Hosting a Luncheon for 150

[Julia M]

Hi Everyone,
I am planning a luncheon for 150 staff. Primarily ladies (teachers). I am trying to do it on a budget. Has to be cold (no stove/oven access).

I am thinking of most of the food from Costco or Smart and Final. Any suggestions?

I am figuring bottled water for drinks.

In terms of serving dishes/trays/etc, I will probably go to Dollar Tree.

Maybe the premade quiche? I could bake at home and bring, with salad and bread?

Any suggestions are appreciated. I don't mind cooking/assembling something ahead of time.

Dessert I am planning on a cookie type tray. Buying the premade little brownie, and adding caramel and a pecan on top (turtle brownies). Probably madeleine's, and dipping some in chocolate. And am looking for some other ideas.

Thanks
Julia

 

[MSSANDRA]

Maybe a salad type plate. Chicken, Tuna, Potato, pasta, egg in small scoops on a lettuce leaf with fruit salad and rolls. Deli Sandwiches are also easy and good. Serve with chips or a pasta salad.

 

[Go19GoLauren]

Do you have help? I'd be daunted by the task of cooking or even heating food for that many people. lol

This is boring but it's standard luncheon fare for a reason...it's cheap and easy! I'd probably hit the deli, get a variety of sandwich platters and salads (pasta salad, three bean salad, quinoa salad, even ambrosia or watergate - there's a black eyed pea salad that some call texas caviar that is very good). Hit the supermarket for veggie and fruit trays. Chips, Pretzels, cheese and crackers, olives, pickles....I told you it was standard and boring. Put it it all out as the prettiest buffet I could manage and hope for the best.

We're lucky to have an excellent italian bakery nearby and they make awesome miniature versions of all their pastries. They would be my 'showstoppers'. Cookie/brownie platters would be cheaper, though. You can also buy some pretty yummy cheesecakes at Sam's/Costco that are already sliced.

You can still do some warm food if you really want to. Chafing dishes will keep things warm. You can even buy disposable ones (not as pretty as silver). We've rented silver ones before for large parties.

And, if you want to try something a little trendier, Pinterest has approximately twenty gazillion things that look sooo easy and would be awesome. Figuring out which ones really are easy and really do work might take some research. Usually by the time you assemble the stuff to make the project you've spent more than if you'd just gone out and bought whatever you were trying to make....although that might be just my non-crafty self

Good Luck!

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

I work in a school and one of the best lunches we had was a soup and salad lunch. The soups were brought in crock pots -- someone had made a squash soup that was out of this world! And the salads were fun with fruits and nuts in them. And of course we had fun desserts as well.

We have a Gordan's Food Service Service (restaurant supply store) near us that has wonderful soups in the frozen section, just add milk and heat up!

Enjoy!

 

[natfrac]

I once catered my daughter's wedding (over 200 people) with the help of a book "How to cater your own wedding". It had a lot of easy recipes for large groups and helpful ideas, such as how much you need of certain items.

 

[POOHsie]

I would re-think the bottled water for everyone. Personally, I wouldn't want it. How about a variety of canned/bottled soft drinks, tea, lemonade in buckets of ice.

 

[honeybunches]

Ditto the soup & salad luncheon. My school's PTSA does that for us every year and it's always wonderful. You could put some rolls with butter on the side. Yum!! We don't mind pouring our own drinks from 2 liters either, but bottled water would probably be cheaper since there wouldn't be any cups needed.

 

[Alexle2007]

If you do salad, make sure you have plenty of it and salad dressing. We had it for our staff appreciation luncheon and ran out of both before all of the staff was served. We had limonata to drink and the teachers loved it- basically, lemonade mixed with Sprite. And make sure you have plenty of food, I had no idea teachers could eat so much.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I have done this MANY times for departments within our plants.
2) Some departments were over 200 people; some as small as fifty.
3) These were usually as a safety "thank you" for a month of no incidents.
4) Usually, we had
. . . the local grocery store build cheese plates and meat plates
. . . the local bakery (or grocery) deliver several kinds of bread
. . . the grocer prepare potato salad plates
. . . the local grocer deliver tons of soda and coffee
. . . the nearby KFC prepare several buckets of chicken, without sides
5) Works like a charm, and no headaches by the organizer.
6) AND, reasonably priced.

 

[powellrj]

I did a dinner a few months ago for over 100. What I would do is go to Costco or Sams or GFS and get some ready made chicken salad, ham salad and some sliced ham and turkey and make some croissant sandwiches. Then I would get some ready made salads and rework them. Add some frozen peas and diced ham to macaroni salad, sliced egg to potato salad, paprika to slaw and then make a ceasar salad or chopped salad already dressed.

If you want to keep cost down just serve tea and lemonade and then maybe some brownies and cookies for dessert.

 

[ceecee]

chicken salad on crossants. I second the sodas in addition to waters.

 

[taymaesmom]

Depending on your budget, you could just have it catered. I was PTO for many years at a small school and I could easily feed the 50 staff members for about $300. We also had all the PTO members make a desert to cut costs there. And lots of places with donate free drinks, Mcalisters Deli (if you have one) donates their tea and its always a huge hit!

 

[kirstenb1]

I like the soup and salad idea, but you mentioned no stove. Will you be able to do warming trays or crockpots to keep the soup warm?

If not, I'd do fried chicken/sides/biscuits, or make your own deli sandwiches with a couple of side dishes.

 

[wiigirl]

I would re-think the bottled water for everyone. Personally, I wouldn't want it. How about a variety of canned/bottled soft drinks, tea, lemonade in buckets of ice.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

whatever you make, please take into consideration that some people don't eat meat.

Several years ago, I had to prepare a luncheon for teachers on conference day (I was a volunteer) and I asked restaurants/grocery delis in town if they'd like to donate food. And they did -- all of it. One restaurant donated one thing, another one donated something else. In return, we mentioned their name as a thank you in the school newsletter.