Having large family dinners can be a wonderful gift. After all, there’s nothing like the joy of sharing moments with the ones you love most. However, the larger your family is, the more that mealtime can be a daunting task.
Cooking for large groups of people, whether for children or for family members over the age of 70 can be an incredibly laborious process. In order to ensure that everything goes smoothly, you have to time everything just right. To help you throughout the process, here are some of the best tips for large family meals.
Cook Something Everyone Loves
It can be difficult to please everyone in your family at the same time. However, chances are there are a few things that everyone loves. Crowd pleasers like lasagna, pizza, or traditional simple dishes are usually enough to make everyone in the group happy. The idea is to avoid one or two people refusing to eat their meal, and averting any dreaded “dinner drama.”
Think of ways that you can turn something simple and something creative. For example, if you have a taco night, perhaps everyone can “build their own taco.” It’s a fun way to make things interactive and personalized without having to cook an overly complicated recipe.
Meal Prep
If you are a parent in addition to working a full-time job, then it can be difficult to find the energy to cook at the end of the day. When you’ve got a house full of hungry family members, then you need to get something on the dinner table fast. Meal prepping ahead of time is a great way to have plenty of meal options on deck without having to embark on a large cooking adventure.
It’s as simple as cooking in bulk and freezing it or putting it in the refrigerator to be consumed at a later time. Consider devoting one day a week to meal prepping. Even though it may take you a few hours on the weekend, it will save you even more time during the week on cooking and doing dishes.
Buy Bulk
When you have a large family, grocery shopping can be an enormous expense. To help save as many pennies as possible, you should buy bulk whenever possible. Bulk is considerably cheaper, and you’re less likely to run out of something when it’s time to prepare a meal! The best part is that buying in bulk is easy to do with stores like Costco and Sams Club. It’s as simple as paying for your membership and going several times a month to load up on ingredients that you use the most on a daily basis.
Get the Family Involved
When you have such a large family to cook for, it’s important that you get everyone involved in doing their part. Whether it’s setting the table, clearing the table, or doing the dishes, make sure that you encourage your children to start helping from a young age. You’ll start burning out quickly if you try and take on every single rule yourself on a daily basis.
These are just a few tips for feeding your family efficiently, more affordably, and ultimately more enjoyably. Bon appetit!
Originally posted on November 18, 2022 @ 11:05 pm
