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I need meal ideas that are cheap for a crowd.
Every Wednesday night, I feed our church members at prayer meeting. This was something that DH (the pastor) and I implemented back in October because we have a smaller church and we felt it would draw people in. We started out with a crowd of 12-15 on Wednesdays, but we've grown to between 20-25. Yay! This includes 5 children who mostly eat anything. If we have something that I know my kids won't eat, I'll cook up some chicken nuggets and fries for all the kids. It needs to be either pretty much make ahead or kind of quick, because I usually do most of the prep on Tuesday nights. I get home from work around 4 on Wednesday nights and we eat at 6:30. I have access to a full kitchen, plus my own next door if I need something else. I normally have between 20 and 30 dollars to spend each week on this. Some meals we've done so far are: spaghetti, chicken spaghetti, meat loaf, lasagna, chicken salad, breakfast, pizza, burgers and dogs on the grill, red beans and rice, chili, soup and sandwich.
It seems that winter is easier to come up with stuff, but I'm having trouble with lighter meals. Any recipes are appreciated!
Re: I need meal ideas that are cheap for a crowd.
How about stir fry or fried rice?
Or a salad bar?
I don't have any recipes, I just thought these options might be easy for feeding a crowd.
My first suggestion is to try to work a little with your local grocery stores. Tell them what you are doing and see if they would be willing to donate or reduce some prices. You may not get something every week, but every bit helps right? You might also ask if anybody has a garden and would contribute extras.
Pulled pork is a good suggestion.
You could also do baked chicken with a side of sauteed zucchini/squash and roasted potatoes. Salmon cakes are pretty cheap to make, add a salad and call it a day.
Something I do a lot in summer- bake some chicken and chunk it up ( you could do this the day before). Saute garlic, onion, squash and zucchini in olive oil. Add some tomatoes and the chicken and serve over pasta. You can easily omit the chicken too.
You could do a salad bar- greens, carrots, cucumber, tomato, chick peas, ham, chicken, hard boiled eggs, croutons.
I also like to make homemade mac and cheese and mix in a protein and a veg. I usually do ham and frozen peas, but you could do anything yeally. This is especially good if you are getting donations and don't know what you may get. you can also do this the night before and bake day of.
Chicken tacos
I usually plan on about 1/2 a breast per person...kids obviously less...and I always have leftovers.
1 onion, chopped
4-6 chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning
butter or margarine
1/2 cup water
Lay chopped onion around the bottom of the crock pot. Lay chicken breasts on top. Sprinkle taco seasoning all over the chicken. Pour water over top. Dot with butter or margarine (I usually put 4 or 5 little globs of Country Crock) on top of the chicken. Cook on high for 4 hours. Check it at 3.5 to see if it?s done. If it cooks too long, it?ll be dry.
Shred the chicken and toss it back into the juicy goodness.
Add in some sauteed bell peppers & onions if you like.
Can be made the day/night before and then set to warm an hour or so before serving time.
Do you have a local Panera store? There is a form at each location you can fill out to pick up leftovers from the bakery every night (and you can use it the next day for your church). - bagels, breads and desserts.
Do you have Little Caesar's pizza? Get a huge bag of salad mix from Sam's to go with it.
What abut pasta salad (italian, macaroni, bacon & ranch, etc) with grilled chicken diced and put into it? Eat it cold, on a hot day.
Salsa chicken over taco chips: http://chefmommy-brandao.blogspot.com/2011/03/salsa-chicken-slow-cooker.html I dont add the sour cream though.
Could you do sandwich wraps- load up on the lettuce to bulk them up.
Ask others to bring side dishes to get others invovled more?
Make one night a month potluck night, AKA "Leah's Night Off". Since the crowd has grown, it's nice, but not really fair that you have to cook every time!!
Other ideas - fish sticks, ham (if you buy a whole ham and cook it ahead, you can just slice it and reheat what you need last minute - hams are not too expensive and feed tons of people), the chicken-broccoli-cheese casserole on the back of the Jiffy Baking Mix box, quiche, BLTs, baked ziti.
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Burritos are easy to make ahead and reheat very well! Just pop them in the oven for 20 minutes and you're ready to go!
Subs on long french bread (can be cuban or muffaletta if you want to go creative)
Jambalaya
Tacos
Chicken Pot Pie
Pulled Pork (or Chicken) either as tacos or sandwiches
My first thought was tacos.
You could do hot dogs with toppings.... chili, relish,
a baked potato bar too-baked potato with sour cream, chives, butter,
spaghetti (or linguine) with arugula and basil pesto is a cheap and super fast to prepare crowd pleaser:
http://lifeisgoodkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/06/midsummer-nights-pesto.html
http://lifeisgoodkitchen.blogspot.com