Meals for large family staying over Christmas

[Westofeasttoday]

Hello everyone! We are having my parents stay for three weeks and my sisters family for 10 days over Christmas. At our peak we will be 10 people with four kids (two of which are over 6 foot boys who eat for country!) over ten days.

We are lucky as there aren’t any allergies or food issues.

Can people please suggest some ideas for ten people that won’t break the bank and aren’t just doubling recipes (if that makes sense). Thank you!!!!

More great tips! Thank you! Like the suggestion about sausage rolls. My brother in law and dad love grocery shopping in the UK so happy to send them.

I do this most years, though thank god, they don’t come for 3 weeks. Because it would literally break me.

My suggestions:

You’ll have at least 2 extra days worth of Christmas food to eat. Everyone eats through the leftovers to clear the fridge before you start cooking more.

Unless you have commercial kitchen sized fridges, you won’t be able to fit batch cooked food or even a lot of fresh foods for cooking in the fridge til the Christmas food is gone, so plan shopping accordingly.

After 4-5 days of Christmas food, the last thing anyone wants is any more meat, potatoes, or cheese. Maybe the hungry teenagers only.

I’d think about fresh meals that require assembly more than cooking: fajitas with lots of fresh ingredients to top them with, so you just need to cook a big pan of protein/veg. Salads - all kinds of winter salads. Stir fry with lots of veg over rice or noodles, spring rolls, prawn toasts cooked in oven. Blended veg soup with crusty bread and butter.

Plan to get takeaway one night and plan to go out for dinner 2 nights. Give people the (implied) opportunity to share the cost and the organisation.

It’s incredibly expensive to host for this long, like last year cost us £1500 for a little over a week and fewer people. Don’t be a martyr unless you are a bazillionairre and money is no object.

I would hope for that many people over that number of days the guests would help with meals and the costs .

Or pancakes even. These can be frozen ahead of time.

Yes, you'd need a big pan though. Not that I'm a fan of dribbly eggs myself - I prefer them to be bouncy 😂

Hmm this is not going to be cheap!

Fajitas

Family size lasagne from M&S x 2 with coleslaw and garlic bread

Hot beef dips with onions - put cheap cut of beef in slow cooker for 8 hours with a sliced onion/gravy - serve with baps and frozen fries

Spaghetti, Lloyd grossman tomato & chilli sauce, diced chorizo & Parmesan

takeaway on day 3 maybe?

soups/sandwich for lunches

bacon/sausages/fry up stuff for breakfast etc

12 egg omelette you say? Shame these aren't in stock, but you could just get an ostrich egg, which is the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs. 😂
Although the thought of it being dribbly is revolting!

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/clarence-court-ostrich-egg/686174-97457-97458?srsltid=AfmBOopwA0gK1-heKyDR_uDra100B-YCl0tfk4Q-6z8LLfg2C3xPf0vl

I'd make a massive beef stew. One night have it as stew and then another (New Year's Day for us) as steak pie.

Make ragu and have one night a
as spag bol and another as lasagne.

Chili/tacos

Christmas dinner x 2

Then ask each family to bring enough for a dinner.

Also: pub tea one night

This book has loads of recipes and tips for catering for 12 people https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/cook-up-a-feast-book-lucy-young-9781405344456?sku=GOR009387890&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_qG5BhDTARIsAA0UHSIvDD--NAPEkBy7xEjGsJIby8S3A_tIbUBV0n4Gb7v4OlANJLGAK_UaAgSoEALw_wcB

Brisket either as a roast or in barms/rolls//baguettes with salad and wedges

gammon joint, sliced with egg and chips then leftovers used for sandwiches or a chicken ham and leek pie

burgers, sausages and chicken drumsticks for an indoor bbq night with pre made salads all easy and everyone serves themselves

meatballs and spaghetti or spaghetti bolognaise with sakad and garlic bread

chilli

fajitas everyone can just plate up their own

greek kebabs, lamb koftas with salad in pittas served with rice or cous cous or potatoes

big stew chicken or beef served with crusty bread and red cabbage/beetroot

curry

cottage pie make in those big foil trays to save on washing up

fish and chips

Fish pie

pre made fish cakes with greens and new potatoes

pizza night

Great advice thank you. No not a bazillion aide and don’t have a commercial kitchen (how cool would that be!). It’s not so bad. My parents are in their 80”s flying from abroad so while we do see them a couple of times a year, we can’t just nip over for a few days. My sister and family live in Europe but their kids love my kids so it’s great for them. We are lucky to have enough space (although never really enough) and all the kids sleep in one room and enjoy the massive sleepover every night. It will be fin, I’m looking forward to it :)

Yeah they can’t bring it as flying from overseas but all have said they are happy to help, prep, cook and clean. I’m not worried about division of Labour. We have all gotten used to our family when all together at 14 with everyone pitching in and helping.. Thank you for the suggestions though!

Given the length of stay I would think hard about "lighter" or simple meals - 10 days of celebration/ rich food would have me craving raw carrots - the PP idea of soups and salads is great

Yeah they can’t bring it as flying from overseas

I read that after I'd posted!

If you do a Costco shop they do a large pork loin for approx £24-26. It easily does 4 joints. Brilliant for roast, pulled pork, or turn some into chops & marinade with a chilli & honey glaze.

We do similar family visits and I would advise asking each family to take turns cooking - get everyone to say what they want to cook and put the food on an online order. I find that the big thing is the mental load of what to cook, what ingredients to get, and sharing that is really helpful.

We’re in the same boat exactly! I think one night we will do pies as they can be made and frozen earlier in December - chicken and ham, cheese and onion and prawn pie (recipe from my husbands country). Will serve with cooked green beans or something. Another night pulled pork done in the slow cooker and brioche rolls etc coleslaw. I don’t want to cook pasta or rice on the hob as it steams up the kitchen and then there are big pans to wash. And with 15 people one night and 17 the next that’s a lot of rice/pasta!

No worries. My sister and family are coming from Europe so I am hoping for some nice cheeses and chocolates :)

Good luck to both of us! What could possible go wrong 😂? This planning and advise is so helpful - I hope it helps you too!

Good shout thank you. I normally don’t look at the mega meat sections as we are a family of four but makes to total sense. My mum is good at buying like 20 chicken breast from there and bagging up a couple and putting the bags into the freezer.

Just thinking of some more ideas.

You could do a ramen noodle / pho noodle soup bar. Have a giant stockpot of soup broth and a couple big pots of cooked noodles of different types if you want. Then different protein and garnish options laid out for people. Ex: cooked & sliced chicken breasts, rare sliced beef, bean sprouts, tofu, mushrooms, lime, basil, etc.

A big tray of chicken drumsticks for dinner or possibly for snacking during the day.

Roasted vegetables in large quantities. People could add those to quesadillas, wraps or sandwiches.

Breakfast stratas — make a couple and those should give you about 20 servings — sallysbakingaddiction.com/spinach-bacon-breakfast-strata/

Or eggs / omelettes baked in muffin tins. Then you’d have lots of mini muffins for people to choose from and snack on

Breakfast sandwiches copycats. Get sone English muffins, sausage, eggs, etc and people customize.

Sheet pan giant pancake so you can feed a crowd quickly — www.thekitchn.com/sheet-pan-pancakes-recipe-23059380

YES to cooking bacon in the oven. It’s so much easier and you can do them in large batches too.

A large pot of Mexican black beans. They’re very flexible and delicious. Eat them as a side, over rice, nachos, in quesadillas, in breakfast burritos or regular burritos.

Fresh fruit! Cut up pineapples, etc so everything is ready in the fridge. That could be the kids’ job to make a fruit salad or plate every day. Also have them find hearty winter salad recipes too so they can experiment and get some vegetables into everyone.

This all sounds so fun @Westofeasttoday. I love cooking for a crowd!

Great advice thank you. No not a bazillion aide and don’t have a commercial kitchen (how cool would that be!)

You can rent the equipment if you have room, maybe in a garage?

Or you can rent the actual kitchen. https://temporary-commercial-kitchens.co.uk/kitchen-range/

Some great ideas! Love your clever use of muffin tins and absolutely to sheet pancakes.

I think the overriding idea is to make big and help yourself or out if lots and people can self assemble.

Its exciting and thank you again for taking the time to post and for your ideas. Noodles are a great idea especially in cold weather :)

Speaking of breakfast in muffin tins … https://www.spendwithpennies.com/easy-baked-eggs/

I’ve only ever done this as needed, not make ahead as they suggest, but it is always a huge hit and super easy for a crowd.