So I've volunteered to do a snack one day for our church's day camp counselors (mostly high schoolers, some junior high "counselors in training" and a few college age and older) and would love your suggestions! These folks work hard (camp runs from 9 am to 3 pm each day) so I'd like to do something a bit more substantial than just, say, a bunch of sliced melons and a few bowls of popcorn, but with 60 to feed, I need it to be something budget-friendly. From what I've heard there's quite a range of what volunteers provide for the daily counselor snack - anything from milk and cookies to pizza. The last time I did this (a couple years ago and I think it might have been for fewer than 60) I made several batches of brownies and rice krispy treats and sliced a couple large watermelons.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions! My turn for snack duty isn't until the end of July so I have a decent amount of planning time
great suggestions everyone! lots of great ideas to mull over. will let you know what I decide. thanks again!
Walking tacos- you take a snack size bag of Fritos, open the top, put a little taco meat and nacho cheese in and drop in a plastic fork. Everything is contained in the bag so they aren't messy and you don't need plates.
I would do those and then some cookies or brownies. It's always a big hit at band contest.
Good luck!
The favorite of our teen (and adult!) volunteers is a crockpot full of melted RoTel and Velveeta, with tortilla chips to pour it over. It works well as a substantial snack on its own, or as a side with sandwiches or a taco bar. Iced tea and lemonade are much easier on the budget than sodas, and they all seem to like it.
Mini sandwiches, watermelon, veggies with dip, popcorn, iced tea.
Go to Costco, Subway, Quizno's, etc and get a couple of large trays with sandwiches. It sounds like these counselors will be hungry!
Chick Filet has some good trays as well.
When we feed the cheerleaders before games, some of the favorites are Chick Filet and the Costco sandwiches with some chips and drink.
I'd provide lemonade
What about pepperoni rolls? You could make about 10 large ones, then slice them up on a big tray (or two). It's good warm OR cold. And you could make iced tea or lemonade....
tortilla roll-ups: turkey, lettuce, sliced cheese, & Ken's sweet onion dressing. Yumm
Variation: make southwest roll-ups using combined cream cheese, taco,seasoning, & green onions.
Variation: make Italian...using Italian salad dressing, salami, ham, cheese, & chopped olives.
Cut into 1-2" segments....& serve with fresh fruit/vegies.
Use Denise F's suggestion, only make it with Parkerhouse rolls. :)
You also could buy several packages of chunk cheese and slice and put it on Ritz or townhouse crackers with a small cut slice of deli ham and an olive on top (with a toothpick).
Something I used to do for the marching band kids (at competitions) was to make mini sandwiches. I bought sliced turkey and ham, sliced cheese (american for the ham and provolone for the turkey) and made sandwiches using soft dinner rolls. The kids LOVED them. It was more substantial than junk food but easy to eat. I only had to use half or less slice of cheese and half a slice of meat per sandwich. If you also buy a couple of varieties of potato chips then they could have a small serving of chips as well. I figure it would cost between $20-30 which isn't bad for that many people.
Batch of Chex Mix
Chocolate Chip/ Sugar cookies
Gatorade / Hawaiian punch
KFC Chicken Strips
Costco Wraps
Too bad my girls are already in bed, as I know they would have some great ideas.
Watermelon is in season. It's inexpensive and goes a long way.
You could also do a snack mix by putting a bunch of everything in a large bowl and mixing (chex cereal, golden graham cereal, animal crakers, pretzels, m&ms, dried fruit, goldfish crackers). Use what's on sale.
Update
I asked my girls for their favorites.
The walking tacos as described in another post, use nacho flavored doritos.
Banana Boats - leaving it in the skin, slice a banana in half lengthwise, stuff with marshmellows and chocolate chips, wrap in aluminum foil and heat in the fire
Wicky Wacky Walkaways - fill a ice cream cone with pudding
make granola bars do lunch meat samis like get a large sub from a deli and get different meats and cheeses on them
Pepperoni Biscuits.
Canned Biscuits, Pepperoni and Cheese
Open the biscuits, flatten one out and in the center put 2-3 slices of pepperoni and some cheese. Fold ends together place on cookie sheet folded side down. Bake at 400 for 10 -12 mintues. They rise up and look like hot buns. You could any kind of stuffing not just pepperoni. The biscuits come 10 to can and at Walmart you can get a 4 pack for pretty cheap. Under $2 for 4 cans.
Good Luck and God Bless!
D.
Rice Krispy treats with m&ms mixed in...
fruit kabobs - I'm not sure how expensive fresh fruit is in your area - but for about $20 you can USUALLY get a watermelon, pineapple, orange, cantaloupe and cut 'em up and put them on sticks....
if you are doing it for a church- contact your local pizza joint - sometimes they offer discounts for larger orders of pizza
