Do you have a family with BIG eaters aka "One" chicken does NOT = 3 meals??? - Page 4

[MamaChel]

I tend to buy meat larger and on sale. I can make a good sized roast stretch to 2 meals, if I make a ton of sides or nobody feels like eating the next day. This is easiest actually with smoked meats, we will smoke 4-5 different roasts @ once and each one usually lasts about 2-2.5 meals. We'll have the meat and sides one day and then I'll either freeze the rest or make BBQ sammiches the next day.

Luckily, it's summertime so we can kinda afford the veggies. Once the weather turns, I'm not sure what we can do. Sissy (2) eats tomatoes like apples, and loves almost any fruit and veggie she can grab. Come winter, we generally cannot afford any produce (except maybe potatoes and apples) until summer. It's too expensive for us.

I make a ton of stews in the fall/winter-the meat goes a little further and you can really pack some good stuff in there. Homemade bread is also a cold-weather staple.

I expect things to get a little harder as prices keep going up and the kids start eating more.

[Staceyy]

My dh is a truck driver, somedays he eats 3 lunches! No kidding!!! He is 6'4 and fluctuates between 240 and 260 lbs. He always gets up in the middle of the night to eat a meal! He always wants a full breakfast! Always snacks!!!

[Usually Curious]

We go through a lot of food, too. I cringe when my almost 17yos is home alone, the carnage is unbelievable.

[applecider]

Originally Posted by MommaGreenBean

Glad others are saying things about this. My DH eats about triple what I eat, and I eat quite a bit, I'm pg and nursing. We're all three low-to-average weight for height

I thought he was just being difficult about not wanting soup 'it's not filling' he says.

This is us! DP works manual labor and sometimes runs up 20 flights of stairs several times a day. I could probably feed him twice what he eats now and then he'd maybe be satisfied. Where the food goes, I don't know, he's 5'10" and 140 pounds. I do joke that he has a parasite in his stomach. Glad to know we're not the only ones!

[brightonwoman]

I grew up in a family of people who just dind't eat much...not even dad (6'4"). I don't know why per se, we just didn't eat a lot...one 9x13 pan of whatever was more than a full meal for us.
Then I married DH, and oh wow, he eats as much as any two or THREE of my family did/does. My appetite continued to be pretty small all through pregnancy, but since breastfeeding it's grown too, so now we both eat more, an dyeah, one chicken is one meal here. Definitely. Well, no, the MEAT is one meal, occasionally with enough leftover for a sandwich or something. I do always stick all the bones in the crockpot to make bone broth though, and that broth contributes to multiple meals...(I freeze it).
As our kids get older they eat more too...I figure the main goal is to have as healthy of foods as I can around for them to eat. I do try to have veggies at least for every dinner, and also some kind of starch (potato, rice, pasta, etc) because those help fill you up, are cheap, and help you not eat too much (because they fill you up.)
I totally agree, food is expensive. I try to buy in bulk because that saves, and I try to make my own bread, haev a garden, etc because of course that is cheaper...but otherwise I do what I can afford. DH is a school teacher so we definitly have a budget, and you know, we just do the best we can.

[ewp11100]

Oh I don't know if I belong here, hmmmm.... Let me see...

I swear my husband has a hallow leg , he eats so much.
My 18m and my 4y eat combined as much as me and some times as much as daddy on a "good" day
I just baked a loaf of cinn swirl bread.... It's gone!
We go though so much flour, I wish I had a bigger kitchen so I could buy in bulk
1 Chicken with sides= 1 meal UNLESS is a big chicken then I make soup

[amyamanda]

Well...

I would like to join this tribe, but I probably don't belong. I'm going to post this anyway, though.

My four kids can demolish a 5-lb chicken all by themselves. In about 10 minutes flat. (Not the bones, though, LOL.)

But I can't let them. We have to ration our chicken. We buy organic, free-range freezer birds from my farmer friend, and they are not cheap. We just bought a dozen and they will have to last us at least six months and maybe twelve. We could eat them all in one month if we wanted to. When we had more money and were less concerned about finances, I would make two or three roast chickens at a time, and then we'd turn those leftovers into other meals. But that seems very extravagant to me now (not to pass judgement on anyone - it's just the reality of our budget and our priorities).

So my kids each get a drumstick, wing or thigh, DH and I eat a little breast meat, and the remaining breast and thigh meat gets chopped up for use in soup and fried rice. That is how we get three or more meals out of it.

We eat it the first night with potatoes, onions, and carrots, or some veggie from the garden, or frozen veggies.

I wish we could afford to eat just meat and veggies. We already struggle, feel like we're spending too much, and fill in with rice, potatoes, popcorn, and oatmeal. I have often thought I'd feel healthier with no grains in my diet (we are already gluten-free) but I don't see how we could possibly afford it. We grow a lot in our garden but when we buy veggies we buy organic.

FWIW, DH was a hollow-leg kind of eater until he turned 35 last year. Both of us have noticed our metabolisms slowing down significantly. I nursed for 10 years (7 of those tandem or triandem nursing) and just stopped nursing last May, and that has decreased how much I need to eat also.

However, I understand the feelings that inspired this thread.

[damona]

we definitely fit in here! my 4 boys can eat!

one chicken does not go very far, unless it is not the focus of the meal. if i put it in the big roasting pan with about 2-3 pounds of potatoes and a pound or 2 of carrots and a big onion and a pound of mushrooms.... then i might get enough leftovers for one more decent meal!

my boys eat constantly. i am dreading the teenage years b/c i don't know how i'm going to feed them then! my dh eats more than almost anyone i've ever known, and he's not that big a guy. i tend to nibble. a lot.

the way we go thru food around here is almost ridiculous.

[WC_hapamama]

Originally Posted by boobybunny

A five lb + roasted chicken will make two meals for us. One as the roast, with rice and carrots (or whatever) and the other as chicken noodle soup. Soup is misleading. It is really chicken noodle stew with homemade egg noodles, lots of veggies and a loaf of homemade bread.

Where the heck are you getting your chickens? 5 lbs? Holy smokes, that's not a chicken, that's Big Bird!

My 11 and 9 year old boys can devour a Costco rotisserie chicken in one sitting. I gave up on roasting chickens because my kids fight over the legs, each can eat 2-3 drumsticks, and there isn't such a thing as a 6 legged chicken.

[Garden~Lover]

Hey funny we are having roast chicken tomorrow for dinner. Anyways I normally buy a 5lb to 6lb what ever the largest one I can get. This is always one meal. It is 2 if ds is sick and doesnt want to eat. He eats so much I didnt think humans can eat that much.
reminds me of hobbits with their "first breakfast" "second dinner" LOL I thank my lucky stars I only have one "boy". I hope when the girls are teens they dont eat as much.

[ibahippiemama]

One chicken=one meal?! Not in this house. We are a family of 12. The only one not eating is the newborn. I always cook meat in 5lb increments. As far as soup is concerned, I make it and they will eat off of it most of the day. They love soup. I can also cook a 20+ lb turkey and it will last of us a couple of days. When I cook turkey or ham, I "hide" some meat in the freezer for the future.

love and blessings
angie

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by Garden~Lover

Hey funny we are having roast chicken tomorrow for dinner. Anyways I normally buy a 5lb to 6lb what ever the largest one I can get. This is always one meal. It is 2 if ds is sick and doesnt want to eat. He eats so much I didnt think humans can eat that much.
reminds me of hobbits with their "first breakfast" "second dinner" LOL I thank my lucky stars I only have one "boy". I hope when the girls are teens they dont eat as much.

Sorry, they do.

When my baby sister (12 yo) was here for two weeks last summer, our grocery bill for that period doubled. DOUBLED. That was what we prepared at home and didn't include the restaurant food. Normally, we have enough leftovers from each meal for DH and I to both have lunch. Sis was eating two portions and then cruising the kitchen.

But - she has ALWAYS been a big eater. And she's not fat. She's normal sized.

[kewb]

Are you part of the one chicken does NOT = many meals tribe? Yes, I am!

Do you read about how one roast makes 5 meals and wonder how that can be possible? Yes, I do. One chicken is dinner and bones to make broth from. Sometimes there is a wing or thigh left.

Don't WANT to have to stretch everything with more grains? I can eat a ton of grains, as can ds. Dh and dd are sick of grains.

Veggies and fruit not as cheap as you read about others getting? Even buying in season and as local as possible I spend lots on fresh fruits and veggies.

A wee tad frustrated? So very frustrated!