Feeding Large Families: Salad Dressing

Feeding a large family can be a challenge but it can be done, and done well, without breaking the bank!  

 

Almost seven months ago our family of 5 became a family of 7...and many times there are 9 around our table and occasionally even 14.  We enjoy our meal times together...and we really enjoy eating!  I have learned to adapt recipes to feed this number without too much additional effort using larger sized cans and packages of our favorite foods. 

One major change I made in our situation was to stop shopping at grocery stores.  (I can hear you laughing, but it is true!)  Rarely, I do run into Wal-Mart if I am forced to...but only when I need something I can not get at the wholesale club or restaurant supply. (Or order direct from Amazon!)

I have shopped at Sam's Club, Costco and GFS for years...but not exclusively.  Suddenly, seven months ago I found myself much farther from 'the store'.  Previously we had lived just two blocks from a Kroger and we shopped there often.  Now we are in the country, a 15-30 minute drive from 'town' depending on where we need to go.  Shopping is not convenient.  

I waste time and money when I shop too often anyway...  SOooo.  I started making major shopping runs once a month to Sam's Club... or if we happen to be up in Greenwood for a dentist appointment or to take the Daddy to the airport we will pop by the GFS store near the mall.  GFS is Gordon Food Service. They are a restaurant supply chain that also happen to be open to the public.  (Oh!  And next door to a Hostess Bread Store too!)

We are on a once a month pay cycle, so this works well for us.  When David gets paid I rustle up the kids and head to the store.  I am fortunate to have very well behaved older children who LOVE to help.  They help me keep a running tally as we walk the store and fill two huge carts.  They help me unload at the checkout, load the van and then unload and put away at home!  It would be an insurmountable task without their help! 

One of the new items I have added to my 'big stuff' purchase list lately was salad dressing.  We usually try to keep large bags of salad so we can throw together salads for dinner each night... Therefore we use a TON of salad dressing.  We are kind of picky about what we like too... Some varieties are available in larger bottles.  We frequently buy Hidden Valley Ranch Light in large bottles at Sam's.  

One of our favorites, though, is not available that way.  My family loves deep dark red french dressing...but it is expensive in those dinky little store bottles...even with coupons!  One day while cruising the aisles at GFS I ran across a GALLON jar of the beautiful stuff.  I snatched it up and ran over to the utensils aisle and found large 24oz squeeze bottles!  Perfect!

We keep this gallon jar out in our secondary fridge in the garage.  It doesn't take up very much space and it is there for easy refills.  (Notice these are wide mouth squeeze bottles.  That makes a huge difference!)  I did date the lid of the dressing with a sharpie on the day we opened it.  That way we will know how quickly we use it up and how soon we need to replace it. This squeeze bottle is a dandy.  It also allows us to more evenly apply our dressing and not glop it on.  Less waste!  

The additional bottles will soon be put to use with other large bottle condiment purchases...and even maybe some homemade dressings!  

Now if I could just get someone to clean out the fridge for me...