Are there any good sites for ideas on feeding a group of 15 cheap?!
Are there any good sites for ideas on feeding a group of 15 cheap?
I am doing a family gathering for 5 days. There will be 15 people to feed. But I want to keep the budget at about $350. The breakfast and lunch will be get you own from the fridge. But the dinners will be family gathered together. That's a lot food.
Additional Details1 month ago
Everyone is pitching in for the cost, but I need ideas on what to make!
Answers:
1 month ago
Everyone is pitching in for the cost, but I need ideas on what to make!
This has become a party staple I make for gatherings:
Pulled Pork BBQ is always a hit, and super easy. Do almost everything the day before:
Get a Pork Butt from the grocery store or butcher shop. In the am, put it in a crock pot (fat side up), fill halfway with water, and pour on about 1/8 of a cup cajun seasoning. Cook on low heat for 8 hours. When it's done, drain it, chop it up (discarding as much fat as possible), and put the meat in a freezer bag in the fridge until the next morning. Then just put the meat back in the crock pot and add a bottle of bbq sauce (or enough to suit the amount of meat) Stir, and turn on low until time to eat. Serve with rolls or buns. Goes great with pasta/potato salad and baked beans.
[If you don't have a crock pot, you can get one of those disposable aluminum roasting pans from the store and put it in your oven on low heat for 6-8 hours]
You will probably need 2 pork butts for 15 people.
I would definitely have ALL family members chip in!
Pasta is always cheap you can do Alfredo with chicken on the side. Spaghetti with marinara sauce can even be meatless. Tetrizanni is always good and easy to make ahead. Have Lots of good bread and a salad!
FOODNETWORK.COM
http://www.cookinglarge.com/
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-11,l...
Here's some suggestions though:
Spaghetti (of course)
Lasagna
Hamburgers/Hotdogs/Brats
Pizza
Chili
Grilled Chicken
Stews and Soups
Taco Buffet
Sloppy Joes
Goulash
Ham
Turkey
Homemade Mac & Cheese
If I am understanding your question correctly you have 5 dinners to prepare for 15 people? That means you have $70 a meal? It also means that you have a lot of tastes to appeal to. Hmmm.
The first thing that I would think about is that you don't have to feed the group the whole way that you would feed your family on a regular basis. Go to a discount place or a wholesale place and buy 5 bags of bone in chicken. I say this for two reasons. First, it looks like a lot more, second it stays a lot jucier in case you get sidetracked and leave it in a little bit too long. Season each bag of chicken liberally with salt and pepper (and whatever else you like, I generally use adobo with a few extra twists of pepper). When the chicken is defrosted drain all the extra juice. Then split the chicken up into two/three pans. Make one pan plain baked chicken. You may want to add more seasoning to this depending on the tastes of your family. I would highly suggest at least garlic and onion poweder. Then the other tray I would make either bbq'd or orange baked. If you make orange baked all you do is take orange juice concentrate and baste it like you would with bbq chicken. Serve this with a large pasta salad and corn on the cob.
For 15 people this should be a good recipe for the pasta salad.
2 boxes tri colored pasta
2 bottles zesty Italian dressing
2 bags of cheddar cheese crumbles (or 2 bricks of cheese cut into cubes, but the crumbles are easier)
1 medium red onion diced
1 medium red pepper diced
2 small cans of sliced olives
1 bag of sliced pepperoni cut into quarters
Cook the pasta, let it cool and mix everything else together.
Make a taco bar. Depending on your own tastes, you can either make your own seasoning mix or use a store bought mix. You can make this with any ground meat that is on sale, they all pretty much taste the same with enough seasoning on them. Just make sure that you get about 7 lbs. of meat. This should be plenty. The best part about this is this is that you can make this ahead of time and pop it in the crock pot a few hours ahead of time to reheat and serve it out of this. Then put out tortilla shells (hard & soft) lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, cheese, jalapenos, guacomole, and whatever else you like on tacos.
Also make a lasagna ziti. I make this a lot because it doesn't take as long as a lasanga, but it has the same flavours.
3 boxes of ziti
3 jars of sauce or the equivalent if you make your own
3 large containers of ricotta
3 large bags of mozz. cheese
3 lbs. of ground meat (I generally choose sausage, but any meat is good)
Cook the pasta until just under al dente. Sautee the meat until it golden brown and cooked all the way through. Mix it with the sauce, meat and ricotta. Get two disposable lasagna pans and fill both pans half full with the mixture. Sprinkle 1/2 bag of mozz over both pans of ziti. Then top with the remainder of the ziti mixture. Cover with tin foil and bake for about 45 minutes. Take off the cover and put a bag of mozz over the two pans. Bake until golden brown. Serve it with another lasagna pan full of tossed salad and italian bread.
I would also suggest that you make a turkey. I know it sounds nuts, but make a scaled down Thanksgiving dinner. Mashed potatoes, dressing, & green bean casserole (or whatever veggie your family likes for Thanksgiving) should do it.
One night in the middle I would suggest that you order some pizzas or Chinese. You can definitely fit this in your budget and it would give you a break. Good luck!
Pasta, vegetables and lasagna are cheap and will feed a lot of people. Do a pasta bar one night--and maybe a cookout another, weather permitting. Soups and chili are relatively easy--anything you can make large quantaties of in a big pot. Or get pizzas from Costco. Also, you could do a baked potato bar...etc etc
It's more work, but also making things like potato salad and vegetables fresh rather than picking them up pre-packaged from the store will save you money as well.
Good luck!