Feeding a large family through social distancing.

[ironicname]

We are trying to social distance ourselves as much as possible. As from today we will only leave the house for dog walks and fresh air.
I don't want to go to the local mini market for top ups.

The problem is we have four children who never stop eating! Two are teenagers and two are primary school aged.

I've just done a supermarket online shop and it has come to £250! It's mostly fresh and it should be a weeks worth (as we will be having all meals, snacks etc at home). I have not ordered loo roll, pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes or anything in stock piling quantities. I can't afford this and I have to get it down to a maximum of £150.

How is everyone else doing? Any recipes or tips to keep everyone fed on a weekly food delivery?

You will be incredibly lucky to receive all of your shop.

I have told mine we need to think carefully because we can't simply buy more just now.

Both small children and teenagers can survive without anything between meals. You need to tell them that it's not ok to keep eating. The idea that they 'never stop eating' is ridiculous at the best of times.

Ironicname - i totally get what you mean, mine are 13, 11, 8 and 3. All very acrive kids so constantly eating and i think my 3 yr old is going through a growth spurt coz she always wants food.
Just doing my normal shopping but plan on cheap ish meals as much as i can providing i can get what i need.
Jacket potatoes
Toasties
Stews
Pasta (as and when i can get it)

I have told the kids that we can only fet what we can get, ive prewarned them that shelves are empty so treat will be limited. Its a hard adjustment to us all

@Tsotofamily you're right - they need to understand that we are limited and that they need to eat whatever I can cobble together.

I think that Bread is probably the thing that we are going to miss. I don't have space in my freezer and I don't want to pop out just for bread.

I should probably try and make my own.

If you've got flour make scones. They're quick and filling. Even better, get the children to make them with you.

@BaronessBomburst

That's a great idea. Could even make cheese and bacon ones for DH.

Another good old tip from the 70's: chuck a handful of porridge oats in with your casseroles/ mince/ Bolognese/ cottage pie dishes, and a cup or so of water. It bulks them out. Most people don't even notice oats in with mince.

I’ve made mine (13,11,10,8) a pack of
Snacks, similar to what they’d have in packed lunch, and that is their snacks for the day. They can’t keep coming to the kitchen saying they want something to eat. They thought it was hysterical. I’m just going to stick with that. I’m trying to online shop once a fortnight now. I’ll be making my own bread as well (I’ve always wants to make my own sour dough and I’m now only working one day a week - TA part of the rota for essential worker’s children). I’m trying to avoid top-up shopping also.

And I’m also worried about online deliveries having lots of missing items.

Most of my shop is perishable. We have plenty of dried, tina etc.

I suppose that this is a good exercise in eating what we need rather than what we like. I would usually have two deliveries per week and a top shop of naice things in M&S.
Probably would spend £150, but the children have school lunches and we might have a take away once a week. So £250 might not be far off. This is too much under any circumstances and I will not be returning to our "stick it in the online basket if you fancy it" ways.

Can you not make them packed lunches and put their snacks in it, or a basket, and tell them once it's gone it's gone?

I put in a 250 quid order and got 203 quids worth no pasta toilet paper etc and they knocked off some of the booze I ordered quite a lot to have a fighting chance of getting something glad I did as there's no slots for three weeks now. I'm putting out a bowl of fruit a day and some snacks per day. Once it's gone it's gone. I have loads of bread in the freezer and bucket loads of home made jam so the hungry can eat jam on toast. Absolutely no frivilous buttering of toast though.

How are people dealing with the super market limits? We have an immediate family of 7, and I now am struggling to get online slots for my two sets of vulnerable parents (top of my list is to investigate those priority booking slots I’ve seen advertised). So I could potentially end up with 11 people to buy for, ideally in one shop. I know I can’t be the only one. What are others doing??

That’s a real issue I think gin. I have a big order due on the 31st but am worried it won’t come in. I also have two autistic children, one with quite a bland palette and behavioural issues. I’m concerned about running out of pasta!

Our corner stores are reasonably stocked in case of emergency, but am worried about the impact of limits.

I've decided to put my whole shop of £250 in and see what turns up.

It's mostly fresh and drinks.

No pasta, rice, tins, loo roll or cleaning products (other than my usual one box of washing powder).

It will last us a week if I'm very careful.

Rules are 1 can of pop 1 bar of chocolate 1 bag of crisps a day .. other drinks are water or cordial snacks are cereal yogurt or fruit. Also I used to be the soft mum that made a few different meals each time to try please everyone not now its take it or leave it. To be fair they have accepted this quite well so far.