Vacation Recap: 5 Tips for Feeding A Big Group with No Effort

I was out of town last week, on the New Jersey shore with my extended family and without decent internet access. Now that I'm back, though, I want to share some of the things I learned; we had more than a dozen mouths to feed each night, so there was never a shortage of teachable moments, as they say.

My older brother, who has five children, rallied one night and took charge of the grill. Another night, I threw in the towel and went out for pizza with my relatively tiny brood. The rest of the time, we ate at home, and here's what I discovered.

1. If you want to feed a big group many meals, bring a big piece of ham; that's my mother's old trick. You'll get dinners and lunches out of it for days.
2. If you want to feed a big group one delicious meal, make a slow-roasted pork shoulder (a.k.a. pernil); you can't go wrong (I figured out my mistake from last spring–just cook it to 165 or so and it will be succulent). It should last for days, too, but there was something about the one I roasted that compelled my brother eat all the leftovers the very night I made it.
3. If you want to feed a big group cheaply, grill chicken legs and thighs. I seasoned mine with thyme and salt and pepper, and served them with a salad of arugula and romaine, and loaves of French bread.
4. If you want to make great French toast, use lousy bread. The not-safe-for-foodies supermarket baguette made super tasty French toast the next day. I sliced the stale loaf thinly, and made little medallions of delight for the kids.
5. If you want an even more sure-fire way to make children happy, buy them donuts every morning.