10 Large Family Meal Ideas – What We Eat in a Day

When it comes to large family meal planning, sometimes you just get stuck in a rut. I was in a taco and spaghetti every week kind of rut for a while this summer. I decided to go back on the Trim Healthy Mama plan and I’ve really changed our meals here. Some meals have been great, and some have not been so great. Today I want to share with you some fun large family meal ideas, as well as share with you what we eat in a day!

Large Family Meals

Let’s start this post by talking about what our family eats in a day. So, we are a family of eight. My husband works outside of the home, so I’m mostly just feeding myself and six kids ages 10 and under. My husband does eat dinner with us.

On this particular day I also made fruit smoothies for the kids with frozen mixed berries, yogurt, a banana, and almond milk.

I like to make a trim healthy mama E shake for myself in the mornings. I use half a banana, half a tablespoon of cocoa powder, a tablespoon of peanut powder, some Pyure, and some almond milk for my smoothie. I use my Ninja smoothie cups to whip them up. I’ve had my Ninja for over six years and it’s still going strong! 

Breakfasts on the weekdays are low key. I buy a big box of honey nut Cheerios for the kids and most of them will have a bowl of that with milk and a banana. I know, gasp, I feed my kids cereal, but I grew up eating it. It’s quick and easy and I fill them up with a nutritious lunch just a few hours later.

Lunch most often consists of a grilled cheese sandwich, ham and cheese sand which, homemade roll-ups which are tortillas stuffed with shredded cheese, rolled, and microwaved. Sometimes my kids will request frozen burritos or corn dogs. I always add fresh fruit and veggies on the side. I like to slice up mini bell peppers, cucumbers, or carrots. Our fruit is usually grapes, strawberries, or clementines. 

We always have a snack around 3 p.m. On this day the kids had salsa and tortilla chips. Sometimes they have a sweet treat like a granola bar or even occasionally they will have some cookies or popsicles. There are days they also have another banana or other piece of fruit and some string cheese.

I usually have a cup of coffee at this time. I have a sweet tooth and like to have chocolate chip cookies and coffee. Since I’m trying to lose weight with Trim Healthy Mama, I tried this single serve chocolate peanut butter cookie. It satisfied my sweet tooth enough.

Family Dinner Ideas

Dinner is my favorite time to mix things up! On this particular day I made Double Chicken Fried Rice from the Trim Healthy Table cookbook. I thought it turned out pretty good! 

Here are some of our favorite large family dinner ideas:

• Slow Cooker Chicken Burritos
• Slow Cooker Pinto Beans and Rice
• Crockpot Creamy Ranch Chicken
• Cast Iron Skillet Roast Chicken
• Easy Baked Chicken Drumsticks
• Cast Iron Skillet Fajitas
• Penne Pasta with Sausage
• Broccoli and Chicken Alfredo
• Salmon Patties
• And of course, plain ol’ spaghetti and tacos!

I’ve started using my Pressure Cooker way more these days and I have a ton of recipes in my arsenal. I’m excited to keep testing these out and hopefully bringing them here to the blog soon! I want to make your life easier, and I know that getting healthy meals on the table without a ton of effort really helps busy mamas!