how do you lot get on with cooking for your tribe then?

[SquonkTheBeerGuru]

I'm not in a "larger" family yet (did you notice that word "yet" ) but as I was cooking chicken stir-fry tonight for me, dp and the three children, the pan wasn't big enough and I had to split it into two pans.

And two of mine are really quite little.

So, how do you get on when you're feeding lots of people every night? Do you have industrial sized pans or do you do it in shifts?

Are you up the duff Squonkl?

i have 4 between 14 and 4. The 2 eldest eat like hungry adults, so I do need vast pans if I'm doing pasta for example.

Another thing i do, to save cooking time really rather than for "large family" reasons, is always to make at least double of bolognese/curry/chilli/other casserole type food, and serve half to the children or to the two of us one evening, then keep the rest for next day. Then there's plenty left but we don't need to eat the same meal twice in a row.

Also do lots of simple roast chicken; a good free range one will easily feed six, then i make soup with the leftovers.

I have to cook double the amount to feed 11 of us at one sitting. One sitting what am I talking about - at least 2 sittings or more depending on who is home from school, work or wherever. We have one sitting on a Sunday and maybe a Saturday.

I am the youngest of four - my mum alays fed us at 5pm and her and dad when we were in bed

Family meals were a roast so a while pan of veggies was okay, loads of potatoes in the oven

Xmas dinner with grandparents was trickier with huge turkey in small oven!

Golly cant imagine food costs for larger families.!

We have a range oven that we cook on, is really handy when there is 6 of us! We have a massive wok from ikea that we do our on the hob food and a huge, huge pan for the likes of pasta or rice or potatoes.

'kin ell

We have mighty big sauce pans. We eat lots of pasta, so easy and cheap to cook. Salads are a big hit. Jacket pots 4 in microwave at a time then get transferred to oven to crisp whilst others are cooking in micro. And then all ready to eat together.

mmmm food!!!!!

i HAVE A HUGE OVEN AND MANAGED TO FIND A CATERING OUTLET THAT WAS SELLING OFF CATERING STUFF (SCHOOL DINNER SIZE PANS) I MAKE LOADS SOME NIGHTS I AM FEEDING 15 I HATE IT WHEN THERE FRIENDS COME AND I CANNOT OFFER THEM SOMETHING TO EAT (MUST BE COS I AM MARRIED TO AN ITALIAN ) PS SORRY FOR SHOUTING SCHOOL HOLS NOISE LEVEL ON MAX AT MO