Narrowed down the menu...

[marcyinPA]

For my son's graduation party

I was going to have it catered by Dickie's BBQ, until I called for the price. $9.50 per person?! We are having close to 100 people. No way can we afford that, no matter how good it is, or how easy it would be. So, I will cook.

Pulled Pork with rolls and BBQ sauce
BBQ meatballs (the kind with the grape jelly/chili sauce)
Hot dogs cooked in the crock pot, with rolls and condiments
Pasta Salad
Cole Slaw
Potato salad
Baked beans
Chips
Philadelphia Pretzel "rivet" tray with dips
cheese tray
veggie tray
fruit tray
pickles and olives
assorted desserts (friends offered to bring)
cupcake tower with assorted decorated cupcakes
soda and water

Does this sound like enough food? Am I missing anything? Party is in July, food will be inside (air conditioned), party will be in and out (there is a pool where we are). I don't want to mess with dips and stuff- too hot. Time frame is 4pm-8pm.

I am trying to figure out how many pork butts to roast. We invited 100- but I haven't received a lot of responses yet. I am thinking 2- possibly 3. Not sure?!

 

[jen0610]

For my son's graduation party

I was going to have it catered by Dickie's BBQ, until I called for the price. $9.50 per person?! We are having close to 100 people. No way can we afford that, no matter how good it is, or how easy it would be. So, I will cook.

Pulled Pork with rolls and BBQ sauce
BBQ meatballs (the kind with the grape jelly/chili sauce)
Hot dogs cooked in the crock pot, with rolls and condiments
Pasta Salad
Cole Slaw
Potato salad
Baked beans
Chips
Philadelphia Pretzel "rivet" tray with dips
cheese tray
veggie tray
fruit tray
pickles and olives
assorted desserts (friends offered to bring)
cupcake tower with assorted decorated cupcakes
soda and water

Does this sound like enough food? Am I missing anything? Party is in July, food will be inside (air conditioned), party will be in and out (there is a pool where we are). I don't want to mess with dips and stuff- too hot. Time frame is 4pm-8pm.

I am trying to figure out how many pork butts to roast. We invited 100- but I haven't received a lot of responses yet. I am thinking 2- possibly 3. Not sure?!

Googled the pork butt questions and the answers I saw for 100 people (I would rather have too much then not enough) it says 6 7-8 lb butts.

 

[Janepod]

Googled the pork butt questions and the answers I saw for 100 people (I would rather have too much then not enough) it says 6 7-8 lb butts.

Pork butt is $2.99/lb by me. Makes $9.50/person sound pretty reasonable for a catered meal.

 

[marcyinPA]

Pork butt is $2.99/lb by me. Makes $9.50/person sound pretty reasonable for a catered meal.

I can get it for $.99/lb here (if I can't find that price, the highest would be 1.29/lb)

Dickie's had quoted me 17 lbs of pulled pork if I just ordered that through them. Of course, they charge $13.99/lb.

Maybe I will make 4 of the largest ones I can find. We will be having other food as well- so not everyone will load up on the pork.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

$1,000 for 100 people for catering is an amazing price. Typically catering includes everything you need, from disposable's to warming trays (as needed).

Make sure when you're looking at costs, you're considering everything, because honestly at $9.50/head you probably are not going to come that much under, especially when you factor in how much time you're going to need to prepare everything.

 

[rndmr2]

Maybe I will make 4 of the largest ones I can find. We will be having other food as well- so not everyone will load up on the pork.

That should be fine with the hot dogs and meatballs


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[mombrontrent]

Your menu sounds perfect. It's got a wide variety of foods. Everyone should be able to find stuff they will like. Heck I am vegan and have vegetarian dd's and we'd be fine with your menu ( and if we weren't that wouldn't be any fault of yours, since you are providing a great spread)

 

[ironpig70]

I am confused as how you say you don't want to mess with dips as its to hot yet are having potato salad which is pretty much a "dip"

Also what do you put on the chips, veggies and fruit?


As to whether you have enough food I would say yes. The price of the catering is high but look at what it will cost you to make everything and then look at all the work and lastly do you wanna spend the party serving food?

 

[mombrontrent]

I am confused as how you say you don't want to mess with dips as its to hot yet are having potato salad which is pretty much a "dip"

Also what do you put on the chips, veggies and fruit?


As to whether you have enough food I would say yes. The price of the catering is high but look at what it will cost you to make everything and then look at all the work and lastly do you wanna spend the party serving food?

Nothing! All thee foods can be eaten and taste great just plain

 

[Janepod]

I feel like I say this on every food thread, but I would add a plain green salad. Everything on this list is very heavy, especially for summer.

Also salsa, guac, or blue cheese dip for the chips.

And dare I ask ... no beer/wine? Gotta have beer with pulled pork.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I think that this is going to be such a pain for you. You will need to prep and store ALOT of food for a 100 people. Do you have that much room in your fridge/freezer? How many days ahead of time do you plan to make these things? Are you going to have help? You are going to have a difficult time enjoying the party if you are constantly trying to replenish the food.

Are you having family in from out of town as well? Will you need to entertain them or even just cook for them?

You will spend quite a bit in just serving dishes for all this if you plan to serve the bbq warmed?

I know most will disagree with me but I think you are going to need a lot of pulled pork. That really is the main menu item. Some might eat a hot dog or graze a meatball but the pulled pork is the big item on your menu which means you will need a lot of it to feed your crowd. Will there be a lot of teens there? They are bottomless pits as you are well aware.

I would rework the menu to cut down the choices just to lessen your prep work and headache.

 

[scrapquitler]

For my son's graduation party

I was going to have it catered by Dickie's BBQ, until I called for the price. $9.50 per person?! We are having close to 100 people. No way can we afford that, no matter how good it is, or how easy it would be. So, I will cook.

Pulled Pork with rolls and BBQ sauce
BBQ meatballs (the kind with the grape jelly/chili sauce)
Hot dogs cooked in the crock pot, with rolls and condiments
Pasta Salad
Cole Slaw
Potato salad
Baked beans
Chips
Philadelphia Pretzel "rivet" tray with dips
cheese tray
veggie tray
fruit tray
pickles and olives
assorted desserts (friends offered to bring)
cupcake tower with assorted decorated cupcakes
soda and water

Does this sound like enough food? Am I missing anything? Party is in July, food will be inside (air conditioned), party will be in and out (there is a pool where we are). I don't want to mess with dips and stuff- too hot. Time frame is 4pm-8pm.

I am trying to figure out how many pork butts to roast. We invited 100- but I haven't received a lot of responses yet. I am thinking 2- possibly 3. Not sure?!

It sounds great to me! I have no idea about the quanitity, but I'd go with more rather than less, you can always freeze any leftovers.

I do think that the people telling you to reconsider the catering make a very good point. By the time you buy all this food and take all the time to make it, it's probably going to cost you just as much as as it would to pay the caterer, and you'll save yourself a lot of work!
I'd guess that if you are inviting 100 people, you'll have somewhere between 60-75, and some of them will just stop by for a little while without eating.

 

[taitai]

My suggestion is to price out how much ALL this food is going to cost, figure out how much time it is going to take (all that chopping for the salads and fruit and veggie trays...yikes!), where are you going to store it, how are you going to serve it, on what are you going to serve it and decide if this is the correct menu for you. Your ice bill alone is going to be high. You are going to have to start cooking many days in advance and with needing to clean the house, do yard work, whatever else, it seems like a ton to take on.

I agree with a PP that 2 or 3 pork butts is way, way too few. I cook one for my family of 5 and my kids are only 9 and 10. I am guessing you are going to need multiples of that. Do you have space on your grill to cook all of them? Time to pull all that pork and where are you going to serve it and keep it warm?

Might be that you need a different menu (burgers and dogs?) or pony up for the catering if you are set on this menu. At least for the items that are time intensive. Good luck figuring all this out.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My suggestion to you is to put things out in "small quantities" and then refill as needed.

It will keep the fresh stuff fresh and untouched and cold.

In addition get a lot of coolers to use from people so you can store food. And crock pots to keep hot things hot.

As far as serving things like pasta salad, cole slaw, and potato salad get a large bowls that can be "put on ice" on the bottom to keep the salads cold.

You want hot meat, hot baked beans and nicely chilled sides. It is much more appetizing.

Good Luck and congrats!

 

[pigletgirl]

The menu sounds fantastic, but that is a lot of prep work. Will you have help?

 

[marcyinPA]

I am confused as how you say you don't want to mess with dips as its to hot yet are having potato salad which is pretty much a "dip"

Also what do you put on the chips, veggies and fruit?


As to whether you have enough food I would say yes. The price of the catering is high but look at what it will cost you to make everything and then look at all the work and lastly do you wanna spend the party serving food?

Ok- let me clarify. There will be dip for the veggies. Like ranch dip. No dip for the fruit. I'm not into that. What I mean by "no dips" was no buffalo chicken dip, no taco dip- stuff like that. And how is potato salad like a dip? Just curious?

 

[marcyinPA]

I feel like I say this on every food thread, but I would add a plain green salad. Everything on this list is very heavy, especially for summer.

Also salsa, guac, or blue cheese dip for the chips.

And dare I ask ... no beer/wine? Gotta have beer with pulled pork.

No beer/wine until the "after party". We can't have alcohol at the clubhouse of my mom's condo assoc. Well, we could- but we would have to take out some insane insurance rider. I think people can live without for 4 hours.

Funny- I thought the veggie tray covers the green salad. I don't really find these foods heavy, though- they are typical summer foods

 

[disykat]

Although it seems like a reasonable catering price, I think you can cook for way cheaper than $1000.

My first guess would be that it will cost you about $500, including all the drinks etc. Sure, the meat will be expensive but the rest won't be as bad. Hopefully you can borrow a couple of coolers, crock pots, roasters, etc. from friends and maybe even room in a neighbor's fridge.

I also don't think you need dips, although I would probably put out ranch with the veggie tray.

I would eliminate the cole slaw and potato salad as those seem labor intensive to me and just do pasta salad, a big green salad, baked beans and the trays.

I've seen ice buffet inflatable things, sort of kiddie pool style, at oriental trading that you could use for the cold foods.

 

[wvjules]

Ok- let me clarify. There will be dip for the veggies. Like ranch dip. No dip for the fruit. I'm not into that. What I mean by "no dips" was no buffalo chicken dip, no taco dip- stuff like that. And how is potato salad like a dip? Just curious?

I think because they are both mayo (or sour cream) based.

Sounds like a typical summer menu to me as well.

DD's is this Sunday. We are ony having 40 or so. I think our menu is going to be burgers, dogs, baked beans, mac salad, , potato salad, chips and dip, fried chicken, rigatoni, veggie tray, fruit tray, deviled eggs, and cake. My family will eat anything and veggies aren't a must. lol Maybe I'll get a big bagged salad, maybe not. Who knows. lol

Good luck with your party.

 

[marcyinPA]

Although it seems like a reasonable catering price, I think you can cook for way cheaper than $1000.

My first guess would be that it will cost you about $500, including all the drinks etc. Sure, the meat will be expensive but the rest won't be as bad. Hopefully you can borrow a couple of coolers, crock pots, roasters, etc. from friends and maybe even room in a neighbor's fridge.

I also don't think you need dips, although I would probably put out ranch with the veggie tray.

I would eliminate the cole slaw and potato salad as those seem labor intensive to me and just do pasta salad, a big green salad, baked beans and the trays.

I've seen ice buffet inflatable things, sort of kiddie pool style, at oriental trading that you could use for the cold foods.

Yeah, I really don't think I am going to come close to $1000 with buying and cooking, although I appreciate all of the opinions. The only thing that will take a lot of time is the pork. Everything else is simple. I have access to MANY crock pots, which is how I am going to keep the hot food hot.

I have some clear under the bed storage containers that I am going to fill with ice and those will be for the cold food bowls. I am going to buy the potato salad, my mom is making the pasta salad, and cole slaw is actually incredibly easy to make and better if made ahead (plus, it goes well with the pulled pork )

My DS invited about 20 or so of his friends. The rest is family, family friends. I'm sure not everyone will come. Or they won't stay the entire time.

I will have help. My mom is helping me out with the cooking, and both of my parents are helping by ordering/making the cheese tray, and the veggie tray.

We have two great stores here- Price Rite and Bottom Dollar, which is where I will buy a majority of my food items. The produce at Price Rite is at an exceptional price, so I won't spend a ton there. I think I will be OK cost wise. Time wise- well, I am only working 1/2 days that week and off on Friday, so you all know where I will be- in my kitchen

It's funny- we just went to a grad party for kid from our church- we are close to his family. His mom is Syrian, and she made all of the food. It was mostly Syrian food- kibi, spinach pies, meat pies (all little labor intensive morsels-), plus flank steak, pulled chicken, and numerous salads, hummus, etc., that she all made homemade. I figure I can make some pulled pork without much of a problem. At least I am not forming, stuffing, and frying kibi! (I think that is how it is spelled?!)