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!!!

We go on large group,holidays every summer, there tends to be 20-30 of us, split approx evenly between adults and kids. We tend to feed the kids earlier, and because of fussiness (and sheer volume of numbers), there's often a selection for dinner - pasta in Tom sauce, pasta and pesto, plain pasta, grated cheese, pizza slices, crudités.

For the adults, again, there tends to be lots of food. We would BBQ prob twice minimum, with all sorts of things on the BBQ - steaks, fish, sausages, burgers, veggies. Then we make and buy accompanying salads, and make big trays of roast garlic potatoes. Once we made enormous paellas, we've done pizzas for all in an on site wood fired oven. And bought plenty of bung in the oven pizzas! We've also had on site caterers come for the odd night as a treat.

The key thing is that all adults are involved - there's plenty of jobs, making sure kids are ok, everyone has a drink, rubbish is dealt with, washing up and clearing away, as well as chopping, prepping etc. It's nice to be chatting over a glass of wine while prepping with friends. And many hands make light work!

Definitely take a slow cooker.

Make lots of Curry's , chillis spag bogs , stews

Take 2 or 3 slow cookers- presumably among the adults some have them? You can put things on when you're out then: chilli, curries, beef bourguignon, stroganoff, sauce for pasta, etc.

I think cooking enough spaghetti for 15 rules out spaghetti bol.
We make it with fusilli, so much easier to eat anyway!

Also... a chicken and a huge salad

Breakfast I'd go continental.., cereals, fruit, croissants, bread and cheese..

Lunch out..

Evenings I'd see if you could get 3 slow cookers (each family could take one?) and I'd do chilli.., stew.. curry..

I'd also do pasta bake with garlic bread.. (could do two or three Pyrex dishes then have a big side salad/garlic breads).

BBQ one night ?

We've had loads of holidays like this. Each couple cooks 2 dinners. Brekkie and lunch people fend for themselves.

Last year we had:

Salmon on the bbq, salad, homemade chips.
Burgers and chips.
Creamy ham and veg pasta bake with baguette.
Lasagne.

I also did general tao chicken and rice one year.

Desserts are ice cream, cake etc.

Minimal fuss.

rasamalaysia.com/baked-hoisin-chicken/#mv-creation-516

rasamalaysia.com/garlic-broccoli/

I did these chicken and broccoli recipes the other night and it was delicious and they could both be easily scaled up (you'd need big pans though). And a massive pot to cook enough rice for 15!

Re pizzas I'd say that making your own might be a better idea than buying ready made (if you're going to do pizza). They cook in minutes so you can get them through the ovens and onto the table much more quickly. Topped with passata, some cold cut meats, grated cheese (ready grated!), blue cheese plus some basil, olives etc. Super easy.

For breakfast

As PP said, just put out cereal, bread rolls, cheese, jame and let people help them selves.

For an evening meal I'd be tempted to make a cold buffet, the same each day and add 1 or 2 hot dishes. Cold buffet made from a supermarket deli isle with bread and butter.

If you have a slow cooker and / or a rice cooker they can be put on the table for people to help themselves.

Anything cooked not in the SC or rice cooker I would do trays in the oven of:

jacket potatoes
oven chips
potato / veg wedges
sticky chicken - chicken wings cooked in a mix of orange or lemon juice, spices and honey
chicken drumsticks
meatballs - put the sacein the SC and add the meatballs at the table
kebabs - meat, peppers, mushrooms
kebabs - chicken tikka - marinade chicken pieces in yoghurt and spices overnight then put on kebab skewers
new potatoes in a little oil with salt and pepper
Sausage rolls
pies
breaded chicken
fish fingers

Oh and I'd buy a load of foil oven trays so you don't have to wash up loads of oven trays.

I've done this many times as we have a big group holiday in Oct half term every year. I enjoy cooking and so don't mind doing that, especially as it means I don't need to do any washing up, clearing up etc!
We take slow cookers which are great when you're out for the day.
Bolognese & chilli. Make bolognese in slow cookers, add kidney beans & Cajun seasoning to some to make chilli.
Roast. Depending on efficiency of oven, slow cooked joints eg brisket can be good.
Arrival night we have plate pies (steak/chicken & ham) we've brought with us from farm shop & oven chips & peas
Curry. Slow cooker again
Takeaway or eat out
One other meal, hot pot, haggis (when in Scotland), oven baked sausages & mash or chips
Final eat up/leftovers meal

[quote CookingAllDay]@DownWhichOfLate yes, we'll be out for the day so I'm not fussed on lunches. Just everything else really. Thanks for suggestions so far...
What would you put on loaded fries @Workyticket [/quote]
We do bacon and caramelized onion with cheese grilled over the top.

We did this for 16 recently, really easy and included lots of cheese!

Oh and you don't need to include the 'decorations'

Can you BBQ?

Chicken and potato salad

BBQ for 15 is an enormous amount of work/clearing up. Most people expect at least 3 choices plus sides. No thanks!

@badlydrawnbear

We did this recently. 4 children, 11 adults including vegetarians and a vegan! Only dinner was eaten all together though. Everyone sorted their own breakfast and picnics. We had 4 pairs of adults and a group of 3 and each pair/ 3 were allocated an evening so one person didn’t spend all week cooking, we all went out 1 night and the last night ate random things to use up leftovers. We did roast dinner, pizzas, curry, pasta with a couple of different sauces, fajitas. It would have been much easier to think of meals if we didn’t have to do a vegan option.

Why couldn’t you do a vegan option for everyone? It sounds like thar would’ve been the easiest thing to do

Soup
Chicken or shredded beef wraps( flavour to taste)

Cooking for 15 isn’t an hour. Unless someone else is doing all the chopping. Sounds miserable

@Tulipomania

Roast chicken?

You would need to roast at least 3 for 15 people!

Not if they bought an MN chicken. They'd have enough for sandwiches the next day and a risotto the day after.

Your thread randomly popped into my head today, sort of an Eureka moment

If there are 10 adults , why are you going to be cooking every night.

(Also, age dependant of course, can’t the kids all make pasta or pizza one night, for everyone?)

Slow cooker , chillis , Curry's, casseroles etc. And jacket pots thrown in the oven. Served with salad Very simple