I have 5 kids. Three are married now and I now have 5 grandkids.
Anytime our family went backpacking, I never had more than 3 kids at a time, so I cooked for 5 several times on the trail (2 adults, 3 kids).
I used a 1.3L titanium pot (4.8oz like
http://www.ultralightdesigns.com/products/cooking/evernew13-pot.html ) and a .95L pot (4.2 oz
http://cascadedesigns.com/MSR/Cookware/Fast-And-Light-Cookware/Titan-Kettle/product )
We do freeze dried cooking that just requires boiled water and we had to boil twice to get everyone fed. However, cooking and eating time rarely went over 30 minutes.
We used and still use the only stove that had no problems on the 2175 mile Appalachian trail—the alcohol stove.
Stove, pot stand, wind guard for one pot is 1.5oz. However, I had 2 going at once. The fuel container weighs 0.5oz
Thus total kitchen weight is 4.8 + 4.2 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 0.5 = 12.5oz
We used 3 oz. fuel (weight of HEET) / day. For 3 days we take about 7 oz fuel (that includes extra). This is for hot breakfast and supper.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: total kitchen setup + fuel for 3 days = 19.5oz. This is for 5 people for 3 days at the beginning. It’s about 13.5 oz at the end. That averages to 16.5oz/day for 5 people or 3.3oz/day for 1 person. It’s hard to beat that kitchen weight and at the same time be reliable.
-Barry