Mom of eight still cooks for 'big family' of adult children: 'They're my kids'

Parents of families with multiple kids have long known how to scrimp, save and stretch their meals and budgets — and now a mom of eight in Michigan is revealing how she spends just $12,000 a year on shopping for food while still cooking and preparing dinner for her adult children.

Heather Bell, 53, and her husband, Luke, 51, had tried to have a baby for eight years when they adopted their eldest son, David, age 24, in 1999, as SWNS reported.

Wanting to help more children and hearing about success from others they knew, they gave fostering a try.

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They went on to adopt six more children — and were able to naturally conceive a son as well.

As the family expanded over time, mom Heather Bell had to learn to cook for all of them and feed them adequately. 

Mom of eight Heather Bell of Michigan still cooks dinner for her adult children. "I don't mind cooking for my family - I don't know how to cook small," she said.  (SWNS)

She said that many of her children came into her home with "food issues or trauma." 

Some had been used to eating mostly fast food, as SWNS noted.

Today, with just four of her kids living at home, she still cooks for her family and spends about $1,000 a month on groceries, she said. 

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She runs a poultry farm and masonry business in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan.

She told SWNS, "I know they are adults, but they are still my kids. They all come here for dinner. They are very, very close. I don't mind cooking for my family - I don't know how to cook small."

She added, "They all just love coming here - they are definitely taking advantage of it."

Heather Bell has published her own cookbook featuring "big-batch homestyle" meals. It's called "Mama Bell's Big Family Cooking." (Amazon)

Heather Bell said of how their family grew, "In six years we adopted six kids. It was bam bam bam. I came from a big family, but I never really thought about having a big family myself."

In terms of her cooking, she said she "had to change the way I made things … When kids came in my home, I didn't want to set them up for failure."

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She said that if they were "used to [foods] like French fries and hot dogs," then she'd "incorporate some vegetables."

She added, "I make a tater tot casserole in a 17-inch dish."

Originally spending $500 to $700 per week on food, she cut back and now shops just once a month, as she told SWNS. 

Heather Bell (front, center) with her husband, Luke, and their children.  (SWNS)

She raises her own beef and eggs and preserves her food by using techniques such as canning, saying she is now "more self-sufficient."

Despite trimming her spending throughout the year, she doesn't hold back on Thanksgiving and Christmas for her kids, she said.

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She gets each of her children seven small presents and one main one, she said, spending an average of just over $600 on each.

She told SWNS, "I start my list early and on a notepad. I listen to my kids and make notes. I've been shopping for Christmas since July."

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Bell just published her own cookbook, "Mama Bell's Big Family Cooking," to help other big families with big-batch cooking. The book contains over 100 recipes, according to her book, including recipes the kids have asked her to make "over and over again."

She said, "I've never found a cookbook for big families. Families like me are sick of quadrupling recipes."

The cookbook also shares a little about the family, including the order in which her kids came into the household and how she adapted her cooking as the family grew.

Maureen Mackey is managing editor of lifestyle at Fox News Digital.