Meal ideas for large groups

[sgarth05]

I am on day 15 and going strong. However I'm finding it difficult to make dinners large enough to fill up our family of seven. There are many nights I think I've made enough for an army but I end up making a second meal cause its gone before I sit down.

[homerfrizzell]

That's terrible. Shouldn't they (or at least some of them) wait for you?

[dotamy]

I am struggling with the same question for a family of 5 (with one athletic teen who eats like two adults). I bought a huge commercial sized tray of eggs so I can miss the grocery store one day! I was thinking of experimenting with different skillet-type ground meat meals where it all gets cooked up at once. I made a huge pot of homemade spaghetti beef sauce and served over broccoli slaw - that was successful and we all ate together with a decent quantity for everyone. This is my 4th W30, my husbands 2nd, and our kids first. It's been an experience doing this for five people. We are on Day 5. The quantity of food we go through is unlike anything I expected.

[KnottyMama]

I have a family of 6 and I have been struggling with that very same thing. My kids are like bottomless pits so I have learned some things that have helped us and hopefully will help you too.  We attempted a W30 in July, but cut it short due to a spur of the moment vacation. I am hoping to do another one soon.  We are still eating a paleo diet, though, and I stick to W30 it as closely as I can even though I am not quite as strict right now. After the first week of W30, we adjusted to not eating grains and our appetites all decreased dramatically and even though we have added a few things back to our diet, I still find that we aren't eating as much as we did before we started it.   

 

For breakfast we do eat lots of eggs, (I have started buying eggs by the 5 dozen box) but one of our favorite breakfasts has become fried eggs on a bed of baby spinach leaves with avocado. Also, we love breakfast sausage and fried eggs with some sort of veggie, usually sweet potato hash browns.  I have been experimenting with paleo granola but on W30 you would need to add a meat or eggs on the side.  I make a large batch and we eat it with coconut milk and banans and it is very filling.  I am not a big cereal eater so for us we are not really re-creating a "normal meal".  You would have to decide if that is right for your family during the W30.  Sausage or ground meat and veggie frittatas are great and filling! 

 

  Chicken drumsticks or the thighs are cheap and you can make a lot.  I try to bake a lot at once a week and have it for several meals.  I have started doing a weekly cookup with the chicken, and brisket or pork butt roast and those seem to last several meals. I also get a huge package of ground beef and brown it with all sorts of veggies (whatever looks good when I am shopping) and I use it for different things.   We eat it just like it is or it's easy to throw into a frittata or spaghetti sauce or a W30 "shephard's pie".   I make sure everyone gets a good helping of veggies at each meal because besides the nutritional value,  the fiber helps fill bellies. I have really found that the more veggies we eat, the more satisfied everyone is.   I upped my family's fat intake with olives, nuts, seeds and avocados at each meal, and that has also helped give us all a full feeling.  You will fall into a routine and adjust to the paleo life! Don't give up! 

 

 

 

Edited to say we don't eat servings of olives, nut, seeds, AND avocados at every meal, just one serving of one of the items listed per meal.  Just wanted to clarify that