PSA: Potlucks

[AprilShowers]

Just a friendly reminder for those who have to attend end of year potlucks.
If you are bringing a family of 4 (or more!) to the potluck, you will need to bring more than 1 cup of potato salad!

We were among the last 5 or 6 tables to eat tonight, and there was almost NOTHING left! I tried not to take much, because there were maybe 5 tables to eat after us.

Of course, I didn't keep track of who brought what and how much they put on their plates, but geeze! If you expect your entire family to eat at one of these things, the least you could do was bring enough of your dish to acommodate that many people.

It's simple science. If EVERYONE eats more food than they brought, SOMEONE at the end of the line will go hungry.

Off my soapbox. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

[golfgal]

WOW, I have NEVER been to a potluck where they ran out of food, just the opposite they always have WAY too much food. We were at DD's golf banquet on Sunday night (potluck) and there was enough food left to hold 2 more banquets .

 

[teacups]

Sorry to laugh... but the one cup of potato salad was hilarious!
I agree... it should be one pot PER PERSON. Only a ding dong wouldnt know to bring more than one for an entire family.

 

[clh2]

I've been on the "short" end as well. What really just about made me blow a gasket...people came up for seconds before all the people got through the line 1 time.

The main dish at this pot luck was a bunch of 6-foot subs. It was a mother/daughter banquet for Girl Scouts. We ended up "scraping up the fixin's" that fell out from other peoples subs.

No - I wasn't very happy with that.

And - in case you are wondering, it was just me and DD, and yes, we always brought more than 1 cup of potato salad (or whatever item we were assigned to bring.) We attended this function for all 6 years DD was in elementary school. All the other years were never as bad as the first one we attended.

 

[disykat]

I've found that outside of church circles (where potlucks are common) I have to explain what "potluck" means. Many people really don't get that they are helping to prepare the meal, but they do get that they want to eat it when they see it all laid out.

I think sometimes people honestly think potluck means "little dabs of leftovers" because that's the way some people use the term at home. When publicising the event, say "bring a dish to share that would feed your family plus several more" or something like that.

I was involved in planning end of the year potlucks at my children's preschool for many years. We were shocked the first year at how many people called and asked what "potluck" meant. We assumed everyone knew. We learned our lesson and always phrased the PR very carefully after that.

 

[Serena]

Most of my parties used to be potluck. I had one relative that would always do that to me.

 

[Stacerita]

At work we always have tons of food left over from potlucks. With girl scouts and other groups, not so. It amazes me that someone will bring their entire family, friends and neighbors to a potluck, but show up with only a cantaloupe that they didn't even slice. Yes, I've seen that happen.

 

[Alaska Catdog]

I had a small potluck dinner with a group of friends once and a guy showed up with his girlfriend and her 2 or 3 children with a grapefruit. I kid you not. One grapefruit, 5 hungry people. He was pretty embarrassed but she just piled up her and her kids plates. We had to scramble to get enough food for the rest of us. I made a point to peel the grapefruit and hand out sections to everyone. I just wanted to be fair.

 

[AprilShowers]

Ok, the grapefruit takes the cake! What a clod.

I'd like to add one more pot-luck tip for those who are interested: If you're the first to be served, while the food looks plentiful, take a look around the room. Make a mental note of how many more people need to be served after you, then decide how heavily you need to load your plate.

 

[sha_lyn]

LOL...I love when this subject come around.
My dad's brother and his family take the cake so to speak at family reunions
let's see one yr they brought a small dish of potato salad (more than a cup, probably 2 cups) and a few (5-6 maybe) slices of ham. The "they" includes Uncle, aunt, their 3 grown children, 2 spouses, 1 adult grandchild and 2 grandchildren. I believe it was the following yr that a smaller group of them came and my cousin provided the food from their side of the family. a 12 in blimpie sandwich. I believe that time it was just her, her DH and their 2 kids.

oh and last yr my dad gave one of my cousins $$ to go toward a honey baked ham. The cousin forgot to bring it.


the other situation i tlak about is a dear friend who I love dearly, but she always messes up when she volunteers to bring something. She'll sign up for salad and bring 1 5oz bag of salad and nothing else, no dressings, toppings or anything. Oh and it's to feed 20-30 people.
Then there is the time she offered to fix the main dish. She thought a taco bar with with grilled vegetables & fish would be fun. She offered to bring a huge assortment of grilled vegtables. Someone else offered to bring fish. I had this feeling that she wasn't gong to come through, so I cooked 2lbs of ground beef and fixed a tray with the usual taco toppings. Turns out of course that she didn't plan ahead and fix the food before going to work that day. She doesn't get off until 30 min after our gathers start, and she works an hr away. We all assumed she must have taken the day off. Well we are waiting around for her and she calls and said she had to work over. Ok so we are all anxious but figured she had to have cooked the veggies ahead of time or at least bought and cut them right. Nope no such luck. So she decided to just stop at the mexican restaurant around the corner and buy chips and cheese dip. IMHO she at least could have called a double order of vegetarian fajuitas or something.

 

[sha_lyn]

had a small potluck dinner with a group of friends once and a guy showed up with his girlfriend and her 2 or 3 children with a grapefruit. I kid you not. One grapefruit, 5 hungry people. He was pretty embarrassed but she just piled up her and her kids plates. We had to scramble to get enough food for the rest of us

It wasn't a halloween party was it? I know a very similar situation. The large family showed up with 2 grapefruits and the lady was wearing a huge orange hat. Everyone thought the hat was for halloween, but it turns out it is her signature look or something.

 

[Stacerita]

It wasn't a halloween party was it? I know a very similar situation. The large family showed up with 2 grapefruits and the lady was wearing a huge orange hat. Everyone thought the hat was for halloween, but it turns out it is her signature look or something.

An orange hat was her signature look??? What was she, a clown?

 

[Alaska Catdog]

It wasn't a halloween party was it? I know a very similar situation. The large family showed up with 2 grapefruits and the lady was wearing a huge orange hat. Everyone thought the hat was for halloween, but it turns out it is her signature look or something.

No. It wasn't. No signature orange hats, clown or not she wern't at my party. There is more than one clod out there. Granted a grapefruit here in Alaska can cost upwards of $4 a piece but really.

 

[Katy Belle]

At our Cinco De Mayo pot luck 2006 one family of 5 brought.... salsa. No chips, no nothing else, salsa. Another family of 4 brought...7 layer dip...no chips, no nothing else. Luckily someone brought chips!

This year we sent specific instructions to all families saying 1 large main dish, to feed 12-15 people, and a large sidedish, appetizer, or dessert. It was MUCH better. And Yes, I think they did know better but just thought the rest of us would bring so much that it wouldn't matter. We were short that year.

Katy

 

[bumbershoot]

I had a small potluck dinner with a group of friends once and a guy showed up with his girlfriend and her 2 or 3 children with a grapefruit. I kid you not. One grapefruit, 5 hungry people. He was pretty embarrassed but she just piled up her and her kids plates. We had to scramble to get enough food for the rest of us. I made a point to peel the grapefruit and hand out sections to everyone. I just wanted to be fair.

I don't really do potlucks, b/c when you're vegetarian you tend to just eat what you made since nothing else works for you...

But I had a work friend whose boyfriend acted in the same way that the guy's girlfriend in your story did. No matter what kind of party, no matter that he wasn't invited, he would always, ALWAYS, show up to a party his girlfriend was invited to. All but one party I know of he would bring his two pre-teen kids. And they would ALWAYS eat. At a party they weren't invited to.

It didn't help that we couldn't stand him (what's odd is that I was friends with him a couple years before, and he was OK, but in the intervening years he just became obnoxious) and hew as left out of things on purpose!

We didn't invite the work friend to our wedding b/c I knew he would show up and eat more than his share.

And the one party that he came to without his kids was my baby shower. The friend whose house it was at (not the hostess) decided I had too few friends and invited some of HER friends, and the girlfriend was one of them. 3/4 of the way through the shower, which my own husband wasn't invited to (though I asked for them to have a couples shower), the guy showed up and ate a bunch. Augh!

 

[sunlver]

I just love it, when there is a pot luck, and somebody brings one big bag of chips for like 30 people... Yet, they expect to pile their plates high with each dish of food at the table..

Or the people who bring one 2 liter of Soda for 30 people etc... What are these people thinking?

I mean I know at our girlscout functions and boyscout functions if it is a potluck, we usually are assigned items. If my item was chips, you better believe I Would bring 4 big bags at least...Soda the same way..You really wonder what people are thinking in situations like this.

 

[golfgal]

I just love it, when there is a pot luck, and somebody brings one big bag of chips for like 30 people... Yet, they expect to pile their plates high with each dish of food at the table..

Or the people who bring one 2 liter of Soda for 30 people etc... What are these people thinking?

I mean I know at our girlscout functions and boyscout functions if it is a potluck, we usually are assigned items. If my item was chips, you better believe I Would bring 4 big bags at least...Soda the same way..You really wonder what people are thinking in situations like this.

For us this depends on how big the gathering is. If you are the ONLY one bringing chips, then yes, 4 bags is a good idea but if 10 other people are brining chips, I would only bring one or two bags. I know some people don't bring much to potlucks but like I said earlier, I have NEVER been to one where there hasn't been MORE then enough food to go around. Yes, you run out of some of the more popular things but never have had to scrounge for food to feed everyone.

 

[noodleknitter]

I've never been to one where there wasn't an abundance. But that was because some people bring a casserole, dessert, and soda. then you have the cup bringers (Husband's ofc.!)

bumbershoot, we have a half dozen vegetarians in our crowd. Yummy. My girlfriend makes the best potatoe salad in the entire world.

 

[RUDisney]

And the one party that he came to without his kids was my baby shower. The friend whose house it was at (not the hostess) decided I had too few friends and invited some of HER friends, and the girlfriend was one of them. 3/4 of the way through the shower, which my own husband wasn't invited to (though I asked for them to have a couples shower), the guy showed up and ate a bunch. Augh!

He sounds like Simon on the Real Housewives of NYC... showing up as the only man to a girls' night out.

I can't imagine being at a potluck where the hosts aren't trying to give back food at the end of the dinner.

 

[kpm76]

And this is one of the reasons why I don't like potlucks. If everyone donated $10 or $20 then you could hire a caterer and make sure there was enough food. Honestly, I also don't like to eat food prepared in kitchens that I am not familiar with....