2 week holiday for 16 people, how would you pay for food

[beingsunny]

Hi,
Looking for the best way to sort out paying for food.

There are 16 of us staying in a big shared house over Christmas 10 adults and 6 kids.

Would you just take it in turns to shop and split the costs at the end or does anyone have a good experience which doesn't end up in a big argument over who pays how much?

One couple tend to be a bit overboard with shopping in the past, is it easier to just say I'll do it all or set a budget which may be hard to manage over two weeks and several people being involved

Good and bad experiences welcome

This is why I don't do this kind of holiday! There's always some greedy bugger who eats everything and doesn't contribute enough.

People vary so much in what they think is normal or reasonable to eat that there's almost always some irritation.

I think the best would be to all chip in and buy very basic food.

Load of cereal, load of bacon and eggs. That's breakfast.

Load of pasta, load of meat and frozen veg.

Take turns cooking. Only cook as a group for two meals....breakfast, or lunch or dinner.

Meal plan in advance. Ask for input and suggestions. A rota of who is cooking when so the same people don't get stuck with it.

See if any supermarket delivers.

Do a massive list and put it into supermarket on line shop to give you an idea of how much it will be and divide cost and tell everyone how much it will be per family.

Just done a big birthday party in a booked out house place. It was only 2 nights but perhaps the same model will work.

• Main meals (dinner) planned out each day and as much as poss pre-prepared. We did stuff you can help yourself on with a small variation to allow for taste difference e.g. 3x curries - one meat, one veggie, one mild korma.

• Breakfast planned out with extremely limited options - someone brought a load of bacon and sausages, and we had rolls and bread and brought some jam in case people didn't want bacon/sausage. There was discussion of eggs, orange juice - in the end, keep it absolutely simple and options right down. (Eggs are a massive pain to cook to order anyway).

• Alcohol provided in 2 varieties (beer, prosecco)

For the above it was split between people who brought/prepared what.

Lunch was mostly leftovers. With small children around I'd probably add to the "basics" budget some bread/rolls and butter, ham, cheese, tuna, cucumber, carrots, peppers and crackers, and a couple of bottles of squash.

This was all set out clearly and it was stated that if people wanted spirits, other drinks, or snacks, they would need to bring their own.

So as it's Christmas, you could probably do a similar thing?

• Budget out Christmas dinner itself and either split who brings what or just add it to the accommodation costs. Include wine/beer, some nicer soft drinks for the kids, Christmas snacks.

• For the remaining 13 nights, allocate each adult one night's dinner to plan and either bring or buy the ingredients while there. That leaves 3 nights for leftovers/picky bits or getting a takeaway/meal out in pub etc. Be sure to share dietary requirements, but don't be too restrictive. Has the nice side effect of forcing the blokes to take responsibility for cooking/thinking at least once too and not just sidle off and leave (usually the same 3-4) women to handle all the cooking!

• Budget out basic breakfast/lunch options and drinks for the other days - tea, coffee, squash. But aim to slightly overcater for dinner and you should have leftovers for lunches.

• Everything else is BYO. If you want a snack not on the list, bring your own. If you have an extremely fussy child, bring something they'll eat as a back up, if you want something different to drink, etc etc.

For group holidays, we've always just got a credit card that we can all use at the supermarket, then we just divide the bill at the end. Just avoiding letting big spenders do the shop.

I think you’re very brave!

Can’t help too much, cos I’d never ever do this kind of holiday, but I can recommend an unusual food source that might be handy. IKEA frozen section. Is there anyone, child or grownup, who doesn’t like their meatballs and those veggie/potato ‘pucks’? Noticed them the other day and remember thinking they’d be perfect for big group catering. Nutritious, yummy and very quick to prepare.

Good luck to you.

Can you pair up all the adults and ask them to provide ingredients and cook 2 dinner meals each? That takes care of 10 nights
Then have a kitty for breakfast and lunch and Christmas Day food. Buy fairly basic stuff and everyone can get their own snacks.
Maybe eat out for a couple of main meals?

We are going on a family holiday this year for Christmas, there’s 12 of us with varying budgets. We have decided that £10 per person per day is reasonable for food and gives a bit left over towards heating and water bills (staying in a family home). This seems to work out for us but there is always somebody who then adds alcohol/extras to the weekly shop that actually aren’t covered by the budget! Good luck!

Thank you all, Christmas dinner is sorted with a pig on a spit!

I think a basic meal planning approach seems the way to go, there's a pizza oven in the garden so we can use that a couple of nights, most people enjoy cooking so I think that will be easily distributed, and a limit on snack foods will keep the costs down.

We have decided people can bring their own booze as there are a couple of non drinkers and a few big drinkers

We did one week with another couple and our 2 young DC
Me and the DW of other couple went out to local Asda when we arrived got everything for the whole week based on a pre planned meal plan. Our Dc eat everything which helps and we just paid an extra £15 towards the bill for their share. We all eat/drink a similar amount which made splitting the food/drinks bill fair and me and DH bought nappies/wipes separately. Not sure how I'd do it with that many adults

Meal plan via email beforehand
Massive Ocado order. No booze on it- everyone brings their own.
Ocado order split evenly- we do it so children cost 50% of adult fee but as the kids grow up and eat more we will have to alter this.
Don’t have penny pinching friends- we go with 9 other families so 40 + of us and no one has ever quibbled over costs.

Meal plan via email beforehand
Massive Ocado order. No booze on it- everyone brings their own.
Ocado order split evenly- we do it so children cost 50% of adult fee but as the kids grow up and eat more we will have to alter this.
Don’t have penny pinching friends- we go with 9 other families so 40 + of us and no one has ever quibbled over costs.

We do this every few years with my family, although only for a week.
We do a dinner each (there or prepared at home) and a big shop at the start of the week. And smaller shops during the week get added on. We just lump everything together inc alcohol despite some non drinkers (mainly me).
Then just divide it up. Small kids count as a half each.
Tho we are a family of laid back folks mostly so that probably helps.

We are doing 6 days away at Christmas with family, at the moment we are all paying £200 pp for food in advance for a starter fund. No menu planning