Does anyone have easy/cheap food ideas for 100 people? I am cooking the food myself.?

Question

I am hosting a Baptism and need to provide a lunch buffet for 100 guests. I am looking for simple low costing ideas.

Answer 1

Pasta. Cheap and easy.
Lots of liced french bread
Ceasar salad- dress romaine right before and dump on croutons
Pasta- I'd stay away from spagetti, something like penne is easier to serve and eat. After it's boiled and drained, you can just dump on jars of sauce. The pasta will be more than hot enough the to heat it. trust me, I've done exactly this for large quanities.
Huge bags of pre-made frozen meatballs form Costco or such.
just thow out a tub of Parmesan for their salad and pasta.

This is great for a buffet because there isn't a lot of different dishes to take up space on a buffet table, and vegetarians can opt out of the meatballs.

Answer 2

Cheap Food Ideas

Answer 3

Cooking For 100

Answer 4

How about a taco bar?
All you'd need to do is brown & season the meat, and chop lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. Buy the olives already chopped, and the cheese already grated. Get some giant jars of taco sauce and fill ketchup-type squirt bottles with the sauce & some sour cream. Then provide both hard and soft shells

You can make refried beans and/or spanish rice for side dishes.

I've done this for several large parties, and it always goes over really well!

Answer 5

Fried rice - Rice is very cheap expressibly if you get the stuff in the bag it takes 30 minutes to cook but it is a lot better to eat. any way. get carrots frozen peas onions which is optional. Cook the rice, and then cool it in the fridge for 2-3 hrs covered. Then take it out heat it in the pan , Separately mix eggs and milk in the bowl and make scrambled eggs in small to medium pieces. Saute, the diced carrots and peas. mix all items together and throw into a crock pot, on low and serve, you can serve this item with garlic bread. also you might want to try they ham rollups these take a while but go over really well. Take a thin slice of ham, put cream cheese on it and but a pickle in it. and cut into two or three and put a tooth pick in it. Also try taco dip. Good luck

Answer 6

Wow! 100 guests. You are going to be busy.

Main Dish: Lasagna - about four12x20x2-inch pans
Salad: any green salad, with dressing
Dessert: Angel Food cake with fruit sauce -- you would need about 5-6 cakes

Most of this can be done ahead, and reheated, or put on serving plates at last minute.

Take time to enjoy yourself.

Answer 7

Something I do when i have a lot of people to feed is Italian Beef and Meatballs. It goes far for your buck, and is easy to serve because you can just put in large electric roaster's or crockpot's.
If you go to Sam's club or a similar warehouse store you can buy in bulk and save a lot of money.
What i do for the meatballs is go to the frozen food section and they sell fully cooked Italian Style meatballs. For a 2.5 lbs bag I put it in my crockpot and cook them with a jar of Barilla sweet pepper and onion spaghetti sauce , and 1/2 jar of water for about 6 hours. For 100 guests i would probably make 4 of these recipes. For Italian beef i usually cook a 4lb beef roast in my crockpot with a 0.7oz pkg of Italian Dressing mix, 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning, All the juice off of a 16fl oz jar of Mild pepper rings and about 1/2 jar of the pepper rings, and 1/4 cup sugar for about 10 hours. Then pull the meat and shred it and sift out any fat. Again for that many people i would probably make 3 or 4 recipes. But, you can buy large roasts from the meat counter at your warehouse store or your local grocer and they can cut them into smaller portions for you or slice it if you prefer it sliced. You just have to ask and give them a couple day notice.You can go to your local bread discount store and they will usually sell you buns in bulk at an exceptional discount since you will be buying in bulk. Just give them a day notice so they can have your order prepared. Cut the hoagie buns in half so they go further and your guest are predisposed to eat smaller portions.
Hope this helps

Answer 8

At least you don't have to worry about the expense of alcohol since it is for a baptism!! LOL!

I would set up salad, potato and dessert bars. Get someone to help you. You can cut up everything for the salad ahead of time, bake a bunch of potatoes and put out a few cakes, cookies, etc for the dessert bar.

Or just order pizza and have a few large Caesar salads to go with it.

Answer 9

Make Over 200 Juicy, Mouth-Watering Paleo Recipes You've NEVER Seen or Tasted Before?

Answer 10

I would borrow or rent the use of the church kitchen...to have access to their pots, pans, ovens, etc. And get some helpers...surely you can find SOMEONE to help you?

Anyway...baked ziti is a good crowd pleaser.

You can also do cold cuts on french bread...a cheaper version of party subs.

I went to a wedding once where the reception dinner was...whole turkey, shredded into really moist dressing, served on a BUN. It was so good.