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!!!!

The other thing to think about is physically fitting the food in your fridge.

If you already do online grocery shopping - I highly recommend setting up an order every two days. You can always cancel if you don't need it but you would be surprised how fast a house with that many adults will crank through the food and drinks.

If you get bake in the oven ciabattas you can put any leftover meat in those - turkey and stuffing with cranberry or gammon etc as a very filling meal with a side salad? Often you can get a rolled turkey breast cheaply and it’s an easy crowd pleaser in a bap or ciabatta!

You’re very welcome @Westofeasttoday ☺️

Also try baked oatmeal as an option! https://www.thekitchn.com/search?q=baked%20oatmeal&filter=recipes

Or if you have an Instant Pot, a large batch of steel cut oats (porridge).

You've had lots of meal ideas on here but I'd recommend mastering a few easy pasta sauces that can be made quickly and easily - although cooking enogh pasta foro tha tmany people can be a challenge in a home kitchen! :)

But. my main suggestion is stock up on things like those parbaked rolls/baguettes/ciabattas plus things tha tkeep well and dont 'take up a lot of space like cold meats, cheese etc. It means you can always rustle up something at breakfast/lunch with very little effort even if the endless shopping is getting you down!

Just a thought OP

I have a vacuum sealer, not a posh catering one just a normal £25 one.

If you vacuum seal food it takes up less space in the fridge / freezer and lasts longer. I think the rule of thumb is double the time but do not quote me. You can also vacuum seal left overs so you don't need to use them in a day or two.

Wow that's quite a lot of people to feed, but such amazing memories to have such gatherings...
Here is a list of recipe ideas
Definitely potato au gratin recipe, easy, delicious and it can feed a tribe!
Egg fried rice or chicken fried rice version if they are really hungry
Meatballs with spaghetti you can choose the meat they like
Mac and cheese for an easy meal that kids will love
Soups can also be a very good bet for dinners like a tomato bean soup which is quite nutritive and tasty or even onion soup..
If you have some time left or if the kids want to join, it will be fun preparing some hot beverages and brownies etc...Talking about all these I feel like making them too 😅

Pre make and freeze a couple of big lasagnas, to serve with a big bowl of salad (open bag, put in bowl types), and lots of garlic bread.

Premake and freeze a couple of big batches of different slow cooked stews to defrost and reheat in the oven. A beef bouginonnge (sp?), a Mexican pork, a coq au vin etc. To have with variations of baked/mashed potatoes and frozen veg streamed or salad