well, a good approach is to start on low difficulty. If you set the game to slow speed, they also tend to eat less!
Have one gather food, while most of the others research at the table. That should give you enough tech points quickly so that you can buy level 2 harvesting! That should take care of your food problem. Also, one more suggestion, don't breed until you have LOTS of food because the kids eat as much as the adults do!
Good luck!