Feeding a Football Team

The size of raw potatoes is variable. I tend to cook about three fist-sized potatoes for each of us, and I eat less than they do. There's seldom any left. With a meal, my teenaged sons can each easily eat a portion of mashed potato sufficient to fill a cereal bowl. One of them will also be looking for seconds. They also eat more when their friends are around. I think it's partly because they enjoy the conversation and want the meal to continue, and partly because they have always seemed to feel that mealtimes are a competition in which the one who gets the most food is the winner.

I have cooked plenty for large crowds...

Yes, 1 large potato per person, plus a couple for the pot, as long as you add the other ingredients like butter, sour cream, milk, etc.

I would recommend large red skin or white skin potatoes, soaked and scrubbed well, and not peeled except for minor bruises.

Add several cloves of garlic to each pot. You'll probably need to make 2 very large pots.

I hate boxed potatoes, and would not even consider making those. You're feeding athletes who need good carbs, not old people who can't chew. If you are seriously considering making boxed, how about half and half..make a large pot of real then mix it with the boxed so you get a real potato flavor.

The reason you only need 1 potato PP is that there will be plenty of other foods to eat to compliment the meal. You are not serving potatoes to fatten everybody up, just to make it through one meal. If people are still hungry after a regular portion size, they can go home and eat more.

Depends on how big the potatoes are!

No less than 1lb per person.

Which is a 50lb sack.

((I've fed soldiers and hockey players. 1lb per person is a lowball estimate!!! Athletes usually consume 8,000 - 12,000 calories a day. That's 4-6x what normal people eat! So you wouldn't be amiss in 2lbs per person BUT that much just isn't manageable for most people!!))

Would you consider an industrial size box of potato flakes? The "just add water" kind?

50? omg, I'm having a heart attack just thinking of all the gas that going to be passed.

gl!

Have you thought of baked potatoes? They would be so much easier than peeling, boiling and mashing all those potatoes and they would go a lot further. When I do baked potatoes for our concession stand, I place the potatoes in the dishwasher and run it on a short cycle to wash them. So much easier than scrubbing them by hand. Then I wrap them in foil, prick them and then bake about 50 potatoes for 2 hours. (They take longer to cook here in Colorado) When they come out of the oven I throw them in a cooler and they stay plenty hot. Serve with the usual toppings.

Another option would be Sour Cream Cheese Potatoes. Here is the recipe to make a big steamer pan that feeds about 45-50. Steamer Tray Pan to feed 45. They are more expensive to prepare, but oh are they good.

6 lbs. frozen hash browns, thawed
3 lbs. sour cream
2 cups butter
3 tsp. salt
3 cans cream of chicken/mushroom soup
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 ½ lbs. cheddar cheese
1 ½ cup chopped onion or ¼ cup dehydrated onion
6 cups cornflakes.

Preheat oven to 350º Mix everything but one cup of butter and cornflakes. Place in a greased large steamer pan. Melt remaining butter and mix with cornflakes. Sprinkle over top and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 2 hours.

Seriously, for that sized crowd - I'd do boxed potato flakes.
Follow directions for 50 servings - don't worry about more because there's always some who don't want any and always a few more who'll have a bit extra to offset the other group.
Make sure they are in a container (or two) that can take being hot.
A pot of pork gravy might go nice with that on the side - for those who want some.
When I was in high school I was the Stat Manager for the Varsity Football team and myself and 3 other girls would each bake 4 dozen cookies or brownies for the team (if they won - weren't allowed to feed them if they lost).
Some of those guys don't even stop to chew.
Watching teenage guys eat can be a scary thing sometimes.

can't help you with the number, but some tips. If you use russet potatoes, you won't have to peel them. My family likes them with roasted garlic. If you go to the idaho potato website, there is a video which shows you how to get the skin off the potato without peeling. You score it before boiling, after its cooked, drop into a bowl of icewater, the skin separates from the potato lickety split.

I would say 1 per person is not enough. Just my opinion. It does depend on how you are cooking them though.

I always use my old copies of Taste of Home magazine. I used to have a subscription and it had a section called cooking for a crowd or feeding a crowd...something like that. They often had recipes for 15, 30, 50, and even up to and over 100. I often cook meals for activities at church and used the graphs all the time to gauge how much to buy and then cook.

I would google "mashed potatoes for 50" and see what the recipes call for. I would also use lots of smaller pans instead of a 5 gallon stock pot. I made 5 onion soup from the magazine one time and just getting that much water to boil or even simmer is a time consuming and nearly impossible job. The onions ended up melting away. It was the best tasting soup ever known to man though...lol. It was served in a bowl with some toasted french bread with melted cheese on it. It was soooooo good.

Back to the potatoes now:
I would cook them in whatever manner you decided then reheat them in one of those counter top large roasters. That way they can be heated for a couple of hours on low and still taste fresh. If you are topping them with cheese or some other sauce, like a butter one, then add that after they are in the roaster so they will be pretty while serving.

My BFF does this too and they usually do stuff like brisket, Mac and Cheese, and other sides but it is soooooo wonderful for everyone to do this. Her son is up for the High School Rudy Awards this year and I think it is wonderful how the parents are so involved with their kids football playing and are so supportive.

Just in our family of 4 I make about half the 5 pound bag when I make mashed potatoes since we all love them. I would make a LOT and bring it in those Glad containers that you don't mind others taking, so if there are left overs others can take some home. I hope you have help peeling!

I would prepare 75 potatoes. Go with medium to large potatoes. Once you add the butter and milk (and I add sour cream and cream cheese too) it works out to almost two per person.