Cooking for 15 for a week. What would you cook?

[CookingAllDay]

Going to a holiday home with family for a week.
10 adults, 5 children. No dietary requirements. Kids aged between 3-15. Not fussy eaters.

I need breakfast, evening meal and snacks. I think I'll be doing most of the cooking which is fine, others will help if needed, so the easier the better.

Any suggestions please!!!

My top tip would be to make sure, if you’re cooking you have others to help prep stuff like chopping vegetables. Get someone else to cry chopping the onions.

Bean tacos with and the fixings (shop bought)
Salmon rice and stir fired greens
Burgers and French fries
Puttanesca pasta with salad and garlic bread
Chicken basque
Golden lentil Dahl with poppadoms and spicy onion salad

(Shameless placemark...some of the recipes on here sound fab, next week sorted for me!)

Thanks for the thread OP! Have a lovely holiday!

Roast chicken with salads and mini roasties
Prawn linguine.

Have only skim read Op
The cooking is easy I agree with a glass of wine, it's the setting, clearing of the table and general clearing up
That's where I suggest others help!!
Breakfast
Help yourself buffet, yoghurt, cereals, pastries etc
Other days
Boiled eggs
Scrambled eggs
Bacon sandwiches
Sausage sandwiches
'Macdonalds muffins'
Dinner
As others said prep lasagna, curry, chilli
Then other nights
Pizza top your own bases( buy rather than make)
Katsu chicken - buy ready breaded chicken, cook rice and peas and serve with Curry sauce( home bargains and b& m do a powder)
Burger night- ready made, plastic cheese, oven chips or cut up potatoes and cook in oven, various toppings
Greek night- Chuck whole chickens in oven marinated in lemon and garlic, but buy ready made flat breads/ pittas serve with Greek salad and bought humous etc

Anti pasta/ grazing board night

Desserts
Go retro
Artic roll, etc
Fruit
Lots of ice creams and lollies
Cheese board

And lots of 🍷

Have fun.x

Many suggestions for pizzas.

I am trying to imagine cooking 15 pizzas in a domestic oven.

Delivery: yes.
Cook at home: no.

You cook them 2 or 3 at the time and serve them by the slice, with salad and coleslaw. Just need to keep putting them in the oven until everyone's had enough.

Day 1. Chicken curry

1. Lasagne
2. Chilli/fajitas with rice and tortillas

4 joint of meat, salad and bread

1. Tray bake meal, chicken or fish based
2. Bbq
3. Pizzas

@BarbaraofSeville

You cook them 2 or 3 at the time and serve them by the slice, with salad and coleslaw. Just need to keep putting them in the oven until everyone's had enough.

Yes, but they take 12 mins each, so that’s an hour and 25 mins of pizzas in and out and getting sliced.

A good cheat spaghetti carbonara is pasta with melted Philadelphia and sprinkled with bacon lardons.

Three chickens, new pots, coleslaw, salad
Spag Bol
Gammon joint, baked spuds, green veg, parsley sauce
A whole salmon (so easy). Bung in fish kettle, add lemon, peppercorns, bottle of white, bay leaf, cover with water, bring to a murmuring simmer for five minutes, turn off heat and leave overnight. So simple.
Bangers and mash with onion gravy and beans
Might be tempted to do a big pork casserole with onions, apples, cider, bit of cream and mushrooms - baked spuds and veg.

Good luck.

I may be weird but this does sound fun to me, especially as OP knows she will get help with prep and presumably won’t be doing (ie had better not be doing!) the washing up. I wouldn’t mind this either if I had a good (but flexible) plan beforehand and wine constantly on tap.

My suggestion for 3 nights was going to be

Roast chicken (x4)
Monster gammon
Chicken and ham pie with the leftovers

Have fun!

Sounds very stressful. I would suggest

A couple of BBQ's - burgers, salad etc
Fish and chips
Pre bought rotisserie chickens with salad and chips

For the rest of the time I'd suggest eating out....Or eat a main meal out at lunch time and do sandwiches and shop bought soup in the evening.

Boil a large gammon at home and then pop it in the oven when there for one meal, hopefully left over ham for lunch

Butterflied leg of lamb - you'd need 1-2 but takes about 45 minutes to roast. You may not have oven space for roast potatoes.... The lamb works on a BBQ if you can get someone with a glass of wine to oversee that??

Oh yeah, and maybe oven pizza!

All of the above plus a couple of takeaways of your liking (paid for by the other adults)

Thanks for all the replies, some great recipes I'll be trying at home here 😁

There's 2 ovens, a grill, a microwave and a bbq. Weather permitting, we'll do a bbq one night

No, I won't be doing the washing up or loading the dishwasher 😁

The reviews say the kitchen etc is all really well equipped re: big pans. The house can accommodate more people than is going so I'm going with the idea they'll be pans there-though admittedly, it hadn't crossed my mind

I've no doubt help will be offered to set table, get drinks, chop, stir, serve etc. That's certainly been the case previously. I enjoy cooking for plenty of people and the rest of the group don't so much, so I really don't mind at all. I genuinely enjoy it.

It is only the evening meal I'd be cooking. Breakfasts - I've suggested we just help ourselves and lunches will be sorted on the day individually as we'll be out and about. Going to do a cheese board too one evening as we all love a cheese board!

Thanks everyone!

Roasted chicken, roasted veg, then serve with flatbreads abd humus.

pancakes sweet or savoury

Definitely take a few key items, knives, microplane, non-stick baking sheets and Tupperware's.
Slow cooked ginger chicken
Whole chicken tikka on the BBQ with dhal
Baked gnocchi (there is a great hack one you can do with pumpkin soup and blue cheese)
Bagged salads and slaws with Steaks or BBQ meats.
'John legend' Mac n cheese
Take huge freezer bags to marinade meats in the morning before you go out.
Also 2nd breakfast bar, frozen breads and pastries. Lay out cheeses, meats on big platters and wrap them in cling or those reusable shower cap covers. They would last a couple of days. Same with large Tupperware's of fruit, serve with yoghurt, oats, chia and honey.
I'm with you OP I love being in the kitchen

Chicken chorizo and chickpea stew with bread
Veggie Dahl with rice and ready made naans
Massive Thai curry -use ready made paste
Lamb tagine with cous cous

Firstly, you sound ruddy and like the dream holiday companion! I hope the rest appreciate you.

Most of these have been said, but what came to mind for me were the big, easily scaleable and fairly simple dishes like lasagne, curry, chilli, chicken tray bake, macaroni, etc.

For breakfast I’d buy in a selection of cereals and condiments at the start of the week that people can help themselves to every morning. Another adult can be responsible for making sure that fresh bread, milk, juice etc. are kept topped up. Fruit bowl and yoghurts. This doesn’t need to be yours as well.

I’m a terrible cook and would never be allocated this job, but I’ve been on this kind of holiday with a ‘you’ taking on the lion share and I was super grateful and made damn sure that I helped to set the table, wash the dishes, make sure she had her feet up with a glass of wine after dinner! We all did.

‘Ruddy lovely’, not just ‘ruddy’!

There is a large cheap slow cooker on Argos for under £20.

My one suggestion is spaghetti/ pasta with meatballs. You can buy the ready made ones in the fridge and just bug them in the slow cooker with a tonne of tomato sauce.