We are going on a vacation this year with many members of our family. Thirty-five people in all. Each family is taking turns to make dinner for the entire house on different nights. The house we are all staying in has so many accomodations to make such a large group comfortable but only one oven/stove top. I have been assigned one evening to make dinner with both my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law. We can order out but it might be somewhat expensive. Does anyone have any suggestions to feed such a large group? There will be about 6-7 small children and about 4 teenagers in our group. The remainder will be adults. Thank you so much for any advice you can give!!
Some ideas:
1.Spaghetti,salad, bread sticks
2.Breakfast for Dinner - pancakes,syrup,scrambled eggs,
3.Grilled cheese sandwiches, salad, fresh fruit
4.Hotdogs, baked beans, potato chips,
5.Chicken salad/tuna salad sandwiches, fresh fruit, jello
6.Pasta Marinara or Pasta Primavera, cucumber/tomato salad, bread sticks
7. Chili with beans, biscuits, celery and carrot sticks
Hope this helps
If you don't want to be in the kitchen for a long time preparing dinner while you are on vacation, you could make barbecue (a.k.a. sloppy joes) at home and freeze it. I have done that before and put the barbecue in quart size ziploc bags and put it in the freezer. The ziploc bags are an easy way to freeze barbecue and don't take up a lot of space in your freezer; and once you heat up the barbecue on the night on are responsible for dinner, you don't even have to worry about carting storage containers back home. Because the barbecue is frozen, it transports well in a cooler.
You could serve the barbecue on rolls with some potato chips and veggies. Chilled watermelon would make an ideal dessert.
If you need a receipe, let me know. Mine is very simple, and I get compliments all the time when I serve it.
Pre-make burritos. When you use the large flour wraps, stuff, & fold them up- two burritos's fit snugly in a pint size zip lock. OR wrap individually in foil(spray the foil w/ pam first to prevent sticking in the reheat) Then you can stick them in the freezer for 'whenever'. I usually make this in bulk, simply so I can freeze them. The secret to the recipe is the quality of the salsa you use-personally I recommend the fresh stuff they sell at costo. Then use fresh veges & beans, cheese, and whatever meat(precooked) you want-or keep it vegitarian. The cool thing about these is you can reheat by grilling, baking or in a pan. For that matter you can eat it raw if you want cause the meat is precooked.
The prep is fun, especially if you have kids who help on hand. Just have all the ingredients cut and laid out and you can get a little assembly line going. I've made these to take camping before- really awesome on the grill. And you can also accomodate any 'diet' issues- 35 folks, ya gotta have a vegitarian or two in there or someone lactose intolerant. Not to mention - not a hugely expensive endeavor and great for leftovers.
I always take the leftover prep ingredients(salsa, veges, beans-everything) and toss in hot white rice- instant mex Rice. The heat of the premade rice cooks the add ins JUST enough to keep it fresh tasting. Serve the shole kabang w/ guacomole, salsa, corn chips and MARGARITA'S!
Also a great concept for breakfest- fill w/ eggs, sausage, cheese or again, WHATEVER!
have fun!
How about Tex-Mex night! Place lots of fixins' in bowls, many of which you do not need a stove/oven for. Cheese, lettuce, tomato, olives, onions, sour cream, hard taco shells, soft shells, chips, salsa, quacamole and you have a fun meal, etc. No need to really make sides, either as all food groups are presented. Just cook chicken and/or beef and/or veggies and Have fun!!!
I agree with Kellye. Spaghetti. It is cheap. Thats what I make when my whole family (between 25 to 30 people) is over. I hope you all enjoy your vacation.
Chicken Marsala is pretty easy to prepare and while you are making the batched of chicken on the stovetop you can keep the finished stuff warm in the oven. Mashed potatoes and a simple vegetable would go great and also easy to make. Have a wonderful vacation.
C.,
Try make your own mini pizza. Offer up several toppings that each person can add as they like. Mini pizza shells can be found at the wholesale food stores and left over toppings can be recycled on the following nights (like putting the left over veggies in the salad or a stir fry). With one oven you may be able to fit several mini pizzas at one time. The pre-baked crusts cook up very quick so there's time for several batches.
Have a good trip!
You can always bake 2 turkeys during the day while everyone is on the beach. Then come dinner time you can serve a salad, turkey, greenbeans and rolls. You can also have the left over turkey for sandwiches. Have fun
Hi, C., We just got back from a large family vaction. Some of the meals were spaghetti, hamburgers & hot dogs, meat loaf.......how about B-B-Q, chili, or a chicken casserole? I always throw in rolls, fruit salad or veg & dip. Good luck! N. B.
My thought is lasagna. You can make it ahead of time if you want, although you certainly don't have to. And like an earlier suggestion you could serve salads and bread.
Maybe you could make up a couple of large pans of lasagna or baked ziti? Then you could just throw a salad together & have some crusty bread with it. Almost everyone likes ziti...little kids too.
My other idea is to have "make your own skewer" night. Buy some beef, chicken & lots of veggies (marinate in olive oil or another marinade)...have everyone make up their own skewers & throw them on the grill (provided the place you are staying has a grill). Serve w/rice & a salad... we've done this at the beach before with over 20+ people...it's fun--it just does take some time if the grill isn't very large. Have a great time!
Does the house have a grill? You can grill enough burgers, hot dogs, or chicken breasts for a lot of people on a fairly small grill. You can use the stove for side dishes like potatoes or pasta salad, etc.
Spaghetti! You can make a lot of it and it doesn't cost that much. Noodles are cheap and you can buy the ground beef/turkey in large quantities. Add a salad, which you can buy prepackaged in big bags from Sam's club or BJs and some garlic bread. That's a complete meal that most people would like. Good luck!
