Cooking for 50 teens - portions

[kymom99]

I know you're not posting again, but I've been reading this thread and just wanted to say that I love your spirit! You are getting shot down left and right on here, but you have a plan you and confident in and not letting anyone get in your way. I love it! I hope your meal is a big success and can't wait to hear how it goes!

I agree. I give you huge kudos for being willing to go to all this trouble.

Not necessarily aimed at you, but just a comment about food allergies. My husband has allergies to wheat, nuts, and shrimp. He basically eats a gluten free diet. Cross contamination won't kill him. When we get together with my family, I have 2 siblings with celiac. Everyone is good about planning meals that they can find something to eat while not making the rest of us go without our family favorites. I will tell you, all three say don't worry about GF bread. They say it doesn't taste good and they can live without it. The rest of us eat regular bread and enjoy it immensely!

My husband's family is not a bit sensitive to his limitations. When we go to my brother in laws he will grill burgers so that's no problem. There's always chips, pickles, etc to go with that. One christmas though, my sister in law made pork that was gluten free with him in mind. There was nothing else, and I mean NOTHING else he could eat. We were told to bring drinks. There weren't even plain potatoes or anything like that. Now we know better. He brings a thermos of something just so he can have something to eat.

So I guess I'm saying be sensitive but don't worry about adapting every dish to the food restrictions.

 

[jo-jo]

Just looking over your plans.....do you need to supply drinks? I don't see that. Just didn't want you to be scrambling with the funds if you have to buy drink mix or something.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Just looking over your plans.....do you need to supply drinks? I don't see that. Just didn't want you to be scrambling with the funds if you have to buy drink mix or something.

No, they are used to doing water (and have pitchers/ice/cups all set - this I know from eating at the spaghetti dinners)...If I had funds, I would have done something unique, but that might have to wait...

 

[jo-jo]

No, they are used to doing water (and have pitchers/ice/cups all set - this I know from eating at the spaghetti dinners)...If I had funds, I would have done something unique, but that might have to wait...

Maybe you'll have lemons left over and can put slices in the water....that's about as fancy I get.

 

[lntx]

Can't wait to hear how this all turns out!! Be sure to come back and give us the details! Good luck!!!

 

[TwoMisfits]

So, dinner is on (for now) tomorrow, so I have shopped. Aldi was the majority of the shopping, but Hmart got me tomatoes and basil, and Target will get me freeze pops. In a change (made by me), all food will be eaten with a fork/knife, so without hands to mouth, so no rice treats. I'm also enforcing an "all disposables" policy and a strict "no sick folks" allowed one - trying to get my Church leader to take this seriously has been like getting a horse to drink from the water I led him to, but slowly, slowly, it's sinking in...

Anyway, I actually am gonna hit right around $130 (I'm at $126 without the pops, but I'm just gonna get the 100 pack which is usually 5 or 6, so I don't think I could have been more dead on)...I put a heavy emphasis on chicken and fruit, following the suggestions here that kids are a little more leery on veg. Here's what I have...

80 chicken thighs (about 56 lbs) - if this isn't enough chicken, I quit...but yeah on Aldi's for having boneless skinless thighs on sale - listened to folks who said go very heavy on this
7.5 lbs plum tomatoes (listened to folks who said go light here to save)
2 lbs red onion
1 bottle olive oil
1 bottle balsamic vinegar
1 salt and 1 pepper
2 packs of basil
15 lbs of baby carrots
10 lbs of strawberries
4 lbs of kiwi
2 pineapples (so about 6lbs)
12 lbs of bananas (so 32 lbs of fruit for the fruit salad - gonna keep 5-6 bananas for anyone who won't eat it)
3 lb bag of lemons
4 lb bag of sugar
(still to be bought) - freeze pops

If dinner gets canceled last minute, chicken is going to the church freezer, tomatoes will become sauce, carrots will just keep awhile, and fruit will go for smoothies and jams and pie fillings...so I have a plan, if things go way south in the next 24 hours...

Thankfully, I didn't need pasta and sauce today, b/c finding that for 50 would have been a challenge...but the fresh stuff was around, and thankfully, hadn't had its prices raised (like other things) on shelves...

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Is there a side dish? Chicken and fruit is the meal?

 

[TwoMisfits]

Is there a side dish? Chicken and fruit is the meal?

Chicken with fresh bruschetta topping, balsamic glazed roasted carrots, and Italian macedonia (fruit salad) with freeze pops for dessert.

We are more concerned with feeding everyone in a germ-free way, so all foods that you eat with hands or are tempted to lick hands were out (thus, my rice treats got tossed). As were any you serve yourself (so no bread/butter, open "top yourself" bars, chips, etc) - all serving will be by me and my 2 daughters with gloves, including the water. And we are adapting to dairy-free and gluten-free (although now I realize I forgot my portbello for the known vegetarian, so I'm gonna bust by $5).

Menu is set...and was actually at stores...so win/win. Parents know what their kids are eating, so if they come, they know what they get...and can always eat more at home, since the event is only from 6-8pm and is free for them...

 

[Southernmiss]

Chicken with fresh bruschetta topping, balsamic glazed roasted carrots, and Italian macedonia (fruit salad) with freeze pops for dessert.

We are more concerned with feeding everyone in a germ-free way, so all foods that you eat with hands or are tempted to lick hands were out (thus, my rice treats got tossed). As were any you serve yourself (so no bread/butter, open "top yourself" bars, chips, etc) - all serving will be by me and my 2 daughters with gloves, including the water. And we are adapting to dairy-free and gluten-free (although now I realize I forgot my portbello for the known vegetarian, so I'm gonna bust by $5).

Menu is set...and was actually at stores...so win/win. Parents know what their kids are eating, so if they come, they know what they get...and can always eat more at home, since the event is only from 6-8pm and is free for them...

Sounds yummy. Hope all goes well.

Like that it's all 'real food'. So many people are not used to not having filler foods. But a light protein, vegetables and fruit sound healthy and perfect.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

A taco bar can be healthy and a lot less work if you can borrow some crock pots. Plus it's easy to accommodate vegetarians if everything except the meat is vegetarian. You can have taco bowls for the GF people instead of dealing with GF bread. I've done taco bars for large groups.

Another one I've done is a pasta bar with GF pasta as an option. Crock pots can be helpful for that too.

Both options could easily accommodate your dietary restrictions with very little extra work, assuming you are careful about how you prep. Another benefit is that they can be done inexpensively.

I agree and teens love this.
You can make a bean taco filling as well as the meat. So easy, you wont need to buy a lot of plastic ware.

 

[mjkacmom]

Don’t forget the garlic!

 

[TwoMisfits]

Don’t forget the garlic!

I have it, but I don't know if I'll use it - I think raw, it will be too strong in the bruschetta, so I'm gonna use the red onion (soaked in cold water) I bought with the rest of my ingredients...and then see if I think it needs it...trying to keep it "Americanized", so it's not too strong for preteen palettes...

 

[mjkacmom]

I have it, but I don't know if I'll use it - I think raw, it will be too strong in the bruschetta, so I'm gonna use the red onion (soaked in cold water) I bought with the rest of my ingredients...and then see if I think it needs it...trying to keep it "Americanized", so it's not too strong for preteen palettes...

I’ve never had it without garlic, it’s a favorite of my teens. Everyone here is Italian though, garlic is as common as salt. Garlic makes it not salsa.

 

[robinb]

Have a great time tonight! I’m looking forward to reading about your success .

 

[TwoMisfits]

I’ve never had it without garlic, it’s a favorite of my teens. Everyone here is Italian though, garlic is as common as salt. Garlic makes it not salsa.

My girls both approved the final version (and now want fresh mozz, so I told them if we have leftovers, that's what we'll do for them...I love having both red onion and garlic with balsamic (over red wine vinegar) b/c I love all the strong flavors...but I'm taking a little advice to dial back, and skipping garlic (one of the big flavors), so if both my girls declared it awesome, I figure it should be teen friendly (they are teens)...

Took an hour to make while 1st set of carrots roasting...remind me that chopping tons of tomatoes sucks! My girls did my basil chopping...and will be chopping strawberries and kiwi soon, so they are chipping in...

 

[jo-jo]

Just wanted to say God bless you for taking this on.

You're a braver person than I.

Just the picture of walking out of aldi's with 56 lbs of chicken is daunting.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Just wanted to say God bless you for taking this on.

You're a braver person than I.

Just the picture of walking out of aldi's with 56 lbs of chicken is daunting.

And the 32lbs of fruit...but I explained to folks in line about the dinner...and they were all focused on getting shelf-stable and cleaning products, so they didn't care that I took 1/2 the chicken and tons of fresh fruit - they didn't want that...although it did end the quizzical looks, like what the heck I was gonna do with all the bananas and carrots and strawberries...

 

[TwoMisfits]

Phew - it's done! 11 hours of work over 2 days, but dinner was a huge hit! 55 teens and 10 adults ate...and many had 2nd's and no one refused to eat (although we did have some refusals on certain items)...

Notes for next time:
1. It doesn't matter what gets put on top of fruit - if it's not melon, kids INHALE it! 32lbs of fruit and I have 1/2 cup left. That's it. And NO ONE asked for the backup bananas - they all loved the fruit salad as is (even with kiwi and pineapple). So, these kids are vitamin-loaded! Next time, I might get even more fruit and cut back the veg to 10lbs (so 40 lbs/10 lbs)...
2. Keeping the bruschetta topping on the side was the right call. And having the roasted onions and mushrooms for the veg (who didn't show tonight), still worked b/c people asked for that on top, too. And people asked for bruschetta to put on their carrots, and not just their chicken. And some people asked for none of it. So, options - they worked!
3. Just like the extra bananas, I didn't need the raw carrots - only had 2 kids want them. If kids wanted carrots (about 2/3 yes, 1/3 no), they also wanted them "prepared"
4. I can overcome both a broken oven and a malfunctioning freezer - yeah, it was a night of adapt and overcome. I got there early, so made it work. But I'm amazed the food still came out so well dealing with difficulties. Thankfully, I precooked carrots at my house, or dinner could have been interesting.
5. My kids are awesome at clean up. I managed to avoid almost all of that task!
6. No one missed the carb - no one asked for it - they just ate what was there and were happy...

I did let the leader know I could probably do April if we are still doing dinner then. And everyone followed all my germ avoidance stuff, so they adapted there, too...

PS - And 50 lbs of chicken got eaten, so I came home with 5lbs...so, I'm picking up bread tomorrow and redoing this dinner after Church, so I can have a darn break...I have the carrots and bruschetta, so we're set (I'm getting my girls some fresh mozz, too)...

 

[Southernmiss]

Phew - it's done! 11 hours of work over 2 days, but dinner was a huge hit! 55 teens and 10 adults ate...and many had 2nd's and no one refused to eat (although we did have some refusals on certain items)...

Notes for next time:
1. It doesn't matter what gets put on top of fruit - if it's not melon, kids INHALE it! 32lbs of fruit and I have 1/2 cup left. That's it. And NO ONE asked for the backup bananas - they all loved the fruit salad as is (even with kiwi and pineapple). So, these kids are vitamin-loaded! Next time, I might get even more fruit and cut back the veg to 10lbs (so 40 lbs/10 lbs)...
2. Keeping the bruschetta topping on the side was the right call. And having the roasted onions and mushrooms for the veg (who didn't show tonight), still worked b/c people asked for that on top, too. And people asked for bruschetta to put on their carrots, and not just their chicken. And some people asked for none of it. So, options - they worked!
3. Just like the extra bananas, I didn't need the raw carrots - only had 2 kids want them. If kids wanted carrots (about 2/3 yes, 1/3 no), they also wanted them "prepared"
4. I can overcome both a broken oven and a malfunctioning freezer - yeah, it was a night of adapt and overcome. I got there early, so made it work. But I'm amazed the food still came out so well dealing with difficulties. Thankfully, I precooked carrots at my house, or dinner could have been interesting.
5. My kids are awesome at clean up. I managed to avoid almost all of that task!
6. No one missed the carb - no one asked for it - they just ate what was there and were happy...

I did let the leader know I could probably do April if we are still doing dinner then. And everyone followed all my germ avoidance stuff, so they adapted there, too...

PS - And 50 lbs of chicken got eaten, so I came home with 5lbs...so, I'm picking up bread tomorrow and redoing this dinner after Church, so I can have a darn break...I have the carrots and bruschetta, so we're set (I'm getting my girls some fresh mozz, too)...

Love it! I as m soooooo glad a healthful dinner went over so well and hope you get to put your feet up tomorrow and take your well earned rest!

 

[Brandilla]

Phew - it's done! 11 hours of work over 2 days, but dinner was a huge hit! 55 teens and 10 adults ate...and many had 2nd's and no one refused to eat (although we did have some refusals on certain items)...

Notes for next time:
1. It doesn't matter what gets put on top of fruit - if it's not melon, kids INHALE it! 32lbs of fruit and I have 1/2 cup left. That's it. And NO ONE asked for the backup bananas - they all loved the fruit salad as is (even with kiwi and pineapple). So, these kids are vitamin-loaded! Next time, I might get even more fruit and cut back the veg to 10lbs (so 40 lbs/10 lbs)...
2. Keeping the bruschetta topping on the side was the right call. And having the roasted onions and mushrooms for the veg (who didn't show tonight), still worked b/c people asked for that on top, too. And people asked for bruschetta to put on their carrots, and not just their chicken. And some people asked for none of it. So, options - they worked!
3. Just like the extra bananas, I didn't need the raw carrots - only had 2 kids want them. If kids wanted carrots (about 2/3 yes, 1/3 no), they also wanted them "prepared"
4. I can overcome both a broken oven and a malfunctioning freezer - yeah, it was a night of adapt and overcome. I got there early, so made it work. But I'm amazed the food still came out so well dealing with difficulties. Thankfully, I precooked carrots at my house, or dinner could have been interesting.
5. My kids are awesome at clean up. I managed to avoid almost all of that task!
6. No one missed the carb - no one asked for it - they just ate what was there and were happy...

I did let the leader know I could probably do April if we are still doing dinner then. And everyone followed all my germ avoidance stuff, so they adapted there, too...

PS - And 50 lbs of chicken got eaten, so I came home with 5lbs...so, I'm picking up bread tomorrow and redoing this dinner after Church, so I can have a darn break...I have the carrots and bruschetta, so we're set (I'm getting my girls some fresh mozz, too)...

Yay! So happy it went so smoothly! You knew what you were doing and you nailed it! Awesome job!