We need help with meal ideas for a crowd of 200-300

[samefay]

Our family has been hosting community singings for almost a year. Our crowds have grown larger along with the food budget. We've done brunswick stew, hot dogs, bbq, fried chicken along with several side salads (macaroni and potato), and appetizers. We've thought about a spaghetti dinner but not sure if we have the man power to pull it off. We've never had more than 6 people at a time help in the kitchen - usually it's about 3-4 of us. We're hosting another singing in a couple of weeks - Can you please help with menu ideas to feed a large crowd? We are not ready for pot luck yet. Thanks for any ideas. The event is a free event to all who come. It really doesn't have to be budget related but it would be a nice bonus. Also, dessert ideas. I just made 150 cupcakes for a July 2nd singing so I am cupcaked out.

 

[Madison'smommy]

I kind of feel like a spaghetti dinner may not be so hard... I guess it depends on how everyone is served. Even easier would be trays of baked ziti. That is really easy to make! You would just need to be able to keep them warm before its time to feed everyone. It could all be prepared in advance. Add salad, bread, and a dessert!

 

[samefay]

That sounds wonderful and easy - thanks!

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

It seems like at all our family gatherings, there is always mostacholi (sp) served. My aunt always makes a huge batch of it in her crockpot. I know for a gathering that size, you would need probably 4-6 crockpots full, but it is a fairly cheap meal to make,I believe.

Are you a Costco member? They have an excellent sheet cake that is huge and really reasonable.

 

[Madison'smommy]

I agree with the cake! Easy! We belong to Sam's and BJ's... they also have cheap, yummy cakes!

 

[samefay]

We've done the large cakes. In the area where the singings are held there is only a Sam's and they do not have a bakery. Weird I know. We've ordered the cakes from Walmart - real competition right??? LOL We also do cookies, fresh or frozen fruit, cream puffs, etc. We've even ordered 15 pies from a bakery. We are just running out of ideas. Our numbers have grown and it would be a shame to cut back on the food. It's always so hard to plan when we don't know how many to plan for.

 

[mom3sonstt]

This may not be the right time of year for it, but how about chili, or veggie soup?
Our church serves ham and beans and chicken and noodles for some of their fundraisers when they don't know how many are attending.
Our local fire department has an annual hog roast and sell BBQ and plain pork sandwiches. But then again we are in the middle of farm country and there are several hog cookers available...we used one for our class reunion several years ago.
Several organizations also do butterfly pork chops, usually with an option of hot dogs to appease the kids.
If you don't want a full heavy meal you could have cold cuts available for sandwiches, or make a large batch of ham or chicken salad. You could have veggie and/or fruit trays to go along with the whole finger food idea.
Would a taco bar work? Do up a batch of taco meat and have shells and toppings available for them
to make their own.

As for desserts I wouldn't be of much help. Most of our organizations ask for donations od desserts and they plate them up and you choose what you want. They usually have a variety of pies, cookies, cakes....whatever some ones specialty is. I know my kids always went for the rice krispie treats...especially my 20 year old.

What about ice cream for dessert?

 

[SandrA9810]

What about baked beans and ham. Most hams are precooked, and if you slice it off the bone, you can make a nice bean soup with it in a crock pot.

What about tacos? or a baked potato bar with a couple of soups?

Take a look at some the local lunch spots in the business districts to see what they serve. Often these are the people that skip over the drive through, but nothing as fancy as a sit down restaurant like Chili's or Applebees. More like Subway, Qdoba, McAllisters, Jason's Deli, Pei Wei. They manage to serve hundreds of people in a lunch rush, with only a handful of employees to prep and serve. The menus are simple and quick, and easy to prepare for the customer.

Rice Krispie Treats sounds good for dessert. Something a little more of the unexpected. You could also to a cold fruit bowl, or cobbler with fresh in season fruit.

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

BBQ Brisquet (best done on a BBQ pit here in Texas, but can also be done in the oven) chopped and served on buns. Serve with sliced pickles and onions

Baked Beans (add chopped bacon, onion lightly sauteed in butter, brown sugar, a little ketchup and mustard to cans of pork n beans, bake til bubbly at 350)

Potato Salad

Sliced Watermelon and either cookies or cake (with a scoop of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream if you're a Texan)

This is the menu I have used for several similar events. Nice because everything can be prepared the day before. BBQ and baked beans can all be served from crock pots----and it is easy for your guests to serve themselves buffet style so you can enjoy the event, too!!!

 

[bettymae1121]

You can always make a sheet cake yourself. You'd have to invest in a sheet cake pan (I think I paid $20 for mine?) but it sounds like you do enough of these to be worth it. Two boxed cake mixes make 1 half sheet cake, and cake mixes are frequently on sale for $1 each (and less if you have coupons), the only additional expence is the eggs and oil to make the batter. If you have a stand mixer, frosting is easy to make from scratch too (butter/margerine, powdered sugar, vanila and a little bit of milk). You can also use a hand mixer, but a stand mixer is better for the volumn of frosting you'll need.

ETA: a 9x13 cake pan is a quarter sheet cake, so if you don't want to invest in a half sheet pan you can just make two 9x13 cakes.

 

[marmalade]

I like the baked ziti idea. But I don't know if anywhere else does this, but what about a pot of chowder. In our area a lot of places do chowder in the big chowder kettles. The kettles are usually made out of an old washer tub inside a 55 gallon drum.

Another idea is sausage, peppers and onions. Those can be cooked the day before and kept in foil tins and heated as needed.

 

[stephbillalec]

Do you have any place nearby that makes the 6 foot long subs? A bunch of those with some side salads, cookies, and sliced watermelon/other fruit and you're done!

 

[samefay]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful ideas. Lots of good ones. I really like the sausage onions and peppers - would that be like a sweet italian sausage?

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Spaghetti or Ziti would be easy and can be made and put into a roaster oven to serve.
Boil noodles and drain then put noodles and sauce in the roaster oven. Have some garlic rolls, salad and a dessert.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I think spaghetti would be easy and economical. Ask several people to make sauce ahead of time and bring it, and keep it hot in Crock-Pots. Then all you have to do is boil the pasta, maybe have a salad and some garlic bread.

For dessert - ice cream, either plain or have a make-your-own sundae bar.

 

[disprincessatheart]

I Don't know how budget friendly this would be, or if you would be able to keep them cold, but I know you can buy individual ice cream cups with the little wooden spoons at SAMs.

 

[Lees3rwe]

I used to do the cooking for our Wednesday night church program BY MYSELF for 100 people every week.

Some favorites:

Spaghetti- really easy, though instead of using spaghetti noodles, we used elbow macaroni- cooks faster and doesn't stick.

meatloaf and mashed potatoes- I did 2 HUGE meatloafs and instant mashed potatoes and green beans and store bought rolls. Huge hit.

Taco Bar: Very, very easy. Ground beef with taco seasoning, shells and tortillas, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and taco sauce. I also did a big pot of mexi rice (just white rice with canned enchilada sauce)

Soup and Sandwich night: It may be hot for this, but huge pots of soup and platters of deli meats and cheese and assorted rolls.

Chicken Pastry: Again, may be too hot for this, but I would bake off boneless skinless chicken breast, boil the frozen dumplings, add broth and the chicken. Served with corn bread and candied yams.

Ham: Sam's club has great spiral honey hams. Ham, green beans and huge pans of homemade mac and cheese (again, the elbow noodles, a huge bag of cheese, some butter and milk)

Good luck!

 

[cydswipe]

My mom makes a killer batch of turkey and dressing sandwiches. We have used her sandwiches for wide variety of events... graduation parties, concession stands, even immediate family lunches...

Easily prepared ahead of time and easy to FREEZE! Can be very very cost effective too w/ a little plannning..

)

 

[njmom47]

I went to a picnic last night and they had a big ole warming tray full of Sloppy Joes! I thought that was a great idea.

 

[MinnieGirl33]

Baked Ziti and Lasagna can both be prepped ahead of time & heated the day of. Use the large disposable foil trays and cleanup is a snap.

Hot Roast Beef/Hot Roast Pork sandwiches. Have a few crockpots going & get good fresh rolls and plenty of accompaniments (sharp provolone, hot peppers, pickles, etc.)

Fajita or Taco bar