‘Doubling Down With the Derricos’: Deon Derrico Plans Every Meal ‘Days in Advance’ for the Family

TLC’s Doubling Down With the Derricos follows Deon Derrico, Karen Derrico, and their 14 children. Deon and Karen work within their budget to provide for their huge family, and recently, Deon explained how meal prepping works when it comes to feeding their many children. Here’s what he said.

The ‘Doubling Down With the Derricos’ family spends $3,500 a month on groceries for their 14 kids

Much like the Duggar family, the Doubling Down With the Derricos family spends a hefty amount of money at the grocery store for their family of 16. They have a set of quintuplets, a set of triplets, and two sets of twins, leaving only two of their children as singles. That’s a lot of mouths to feed, and according to Karen and Deon Derrico, they spend upwards of $3,500 at the grocery store.

“The amount of money that we spend on groceries? Oh my gosh. $2,500 to $3,500 a month, easy,” Karen said. Deon also shared that they go through “15 boxes of waffles” and “20 rolls of toilet paper” per week.

TV Shows Ace reports Deon took to Instagram in October 2020 to share a glimpse of a small grocery trip. He said he went to the store to pick up snacks and other small items — and the bill still came out to nearly $400. He then showed the family’s stockpile, which includes plenty of diapers and trash bags, as well as rice, candy, and snack foods.

Deon Derrico explains how meals work in the family

The money spent at the grocery store is one challenge for the Doubling Down With the Derricos family. But mealtimes are another challenge. Deon spoke to Gulf News about how it all works in their household.

“I’m the cook; I’m the chef, for the most part,” he said. “So, I start days in advance. We’re always planning ahead of time with everything that we do when it comes to mealtime.”

“We just prepare as much as we can; we know what our children like to eat and we just prepare the meals accordingly,” he added. “Once the food is done, it’s all hands on deck in this kitchen. Someone’s passing out the plates, someone is making the drinks, and it’s a lot that goes into it. So, it’s about a whole 30-minute routine by the time we all sit down.”

While Deon takes the lead with meal prep, Karen Derrico homeschools the kids — but it’s not easy. “We had already decided to pull the [nine] kids out of their school before COVID happened, so we were already acclimated with homeschooling at that time, so that was a huge blessing,” Karen explained to Bridgeway Academy in 2021. “Although, at the time, I didn’t think it was! I was just like, ‘This is really frustrating right now. How am I going to do this … homeschool all nine of them, take care of the younger ones, be pregnant, be on home rest and bedrest?’ It was a lot.”

What does Deon Derrico do for work to afford the meals?

With Karen Derrico spearheading homeschooling, it’s Deon Derrico who makes the most money in the family. Do, what does Deon do for work? It seems his main gig is investing in real estate. “One of my many passions from a child through this current day was and has always been Real Estate/ investing into houses and commercial property!!” he posted on Instagram.

Unfortunately, Deon’s real estate business has brought him trouble along the way. He was charged with multiple counts of fraud in 2014 related to buying and selling underwater homes. In 2018, he was found not guilty of many of the charges. But the family’s faced additional financial difficulties. In October 2021, they lost their Las Vegas home to foreclosure, and the family’s also filed for bankruptcy in the past.

Doubling Down With the Derricos airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.

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