meals for a large family

Mary - posted on 09/14/2009

my family always likes roast burgers and homemade bbq sloppy burgers

Roast burgers is basicly you cook a roast in a crockpot with onions, bell peppers, mushrooms about an hour before it is finished but after its fall apart tender pour off the juice into another pan to keep for beef or pork broth then stir the roast to get it broke up and stir in 1 to 2 bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's honey BBQ sauce (you can use what ever kind of bbq sauce you like but that's our favorite) let it cook the remainder of the time and serve on hamburger buns with chips with what ever toppings the kids want.

Homemade BBQ Sloppy burgers are ground beef, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms all ground up and cooked thru in a skillet drain off the fat and pour on the bbq sauce of your choice and simmer till heated thru then serve on hamburger buns. I hope your family enjoys like mine does.
Mary

Sharon - posted on 09/13/2009

Soup, whatever your family likes you can use, also make as much as you need, the options are unlimited

Sue - posted on 09/13/2009

I love making roasted veggies for my crew. Toss onions, potatoes, radishes, garlic, sweet potatoes, carrots, or just about any starchy veggie in with a few spoons of olive oil, a dash or two of salt and rosemary leaves in a . Adding meat makes it makes it too greasy but it is fine to add tofu or tempeh since it is a non-oily protein source. Try throwing chunks of feta into the mix. This is cheap and a great way to get finicky kids to eat their vegetables. Spicy foods carmelize into sweet foods with roasting.

Ashley - posted on 09/13/2009

If your family likes polish sausage, you can fry some potatoes just like you would for fried potatoes, when they are about done, slice up your sausage and throw it into the skillet, get a baking dish out, put the sausage and potatoes in it, turn your oven to about 275-300 and sprinkle shredded cheese over the top, cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, stick it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, make your pasta for a side, veggies, whatever you like and it is quick, easy and really really good.

Anna - posted on 09/13/2009

i come from a family of 10 children and my favourite meal to make for my own little family is one that we used to have reguarly.

Chicken Cassarole(sorry about the lack of precise quantities but i'm sure you'll figure out what you need. i make a big a dish as i can and we eat it over two nights with rice)

1 cooked chicken shredded and placed into an oven dish
3 cups mayo, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, couple of teaspoons of lemon juice and combine
add 1 chopped onion, celery and mushrooms, I also add frozen mixed veges to bulk it up(peas/carrots/corn)
add1 can of pineapple pieces drain 3/4 of the juice
mix all this together and level

Topping:
Melt butter in a bowl and add cornflakes and mix till well coated(yes you did read correctly) spread the buttery cornflakes on top of cassarole.
Alternately you can use breadcrumbs or crushed weetbixs. The cornflakes sound a little strange but add a delightful crunch to the meal.

cook for 45 minutes at 180c and serve with rice or on its own( depending on how many you want to feed)

Faith - posted on 09/10/2009

My website, www.faithfuldinners.com, offers new and hearty meals every week, and lots of them will certainly feed a crowd or could easily be doubled. Go to the Sample Menu on the website and try some for yourself. Kids LOVE the Italian Chicken Rigatoni or the Pizza Pasta Toss. The Simple Slow Cooked Pork Roast is so easy, and the Bleu Cheese Flank Steak is absolutely wonderful! Try them all...you'll have new meals for a week!

Wanda - posted on 08/19/2009

Don't know what happen. A jar of pizza sauce, mozeralla cheese. Choose the toppings you like. I use left over checken, steak or roast and taco meat. I often dice different veggies over the weekend to use in different recipies during the week. This saves time during the busy week

Wanda - posted on 08/19/2009

French bread pizzas are easy and the kids love them. I have the older kids help out.Depending on the age of the kids you will need between 2-3 loaves. Cut the loaves in half length wise. Then cut the half into the apporiate portion size. A jar of pizza Bake these in 425 oven until cheese is melted

Wanda - posted on 08/19/2009

I cooked for a family of 11 for years! Now that we are only 3 I have troulble adjusting to smaller portions. I found shopping for bulk meat helps in food cost. Once I bought bulk sirlion for 1.09/pound. I bought 2 20lbs. One I had cut in steaks and roast. The other I ground into hamburger. You can also do the same thing with pork lion. Keeping a variety of pastas, rice and potatoes as well as the family size packs of frozen vegetables such as corn,peas, green beans and mixed vegetable, and a variety of your crean canned soups you cand put together almost anything. One of my family favorites if goulash. 1 &1/2 lbs groun beef (Brouwned) dice up onion 1 small, a TBS of minced garlic, a large can of diced tomatoes, about 2 cups of the mixed vegetables, salt, pepper and cumin to taste. Pasta about 3 cups cooked to direction. I put this on when I start the meat. After you get everything mixed served with garlic bread or rolls. We csoupy enough for you you can add tomatoe or V-8 to it.ook professionally so we season to taste. You can taste the sauce to your family liking. If you have any left over it can be frozen or heated up at lunch the next day. Sauce should be loose, if it isn'e

Valerie - posted on 08/19/2009

Have you looked at some recipe sites? Allrecipes.com & Tasteofhome.com are good. You can look for pasta or casserole dishes and you can adjust them to fit your needs. I have found several meals (we have a family of 6) that I have used and adjusted to fit our needs and my family really likes them.



Home made pizzas are also good and fun for everyone. You can get the pizza dough almost anywhere for about $1 each and jars of sauce that will cover a couple pizzas & everyone can put their own toppings on. Stores like Smart & Final are good for bulk cheese, etc.....

Cindy - posted on 08/18/2009

I make my own hot pockets with bread dough, I use what ever I have left overs or I cook some things and put them together. I take a small ball (little smaller than a tennis ball) roll it out to be a thin circle and put in a pot pie tin (it keeps liquid in) leave some over sides to fold over to close. Put ingredents in on dough and you need either gravy, sauce or cheese a small amount. and then fold the egdes over and close opening. I then use the garlic butter sauce from Dominos pizza (I buy a case for about $20) I brush it on the top before and after so it makes like garlic bread on the top. I have done speggetti and sauce, ribs abd BQ sauce, and meat and veggies with either cheese or gravy. The amount gravy, sauce or cheese is small and to taste I ussally put about 2-3 Tbs of it in mine. Then I bake at 350 for about 10-15 min until tops are light brown. and enjoy. If you know how to do bread dough use that if now then use frozen bread dough. Let me know if you enjoy it. The receipe I use for my dough makes 15-16 pockets. If you need a good receipe for dough let me know I have a pretty easy one.

Virginia - posted on 08/18/2009

Hey ya'll I fix Tator ToT Casserole too, but I cook my Tater ToTs separately and add cooked egg noddles to the meat mixture.

Becky - posted on 08/16/2009

thanks for all your replies. great ideas and i'm sure to use a lot of them. these kids are always hungry!!! :)

Shirley - posted on 08/14/2009

I make this awesome Tator Tot Casserole its a different version than most make.

1 to 2 lbs ground beef cooked and drained

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 4oz can chopped green chilis

1 chopped onion

1 block of Pepper Jack cheese,grated

1 pkg tator tots

1/2 empty soup can of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

cook ground beef and chopped onion, drain

Put tator tots in a 13x9x2 baking dish, I put these in the oven for a bit to thaw them while I mix the other ingredients.

In a bowl mix the soups, chilis and milk

Add drained ground beef to mix in the bowl, stir to coat all ground beef

Pour over tator tots, top with cheese

Bake until bubbly and cheese is melted usually 30 to 35 minutes if you precook the tots a little. Enjoy

* You can also add a chopped jalepeno pepper if you want too. We enjoy it either way.

Let set a little so it will get thicker. Really good as left overs as well

Virginia - posted on 08/13/2009

My kids always loved this one, we call it Mexican casserole. Take some chilli; homemade or from a can, whatever your family likes (we use leftover chilli) and put enough in a cake pan or two cake pans to cover the bottom well, add a can or two of drained whole kernell corn (we mix ours in the chilli) now cover it with your favorite kind of cheese. anykind will do. ok now mix you up a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix, 1 box per pan of chilli. (I have tried 2 boxes on a cake pan full and it was to thick) so just mix it following directions on the box, but add more water or milk and make it VERY runny. pour it over the top and cook it in the oven until golden brown.

Debbi - posted on 08/13/2009

I came from a large family and we loved our "goulash".

Boil 1 box of elbow noodles till tender.

Brown 1 pound hamburger meat (1 pd for each box of noodles) with onion (or just use onion salt to taste).

Drain noodles then return to pot, add meat and jar of spaghetti sauce, and mix well. Cover top with any kind of cheese and pop into a 350 oven till heated through.

This is very inexpensive and makes a lot, and is very filling.

Cheryl - posted on 08/12/2009

Try stuffing boneless/skinless chicken breast with stove top stuffing cook stuffing as directions on box . I use chicken . Suff each breast then on top of the chicken use honey mustard bought or homemade .

I make my own with Honey , spicy brown must and yellow cap mrs, dash .

Make as much as you think youll need .

Michele - posted on 08/11/2009

just an idea...

the school my children attend have lots of potlucks...
so this summer, in preparation for the good times to come,
i found some 'potluck recipe' books at my local library.

waiting to try some new 'big' recipes :)

Karen - posted on 08/11/2009

My son love my cheeseburger macaroni. All I do is cook a big box of macaroni then add lots of American cheese some butter/oleo and cream and make a creamy mac and cheese then fry up some ground beef and crumble it up like you would put in spaghetti and drain it then add it to the creamy mac and cheese and mix it good and it feeds a lot.

Michelle - posted on 08/11/2009

Got this recipe from a friend last night on the phone. Haven't tried it yet, but it sounded easy and inexpensive! She was making Chili Mac. She cooks macaroni and cheese using the box directions and when it is finished, she adds a can of beanless chili. It sounded good to me! We are a family of 7! Hope this helps! Michelle

Becky - posted on 08/10/2009

Quoting Karina:

Delete Are you sure? Yes | No Edit Posted by You (July 29, 3:43 pm)
my son loves this one....it's mostly a one pan meal

fry in a skillet 2 large onions that have been cut into half moons and a crushed garlic clove, fry until slightly browned in a little oil. add 1 cup chicken broth to skillet and boil until mixture has reduced slightly.
in a baking dish (for oven) place 8 x chicken, pork or beef sausages and about 12 x baby potatoes (cut in half) and toss with a little oil. sprinkle with a handful of olives, some rosemary and bay leaves (fresh are best)...pour the onion, chicken broth mixture over the sausages and potatoes in the baking dish.
cook in moderate oven for 20 mins....after this add the zest of one lemon and some baby tomatoes on the top...bake for another 20 mins....and serve.
really yummy.....i even made it when i had some unexpected guests and they asked for the recipe. you will need to double this i would say.
Also what about home made pizza.....you cant go wrong with that either.

good luck, karina...(australia)

hi karina, thanks for the recipe. i can't wait to use it. it's neat that you are in australia. i just recently joined this circle of mom's and hadn't thought about hearing from people from overseas!             be blessed, b

Becky - posted on 08/10/2009

Quoting Erika:

Lasagna. You can get whatever filling you want but make sure to layer it correctly. Put down a small amount of sauce in the pan before starting the layer. I can feed a good 10 grown ups with a lasagna. here's a simple recipe to follow

1 jar/can pasta sauce
lasagna noodles
desired meat, cooked
ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 pound mozzarella

Cook pasta and set aside to cool down. Mix egg with ricotta. pour small amount of sauce at bottom of pan and spread around. Layer pan with noodles, then spread ricotta on noodles. Spread meat and drizzle sauce. Add shredded mozzarella cheese. continue until lasagna pan is full. DO NOT COVER WITH TIN FOIL. Last layer should be motzerella. Lasagna will be done when cheese is browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes than serve with desired side dish *I typically use store bought garlic bread and a tossed salad*

I hope that helps.

hi erica, thanks for the suggestion. i don't make lasagna as often as i should. did you know that you can make it w/o cooking the noodles first? it saves a lot of time, and easier too!  thanks again. be blessed, b

Becky - posted on 08/10/2009

Quoting Tiffany:

Definitely Shepard's Pie! You can use virtually any meat and any vegetables you have in your house and create a giant pan of it. Must haves that you can't substitute will be potatoes and any kind of cheese you like. I've even used the cans of parmesan. What I usually use is ground turkey, it's cheap and low fat, high protein. Cook that up with your choice of seasoning, chopped onions and chopped celery. Lay that in a baking dish. You can then layer it with canned, fresh or frozen vegetables. Normally, I layer meat, then chopped carrots, frozen peas next 2 cans of corn. While I'm doing this I've got about 7 potatoes boiling. Once the potatoes are done I turn them into mashed potatoes and add herb seasoning and cheapy parmesan cheese. Once your mashed potatoes are done, you cover the top of your meat and veggie layered dish with them and pop them in the oven. I usually sprinkle even more parmesan on top of the potatoes before it goes in the oven. I've used cheddar and monterrey jack too and it comes out super cheesy and a BIG hit. I've substituted green beans for peas before, just depends on what your kids like. It's a great dish full of vegetable! We love it with turnips in it too!

thanks tiffany for replying to my ?.  shepard's pie is a regular for us. it fits the bill to a t!  if you want to try a different variation i put my pots on the bottom layer, then meat,  then veggies, then a bisquick topping. my family loves it. i think it might go a litle farther this way too! :) thanks again.  be blessed, b

Karina - posted on 08/09/2009

Delete Are you sure? Yes | No Edit Posted by You (July 29, 3:43 pm)

my son loves this one....it's mostly a one pan meal



fry in a skillet 2 large onions that have been cut into half moons and a crushed garlic clove, fry until slightly browned in a little oil. add 1 cup chicken broth to skillet and boil until mixture has reduced slightly.

in a baking dish (for oven) place 8 x chicken, pork or beef sausages and about 12 x baby potatoes (cut in half) and toss with a little oil. sprinkle with a handful of olives, some rosemary and bay leaves (fresh are best)...pour the onion, chicken broth mixture over the sausages and potatoes in the baking dish.

cook in moderate oven for 20 mins....after this add the zest of one lemon and some baby tomatoes on the top...bake for another 20 mins....and serve.

really yummy.....i even made it when i had some unexpected guests and they asked for the recipe. you will need to double this i would say.

Also what about home made pizza.....you cant go wrong with that either.



good luck, karina...(australia)

Erika - posted on 08/08/2009

Lasagna. You can get whatever filling you want but make sure to layer it correctly. Put down a small amount of sauce in the pan before starting the layer. I can feed a good 10 grown ups with a lasagna. here's a simple recipe to follow

1 jar/can pasta sauce
lasagna noodles
desired meat, cooked
ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 pound mozzarella

Cook pasta and set aside to cool down. Mix egg with ricotta. pour small amount of sauce at bottom of pan and spread around. Layer pan with noodles, then spread ricotta on noodles. Spread meat and drizzle sauce. Add shredded mozzarella cheese. continue until lasagna pan is full. DO NOT COVER WITH TIN FOIL. Last layer should be motzerella. Lasagna will be done when cheese is browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes than serve with desired side dish *I typically use store bought garlic bread and a tossed salad*

I hope that helps.

Tiffany - posted on 08/08/2009

Definitely Shepard's Pie! You can use virtually any meat and any vegetables you have in your house and create a giant pan of it. Must haves that you can't substitute will be potatoes and any kind of cheese you like. I've even used the cans of parmesan. What I usually use is ground turkey, it's cheap and low fat, high protein. Cook that up with your choice of seasoning, chopped onions and chopped celery. Lay that in a baking dish. You can then layer it with canned, fresh or frozen vegetables. Normally, I layer meat, then chopped carrots, frozen peas next 2 cans of corn. While I'm doing this I've got about 7 potatoes boiling. Once the potatoes are done I turn them into mashed potatoes and add herb seasoning and cheapy parmesan cheese. Once your mashed potatoes are done, you cover the top of your meat and veggie layered dish with them and pop them in the oven. I usually sprinkle even more parmesan on top of the potatoes before it goes in the oven. I've used cheddar and monterrey jack too and it comes out super cheesy and a BIG hit. I've substituted green beans for peas before, just depends on what your kids like. It's a great dish full of vegetable! We love it with turnips in it too!

Becky - posted on 08/08/2009

thank you becky. i will give it a try. we've had similar but that sure sounds easier!

Becky - posted on 08/08/2009

Try Chicken and Pasta. Make chicken breasts however you like and cut into bite sized pieces. Make a couple of boxes of pasta. (bowties, penne, etc.) Throw cooked pasta and chicken in pot with 2-4 cans of Cream of Chicken soup undiluted. Usually, I don't need to warm it, but I haven't done this recipe doubled. If your family likes, add a cup of green peas or cooked diced carrots. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Quick, easy and liked by most kids!