Weekly Meal Prep for the Large Family

Nine people.

Three meals a day.

Seven days a week.

189 individual meals a week.   Plus snacks.

Those numbers can be daunting to even the most experienced kitchen hand.  But they don't have to be.

Preparing meals for the large family begins with a plan.  It doesn't have to be on a fancy spreadsheet.  It doesn't have to be well balanced (kids don't care).  It just has to be written down.  Currently, I'm using this great little notebook (affiliate link) I won at a bridal shower.  I write LUNCH on the top of one page and SUPPER on the top of a second page.  I write the days of the week with a few lines in between and then just start filling it in.  Once all the days have meals, I tear out the sheets and clip them to the side of a magazine holder on my kitchen counter.

So let's go through this step by step.  Find a notebook or dry erase board or chalk board or blank calendar.....whatever it is you desire to write up your meal plan.

Label the pages.

Start adding meal ideas.  My best tips are to look at your calendar and pick meals that will work with your schedule for that day and have a mix of everyone's favorites.  I like to try new recipes, but I spread them out between family favorites, usually. 😉

Keep this part simple.  For lunch I might plan hot dogs and applesauce.  Then on the day of I'll throw in any other leftovers if I have them.  And if I don't have any extras to add, it's really no big deal because I have a basic plan and there's nothin' wrong with a basic lunch.  Same goes for supper.  If I'm planning Taco Tuesday, I'll write tacos and rice, then when I'm making supper I'll look around for some canned fruit or cottage cheese to add to it.  And again, if I don't have anything extra to add, no biggie, tacos and rice is plenty.

Sometimes I mix up the meals because a day turns out differently than expected.  In that case, I just cross off the meals I use so I always know what's still available.

Of course, now you make a shopping list and shop.

The fun part is having a cooking day.  I really like cooking everything for the entire week on one day.  I also prep veggies, cheese, muffins and desserts, and fruits.  It simply makes the rest of the week go so much smoother having all the meals prepped.  This summer it's been Monday.  The four teens all work and I'm left with just the three youngest and they can usually keep themselves busy playing/destroying the house for quite a while.  I shared a little of my last cooking day here.  I had another cooking day today.

I focused on ground venison recipes:  2 pounds taco meat, 2 pounds tater tot casserole, 4 pounds BBQ.  I also shredded cheese, chopped veggies for tacos and made 2 dozen cranberry blueberry muffins and cranberry cake.  I planned, but didn't get to, boiling and mashing 5 pounds potatoes and making Cole slaw.  Tomorrow's another day with one dental appointment and BMX practice with a lot of hours in between so hopefully I'll get to it then.

Make the most of your cooking day.

Thaw meat the day before.

Start with a clean kitchen.  Didn't happen today.  Yesterday the pump (we think) went out on our dishwasher.  I ran the same load with the same dishwasher pod three times.  I was in denial.  Then this morning I unloaded it all and washed it by hand; after an hour of kitchen cleanup I was ready to start cooking.

Put on comfy clothes and shoes.  Maybe I'm showing my age, but supportive shoes go a long way to a productive day.

Wear an apron.  I find that whenever I put on an apron I just feel more like getting it done.  Since I wipe my hands on my apron and even wipe up little spills with it, I don't have to waste time rinsing and wringing out washcloths.

Listen to a good podcast.  Homeschool Snapshots  The Homeschool Solutions Show

Think about all the fun you'll have with your family because your meals are ready to go.

Happy Summer!  I hope and pray you are all having a great summer and finding ways to renew and relax.  🌞

May :: A Month in Review :: Large Family Style

Aargh!  It's already time for a May month in review.  Finishing off the school year strong was my top priority along with preparing for Nick's graduation party along with getting the garden planted along with, along with.  Doesn't it seem like there are so many along withs?  Most days my head is just spinning with all the to do right nows.  My notebook system to do list wasn't working - the notebook was always getting buried in the paper mess that is my life and the to do list became a never do list.  I needed something more in my face than a notebook so I bought a magnetic white board for the fridge door similar to this:

And it's always in my face because #1 I like to eat and #2 My family likes to eat so I'm always reading the list and working at shrinking it.  It's been a good thing and I still use the notebook for shopping lists and menus.

In my April month in review I shared a picture from Nick's turkey season.  He's a huge protein nut and cooks plenty of his own food.  Well, the day he shot the turkey I was with Amber at the hospital while she recovered from her appendectomy.  He breasted out the turkey and baked it just as he would for chicken breast.  It was so tough, basically inedible for those of us with average jaw strength.  Hah!  I suggested he turn it into crockpot turkey and rice soup.  I walked him through the process, but he did all the work of chopping vegetables, etc.  The turkey tenderized pretty well in the crockpot and the soup was delicious.

The season changeover called for a great big shoe cabinet clean out.  With a family of 9 we have a ton of shoes, not because we believe in excess, but we all have a number of interests and many of those interests call for certain shoes.  And country life requires a good stash of junk shoes so we tend to keep shoes for gardening, lawn mowing, cranberry planting, and all sorts of outdoor activities until they fall apart.  I know, that's very green of us.  Below you can see what we took from the cabinet; we sent seven pair off to Goodwill, 10 pair went into the trash, and the rest were placed neatly back in the cabinet.

Maria and I baked a giant 2.5 pound of whole wheat bread in a very old pan found in my Grandma's basement.  I wish I knew the story of the pan - where she got it, if she used it, why it was in the basement and not in her kitchen cupboard.  I suppose I'll never know; even though, using it still brings out stories.  Stories I share with my littles who never knew their Great-Grandma.

Mother's Day flowers - we spied three huge Bumblebees pollinating this day.

One of Joseph's favorite games is jumping on the trampoline with toys.  This day he grabbed his horse, but he's also jumped with balls and sand pile trucks (that one I put a stop to, I don't want him to fall on a metal truck - that'd probably hurt).

Amber loves finding paintings on Pinterest for inspiration and painting them with her own style.  She uses this fold-able easel and a variety of supplies to create some really fun paintings.

It is rhubarb season; I've been baking with rhubarb and juicing it.  This weekend I put up 15 quarts of rhubarb juice.  I'll share a post on how I do that soon.  This little number, though, is so good.  I doubled the recipe and reduced the sugar.  That way there was enough to go around and it still tasted like rhubarb should - sour and puckery.

The virtual homeschool program end of year field trip took us to Circus World Museum.  See Maria clinging to Dad; she was nearly scared to death of all the newness.  She warmed up a bit for a carousel ride.

107 year old carousel

Circus snacks:  popcorn and ice cream

 Apparently we raised a little lady.

Fishing....always fishing around here and an endless supply of cheesy smiles.

He's not riding yet.  Matter of fact, a couple weeks back he actually punched me when I lifted his foot onto the pedal.  I'll give it some time before I try again.  Until then, though, he walks the bike around the yard every chance he gets.  And in the background was my Memorial Day treat, a tilled garden ready to plant.

That's a wrap for May.  Another blink of an eye and it'll be the end of June; all our much anticipated events of early summer will be over.  Enjoy every day, each is indeed a gift from God.

Weekly Wrap-Up....{the one where the dogs wore clothes}

Speaking of clothes, this dark load really sums up our week - a lot going on, but it sure wasn't laundry.  I did eventually get all this washed just in time for two kids to get the stomach flu.  Blah!

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Here are the adorable pups Amber's been watching.  I think I mentioned last week they wear ski jackets.  I didn't make that up.  Amber just brought them in from a chilly evening walk.  

They went home yesterday, and I actually miss them.  I can't say that too loud or everyone will be begging for a dog again.

Bella is wearing a cheetah fur trimmed sweater vest while she studies "Civilizations of the Fertile Crescent"

Maria had such fun dressing Teddy all week.  And what a trooper Teddy was, she actually would lay on her back like a baby, letting Maria velcro the clothes on.

And when it doesn't work out quite right, ask your 12 year old brother for help.

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Amber and I participated in a 5K.  It was the first one of the year - cold and had one killer hill.

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When I shared the recipe for Southern Pork Barbecue, I listed the other new recipes I'd tried.  This is Frank's Chicken from this cookbook cooking in the crockpot.  I'll share this recipe soon.  It turned out very tender chicken.  I think I'll use a little less rosemary next time, though.

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Noteworthy Homeschooling News

Amber finished Algebra 1 Teaching Textbooks this week.  She worked so hard this year, never missing a day, and it's really paid off.  She's very prepared for Geometry.

Joseph read a book to me at the library.  I pulled a Margaret Hillert book off the shelf and while I typed out a blog post, he sat and read the entire book to me.  I heard a few missed words, but I let them go and a couple times he went back and reread the sentence with the right word.  That's a HUGE win in my book because that means he's actually comprehending what he's reading.

Margaret Hillert's Beginning to Read series has become a favorite of mine this year.  Joe has been responding so well to the limited vocabulary in her books.

That about wraps up our week.  It's a windy, dreary day here in Wisconsin.  Springtime temperatures are welcome anytime now!!

Linking up with

Wisconsin With Kids {Free Fun in Stevens Point}

One highlight of January is Cranberry School.  It's basically a trade show highlighting cranberry products and services plus a number of seminars aimed at educating cranberry growers of all kind in the latest cranberry related research and practices.

It's been years since we tagged along, watching cable from a hotel bed, swimming, snacking endlessly while Warren learns all he can for the upcoming growing season.  It was mostly bliss until we had to check out 3.5 hours before Cranberry school let out.  What was I going to do with 4 kids in Stevens Point?  More specifically free things in Stevens Point.

Having gone to UW-SP I was familiar with their Natural History Museum located in the University Library.  It's been updated and is a really nice place to hang out with kids.  It's just big enough that you feel like you're at a real museum, but it's not so big that everyone's sick and tired of walking by the end.  Another bonus here - the kids can basically walk around the entire museum without supervision because it's small, not much chance of getting lost or stolen.  Because really, would a college student want to steal a pre-schooler who snacks every 10 minutes?  I don't think so.  

The museum starts out with this beautiful butterfly and other insect display.  Joe started counting 1, 2, skip a few 99, 100.  

Dinosaur artifacts - bones, teeth and more.

Looking at the temperate climate display.  There were scavenger hunt sheets available, which was fun and helped keep us their longer hunting for specific animals.  Remember we had 3.5 hours to burn.

Neat display of large cat skulls.  And a wall of cat puzzles, too.

3-D Wisconsin was interesting.  We looked for high points and flat lands and river valleys.  Joe said the glasses made him dizzy.

After visiting the wall of birds of prey where Peter took a blurry picture of every eagle, hawk, falcon and owl we sat down for a bit with the provided coloring pages and mazes.  There were also field guides and other books to peruse and the couch made a nice reading spot.

The museum is free, but if you wish, cash is accepted in a donation box.  Gift shop is available.

Next up was the Sculpture Park.  It's a loop off the Green Circle trail and completely new to me.  We weren't particularly dressed for the occasion - a winter hike, but we went with it anyway.  Wisconsin kids are tough kids.

Again, free, but donations are welcome.  This time in the duck bill.

Outhouse in the Sky #2 

I'll spare you the picture, but after all the potty talk that went with viewing this sculpture, I turned around to see Joe's pants around his ankles, doing his #1 business in the snow.

Wired

And this was my favorite of what we saw that day.  An Aldo Leopold bench - oversize edition.  Makes me want to read A Sand County Almanac again.

We didn't see every sculpture.  Wet and cold feet, numb fingers, much needed potty breaks (not for Joe, though) and a desire for ice cream had us running back to the van for heat.

Last stop was Culver's.  And because I'd saved Scoopie coupons, everyone got a free ice cream cone before picking up Dad from Cranberry School.

I'd love to see more suggestions for Free Fun in Stevens Point.  Leave a comment here or at Facebook.

Thanks for reading and have a great evening.  It's gray, snowing, and 16 degrees F.  It's also time to feed the natives.