things that they excel in and every family has things that they find easier or harder. It is good to get ideas from someone, but it is great to pick and choose ideas that would actually work for you, without feeling like one way is better than another.
These things that I listed are what works for us as a big family. I find grocery shopping with all my kids really hard. When I had to hit the grocery store each week, I had a hard time getting dinner together because sometimes I would miss a grocery run or not be able to substitute. I felt like our grocery budget was really unreliable. Setting a Costco schedule and choosing recipes with similar ingredients that I could keep stocked in my pantry was how I chose to solve that problem.
What ways do you feed your big family? Has it changed as they've grown?
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-Kimber