Since you asked... how do we feed 22 plus

This is the one question I do get asked alot...It is funny how after feeding so many of us every day... it does not seem as bad as it sounds..... I do keep notes on the amount of servings we fix for the staples... like: 3/4 a bag of macaroni noodles bought from Sams Club ( 6 lb bag) with the large chunk of cheese or if totally homade 8 cups of cheese sauce, 40 servings of instant mashed potatoes, 30 servings of rice (whole grain), 8 small jellos to 1 lg. can of fruit (6 lb 10 oz. can), 12 cups to 16 cups gravy and so on. I have to always figure out 4 times to 20 times a recipe to adjust most "normal" recipes to feed us. I used to laugh at the size of these cans in the picture when I would go shopping yrs ago...I would say," Who buys cans this big? Maybe a church for a dinner function or something."... guess what size can feeds us- one of those huge cans (6lbs 9 oz.). We drink 12 to 15 gallons of milk a week- usually 1 % but I feed Andrew and Mya whole milk so that is another 21 more gallons for them a week. We are not big milk drinkers... usually I do buy some juice - maybe 6 gallons - but our main drink is water. A gallon to 2 gallons is what my family drinks at each meal of milk or juice. We have been blessed by a friend's generosity and we get free bread delivered every so often that fills at least one freezer... but our normal amount of loaves of bread consumed a week is 16 loaves of bread of the very lg size. Yougart is bought in bulk and the kids eat losts of animal crackers ( they love them) .... we go thru one lg. container a week... pretzels again a lg. container in a week, ramen noodles are gone in a week- bought from Sams Club . We eat dozens of eggs a week- also bought in bulk and lots of fresh friut. I buy apples all year and often purchase 50 to 70 lbs a week sometimes. At our Walmart oranges were on sale and I bought 40 of them for a week, I buy 6 to 8 bunches of bananas 2 times a week with about 100 or more bananas eaten a week... we also eat dried fruits and lots of vegtables...I buy Unfortunately for my kids I love fruits and veggies... and I love them all.... so we eat quite a variety....

I shared before we strive for at least 5 fruits and veggies a day and often end up with 6 to 9 eaten daily. We eat hamburger meat in casseroles, soups and meatloaf or grilled hamburgers. We eat mostly chicken though - again bought at Sam's Club- 30 plus lbs a week. When we do a pot roast it is always 2 lg. ones of 4 smaller ones- not sure of how many lbs. because it is not eaten as often ( bought when on sale). We do eat hotdogs but mostly for a lunch with mac and cheese. Usually 40 to 50 hotdogs are cooked. I buy stew meat in bulk as well as bulk sausage. We cook the sausage for an Italian soup the kids love.

I thought you might like to see my pantries and refrigerators... I have a total of 4 lg. pantries now and one refrig./freezer in the kitchen. Then there are 2 refrigerators and 2 freezers outside... and they are full after I shop and empty when I need to. I shop 2 times a week. Tuesday I go to Walmart and then on Friday I do my Sam's Club shopping... Paul is happy if I only spend 600 a week but it is usually more like 700 to 800 depending on the week... that includes diapers for Andrew and birthday shopping if we have birthdays... I just space out my buying for the b-days and we don't go over board ( usually). We celebrate each child's birthday seperately and they get to pick the food they want for dinner and thier dessert...Paul and I take them out for breakfast on their b-day am....

Once I was asked how can we love so many children? Honestly one of the ways for me to show my love to them has been thru my cooking... they love to eat and I love to make them feel special by providing healthy food and fun times at meals... It is always loud at meals for some reason- especially dinner. If you visit you will see what I am talking about. We do have a chore chart that has chores like clean up crew- a 3 member crew who washes, wipes, and puts food away every meal ( I am not on this crew). One person is in charge of making breakfast for 10 of the smaller ones ( not counting Andrew) and usually they all love to help me cook dinner... or we have some meals a team can do if I am not home ( since we do many surgeries or I am gone to Baltimore for post ops and therapies)... A huge part of our holidays are the food we eat... and we have made some new memories with the kids by serving some favorite food at these holidays... the kids do help cook ....actually they love to cook ( I just don't always love the mess )

I shared before almost every meal there is a chorus of thank you mom for dinner... it is good! For some of them they did not always get enough food at their orphanages so food is a motivator and one I am happy to make for them.