Cookin for 30+ people ???

Question

Please excuse th hint of panic in th title,but i`v been asked to prepare an evening meal,Sunday night @ my church,and although i`m quite handy in th kitchen,cookin for 30 or people is a little daunting.

So any suggestions to feed a large group of studenty-types,with maybe a vegetarian option,and a preparation time of three hrs from kitchen to table (well stocked kitchen,v.big) would be greatly appreciated...

Genuinely overwhelmed by how fast u guys answered,thank you...
Inside 10 mins jojonjess had given me a base to start from,and i plucked lots of ideas from every1 else,and see`ing as how i`ll definately be in this situ again,am goin 2 save all these suggestions for another time.
Thanks again people...
Oh and seeing as i`m so indecisive,i`ll put best answer to th vote,cos u lot are th experts,
S'lan
j.

Answer 1

Some kind of pasta with different choices of sauce, alredo sauce, red sauce and a side of meatballs and sausage with a large tossed salad. It is easy, filling and can feed a lot of people.

Answer 2

Do a spaghetti feed... mainly for simplicity and cooking time.

1. Basic sauce is vegetarian..
2. Have the meat options on the side... meatballs or chunks of Italian sausage.
3. Salad
4. Garlic bread or Dinner rolls and butter
5. Costco 1/2 sheet cake is $20 and will easily feed 30+ ppl.
6. Sautee onions, mushrooms and bell peppers as an additional topper.

You didn't mention a budget... but a lot of these items can be purchased in bulk so that will save a lot of time instead of making from scratch in only 3 hours.

Answer 3

Things that can be cooked in large pans are always a good idea. The two that come to mind immediately are mac & cheese and lasagna.

Vegetarian lasgana is pretty easy to make in large quantities, will still appeal to meat eaters (unless you do something funky like use tofu cheese) and if you serve it with a salad, it makes a great meal.

I would layer a pan with cooked lasagna noodles, meatless sauce, cheese and mushrooms in the sort of obvious way, sprinkle on some mozzarella and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. Serve it with tossed green salad (just wash and tear up the lettuce, chop up some tomatoes, cucumbers & peppers) and some storebought crusty bread.

Inexpensive, tasty and it keeps warm well.

Answer 4

what about lasagna, dinner salad that they can help themselves too, fresh bread and a dessert? the lasagna can be made the night before so all you have to do is cook it on Sunday. another make ahead dish would be pulled BBQ pork. cook the pork in a crock pot or nesco until very tender, pull the meat away from the fat (personally I use a pork loin rst for this...less fat) with a fork add your favorite bbq sauce and keep warm. serve on hard rolls. you then could make some sort of pasta salad or potatoe salad to go with it . these are just some ideas that I have used in the past when making food for large groups. hope this helps!

Answer 5

I'd go with the pasta option. Make Rigatoni or something, then have a red gravy, meat balls and sausage on the side, and some steamed veggies and home-made Alfredo sauce (I've got a great EASY recipe if you want - [e-mail])

Garlic bread, and cookies for desert.

I hope you're going to be getting some help..... It's a lot of work for 1 person - enlist 2 or 3 of your friends, and make a party out of it :)

Good luck!

Answer 6

Don't panic... you'll be fine.... Food that feed a lot.... Lasagna (can be prepared ahead of time, and there are tons of easy recipes out there.) a nice Chilli is also good, and students love it... can be done ahead of time, and it feeds a lot of people. You can also buy nice paperplate bowls that are small enought to ensure everyone gets a taste.
If you do the lasagna, you can do it ahead of time, and heat it up in their kitchen.
Vegetarians... Do a pasta with them in mind. A penne pasta with marinara sauce and bella mushrooms is good.
Buy lots of bread for the side.
Dessert. If it's student types do something fun.. Buy those big containers of ice cream they sell at costco. Ice cream cones, and lay out different toppings they can use...

I had a party last year for a big group and Chilli was a hit... And we had bowls in the middle of the table with cheddar cheese and corn chips.

Good Luck.

Janelle

Answer 7

Something easy. How about spag bol for the meat eaters and vegetable version for the veggies - easy to prepare and bubble away and people could serve themselves. Pasta is easy too and one type will do meat and veggie alike. Do a huge bowl of salad with a few different dressings to go with the pasta.
If you need desert how about fruit salad or buy some large cakes/gateaux? Good luck and DON'T panic - enlist help if you need it, don't be too proud to ask.

Answer 8

30 people is easy, just do a family recipie and multiply it by 6 or so.

i don't know where in the country you're located so if you don't eat one of these things sorry, it's just an example. when cooking for large groups best advice to have is to prep. like, make a potato salad the day before and store it in 1gal ziplocks or lexans if the kitchen has them. cut up lettuce and make a dressing the day before, store them sepretly and combine right at service. cut a bunch of broccoli, green beans, zucchini into the right sizes and just throw them into boiling water for 5 minutes or so when dinner time is approaching. for a main course do whole chickens (1 per 4 or 5 people should be more than enough) or a roast, or even a turkey. have mashed potatoes, those steamed vegetables you made earlier, a vegetaian lasagna (also can make it up the day before and bake it at service)... or you could just do 2 big lasagnas as the main. one meat, one veggie. then you only need to buy lasagna stuff, and substitute more riccota and spinich into the veggie one instead of meat. serve with french bread butterflied and spread with garlic and butter (also known as garlic bread, lol), and a salad. instead of earlier mentioned potato salad do a pasta salad the day before. buy a tub of pesto and dump it all over bowtie pasta, mix it up and toss in some kalmata olives (pitted) and some salami cubed into a small dice (1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 inch). for dessert you can make a tiramisu the day before if your feeling ambitious. buy a bunch of packs of lady fingers and cover them in layers with whipped cream, custard, chocolate sauce and cocoa powder. i'm totally rambling here. main advice is solidify a menu, prep as much as you can the day before (saturday, so plenty of free time) and everything will come together quick on sunday.

if your feeling really uninspired go with 30 hamburgers, 30 hot dogs, 1 pack of boca burgers (for the vegetarians), 2 of those big bags of frozen french fries from costco and all the condiments for burgers and hotdogs. put everything on sheet pans in the oven, cook it all, serve to childrens.

Answer 9

Helped cook pies for 40 people. You can make the filling in advance and just spoon into one big baking tray and cover with puff pastry. You then can just serve a portion quite quickly.

In a low oven they don't really overcook and will stay warm if it take a while for everyone to be served.

It should be fairly easy to do 1 lamb, 1 chicken and 1 veg option and as the pastry is quite filling, not much potato/veg needed to serve with.

Answer 10

Can't go wrong with pasta. You can serve different types of noodles with the red sauce and serve in warmers (you can buy those disposable types).
Buy a bag of precooked meatballs or brown up some sausage to serve on the side.
Set up a simple salad bar so that your guest can build their own salad and choose their own dressing.
Buy a few bags of types of rolls or cut up garlic bread and put in cute bowls at each table.
Serve punch, tea and coffee and some type of store bought pastries, cheesecake or even donuts.

Answer 11

Make twice baked potatoes before hand. You can freeze them if need be. Bake your potatoes, core them while still warm. Mix like mashed potatoes then add the extra stuff you like. refill the shells and then freeze. Pop them out of the freezer and reheat. easy and yummy. I would then do a large roast, turkey or ham. I would make a side dish of baked ziti easy and vegetarian. Add some rolls, your potatoes and maybe a salad! Voila...there you go! I would make some yummy dirt pudding for desert. It goes a long way and is easy and delicious.