Cooking for 70 for under $70 help

[masteraznchefjr]

Hello,

So ... the service club that I am in is going to serve a transitional house dinner. There will be about 70 people there. We would need to serve main course, dessert, and drink. Any ideas? I would like to stray away from our usual tomato sauce and spaghetti with salad.

Main course has to have vegetables in it.

 

[LPBeier]

I am not sure you can do too much for $1.00 per person but you could try shepherd's pie You can find ground beef at a fairly cheap price in bulk and use frozen vegetables and mashed potatoes. As for a dessert, are there some people who could donate some baking such as squares and cookies? Fruit punch (frozen concentrate) is always good.

Hope that helps

 

[mollyanne]

^Shepherds Pie is an excellent suggestion, LPBeier

If you can find chicken and veggies on sale then
you're good to go with kabobs (pictured below).

I remember when I was in my early twenties and a newlywed, I made a chicken in onion gravy with mashed potatoes and brocolli that was budget friendly. I would take the skin off chicken pieces, sear on each side in a frying pan, pour Campbell's Cream of Onion soup (sometimes hard to find and must be Campbells brand) and simmer for 20 minutes. The juice of the chicken would mix with the soup and make a tasty gravy that hubby loved on mashed potatoes. Just don't salt it! Canned soup is already salty enough. If the gravy wasn't the right consistency then I would add water until it was (thinner gravy goes farther too). Since you're cooking for a large crowd you cooked sear all the chicken in a pan ahead of time and then place it in large casserole pans and cook in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes just prior to serving.

Use a grocery store card and grab their sale flyer in the front of the store and only buy what they have on sale using your discount card. I spent $40 dollars at the store last night and saved $20 using my store discount card.

Serve with Sweet Iced Tea...

 

[Selkie]

Curried chicken on a bed of rice, fresh mixed greens salad with pineapple, sliced banana and red wine vinaigrette, and all of it sprinkled with toasted coconut.

 

[BigAL]

Pulled pork sliders w/slaw & baked beans.

homemade icecream for dessert.

 

[mollyanne]

Fruit Meringue Dessert:
...Make Meringue Nests and fill with 3-5 watermelon balls.
Garnish with a mint leaf.
...OR fill Meringue Nests with cooled vanilla pudding, then top with whipped cream and and a slice of strawberry standing up and poked in top. (now don't go making fun of "poked"...lol)

 

[shwethz]

you can make a macaroni and veggie bake with brown cheese gravy with potato salad on the side.it's filling as well as delicious..for dessert,make a chocolate cake with strawberries or a meringue..a pink lemonade for a beverage. If you like any of my ideas,let me know and I will give you the recipes...all the best...

 

[buckytom]

hiya junior.
big al beat me to it. i was gonna suggest pulled pork. you can feed a lot of people with pork shoulders.
even though there's more waste, pork picnic shoulders are much cheaper than butts (roughly .79 to .99/lb vs. 2.99 to 3.99/lb), so that would be the way to go. you can add some cooked onions to help stretch it out a bit.

my other suggestion would be a pasta dish like linguini with clam sauce. very cheap if you use canned clams, and all else you'll need is butter, olive oil, garlic, parsley, and grated cheese. all inexpensive and easily obtained ingredients.

 

[BigAL]

hiya junior.
big al beat me to it. i was gonna suggest pulled pork. you can feed a lot of people with pork shoulders.
even though there's more waste, pork picnic shoulders are much cheaper than butts (roughly .79 to .99/lb vs. 2.99 to 3.99/lb), so that would be the way to go. you can add some cooked onions to help stretch it out a bit.

my other suggestion would be a pasta dish like linguini with clam sauce. very cheap if you use canned clams, and all else you'll need is butter, olive oil, garlic, parsley, and grated cheese. all inexpensive and easily obtained ingredients.

You pay $3-4/# for shoulders, boston butts? WOW!!! You guys must have really nice butts, BT. I think the most I ever paid was $1.10. I don't pay much attention to picnics cause I like the butts better, personal choice.

Brisket is another cheap cut that could be used for pulled beef, french dips, etc.

 

[buckytom]

yeah, they really rip you off for a nice butt around here, unless they're on sale. picnics are always cheap, but i agree, butts are better.

for feeding the masses, though, especially if you add bbq sauce, you can get away with picnics.

 

[Alix]

Its killing me to be good here...

 

[buckytom]

aww, c'mon alix.

we all know ken is in the living room right now, doing that dance thing with his left hand out straight, and the other one waving below it side to side, singing, "my anaconda don't want none unless you've got buns hon..."

 

[BigAL]

Its killing me to be good here...

It is all tee'd up for ya, have at it!

 

[velochic]

Well, first of all, if it's made with beef it's called Cottage Pie, not Shepherd's Pie. And the way I make it certainly can't be made for $1 per person.

I honestly do not think you can serve 70 people for $70. That's just unrealistic unless you want to serve sub-par food. Sure, you can serve Juicy Juice and Kraft American cheese on Ritz, but, not a meal. Certainly not a main, dessert and drink.

 

[LPBeier]

Well, first of all, if it's made with beef it's called Cottage Pie, not Shepherd's Pie. And the way I make it certainly can't be made for $1 per person.

I honestly do not think you can serve 70 people for $70. That's just unrealistic unless you want to serve sub-par food. Sure, you can serve Juicy Juice and Kraft American cheese on Ritz, but, not a meal. Certainly not a main, dessert and drink.

I am not going to get into a battle of what something is called or methods of preparation. I grew up with it called Shepherd's pie and most of my cookbooks have it as such - and I respect that your knowledge of the dish is different. I am also sure your version is very good.

I have cooked for the homeless and there are ways to make a dollar stretch. Donated desserts, even getting businesses to donate ingredients helps a lot. Pastas, pulled pork, etc. (even an economically made shepherd's/cottage pie) can work if you do it right.

 

[velochic]

A meat-based dish is always more expensive, even if it's ground meat. Unless you're using processed ingredients, Cottage Pie is not a cheap dish.

These aren't homeless people. I understand that you have to work with what you are given in those circumstances and I applaud those that are able to do what they can. This is a home tour, though. Whole other ballgame.

As for the "name"... yeah, I admit that I'm kind of anal about that. It's a pet peeve. Shepherds don't herd cows, they herd sheep.

 

[Constance]

How about vegetable soup with crackers?
Ham'n beans with cornbread and slaw?
Chicken or turkey pot pie?
Chicken and dumplings (noodles) with cornbread and slaw or green beans?

 

[justplainbill]

Halupki

 

[Andy M.]

Baked Mac and Cheese. With ham if you can afford it. Can you get a local supermarket to donate some ingredients, ice cream or drinks?

 

[masteraznchefjr]

well we're supposed to serve 70 people but usually only 40 of them show up