Cooking Dinner for a group... on a budget?

Question

I am a freshman in college this year and my friends and I all miss dinner at home. I love to cook so two of us decided to get together and make full dinners every week for 8-10 people. I can cook almost anything so the simplicity of the recipe is not an issue. However, we are in college and so I need an idea for a meal that is around $50, as each person can only afford about $5 a week. I have done this for two weeks and made dishes like ravioli, stuffed mushrooms, fruit salads, and cooked squash and zuccini medlies. We all love vegetables, meat, and enjoy having sides, a main dish and a dessert. We set the table with a tablecloth and everything and it is tons of fun. I've done variations of pasta dishes two weeks in a row so this week I was searching for something different or a little more flavorful, but any ideas will help! Thank you so much...

Answer 1

Sounds like a great thing fro y'all to do, and a fun way to spend time together on a small budget.

Some menu ideas (email if you need recipes):

Fried Chicken (either w/ bones or tenders)
Mashed Potatoes/ Gravy
Green Beans w/ Bacon & Onion
Fruit Cobbler

Fettucine Alfredo w/ Grilled Chicken
real Caesar Salad + tomatoes
Garlic Bread
Baked Apples w/ Raisins and Brown Sugar

Meatloaf
Mashed Potatoes
Cream Style Corn or Corn on the Cob
Whole wheat rolls
Berry Pie

Chicken & Noddles
Broccoli/Cauli/Carrot Medley
Bananas Foster (warm bananas in caramel sauce) over Ice Cream

Chili w/ beans (unless you're in Texas)
Toppings for chili: cheese, sour cream, green onions, Fritos
Homemade Jalapeno Cornbread
Flan or Dulce de Leche Cake

If you do a cheap meal one week (like chili or spaghetti) you can do a fancier meal the next (maybe a shrimp and chicken pasta).

Best wishes! hAvE fuN!

Answer 2

Make meatloaf.

4 pounds ground round (buy in bulk, cheaper)
1 or 2 medium onion, chopped
1 to 2 green peppers, chopped
salt and pepper
2 cups (more if needed) italian style bread crumbs
a handful of dried parsley
1 can tomato paste
a little garlic powder
4 cans tomato soup plus 4 cans water

Mix everything but the tomato soup. Form 2 loaves and set them in a large roasting pan and cover with soup/water mix. Bake at 350 for an hour and then 275 for maybe another hour. Soup will thicken and become a great gravy, serve with mashed potatos and corn on the cobb.

Good luck and have fun!!

Answer 3

'Almost anything you cook from scratch will come in within that budget. "From scratch" is the key here, as that really cuts your cost drastically. How about stuffed peppers? Would most of the folks like that? Or maybe you could try roast chicken with potatoes and carrots? Done from scratch, these take a little time but cost much less money. Good old pot roast can be done inexpensively, too. If you let it take its time, even an inexpensive cut of meat can yield an exquisite roast.

Recipes for these, if you need them, can be found at www.cooks.com. With all the emphasis on 'quick' this and 'instant' that, we've lost the art of eating well for less money.

Answer 4

Focus on items that are regularly inexpensive, items that are on sale, and items that are in season (which usually makes them cheaper).

Also, try buying only fresh foods, not processed because processing increases the amount of money a food maker has to spend to get it into grocery stores.

Take advantage of supermarket sales or items that are in season by going to the store before deciding what you want to make for dinner. That way, if something is on sale, you can take advantage of it without messing up any dinner plans.

Great items that are really inexpensive are:
Turkey (the cheapest meat you can buy, based on price per pound - and it feeds a lot of people)
Potatoes
Fresh produce - however, be careful of fruit at the beginning of a season - that's usually when they're the most expensive.
Grains such as taboulleh or couscous are a great alternative to rice or pasta.
I also like making soups because it can be done inexpensively and it feeds a lot of people. Also, beef stew meat is usually inexpensive.

Answer 5

CHEAP ROAST

3-4 lbs. boneless chuck roast
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Place foil in pan, 2 long strips to more than cover meat. Then place meat, onion soup mix and mushroom soup on top of foil. Cover with foil, making a tent effect. Bake at 300 degrees for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until tender. Good sauce for over potatoes or vegetables

serve with frozen vegies that are always on sale, or make potatoes with gravy from the roast.

Answer 6

ok. You are 10 people. Get 3 pounds of ground beef. (It's not kosher). Take 10 slices of white bread , take the inside only and put it to rest for 10 min with milk. Chop 3 teeth of garlic with parsley.
In a big bowl, mix all the ingredientes, adding salt and pepper and only the soaked bread without the milk adding one egg. Add parmesan cheese and mix it all together by hand.
Now you have the option of adding a little bit of Tabasco or not, depending on your friends tollerance.
You can either make a meatloaf of meatballs with all this mix.
Bake it or broil it 350 degrees for about one hour or less.

Answer 7

make a nice meat sauce for spagetti.....a pound of hamburg will feed that many people with a couple of jars of sauce from the market...you can get jar sauce on sale for 2 for 3 or 4 dollars......some garlic bread and a salad....cheap meal......or you could do meat loaf...about 3 pounds of hamburg will do it and serve with a veggie or a big salad and potato.......chili and corn bread....veggie soup or beef stew.....lots and lots of options...casseroles and salad.....good luck

Answer 8

Lots of good recipes at http://www.freeadstb.com/recipe/