Need ideas to feed large crowd for $100

[mom-from-missouri]

And, it CAN NOT be spegetti or chili....

I have several months, but October is my month to feed the firefighters and their families at the station. (We are ff volunteers). Everyone does spegetti or chili, so it can't be one of those.

I will be feeding around 75-80 people.

The station donates $100 towards the meal.

Since we have chickens, I will do a bunch of deviled eggs. I thought once about doing up a few turkeys, and adding veggies and mashed potatoes--till I saw the price of turkey....

My other idea was to buy frozen hamburger patties and grill them, but that put me way over the $100. Could do hotdogs on the grill, but wanted something a little more substancial than that..

Any ideas--some of the men really love to eat and eat a lot.....

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Stir fried rice with whatever amount of vegetables, meats, eggs, you can add to it for $100? You can acquire part of the ingredients ahead of time as you find them on sale and freeze them. Cabbage and carrots are often quite cheap and go well in stir-fries. To act on a stereotype, be sure and have plenty of your very hottest peppers available on the side for the firefighters to add to their own plates.

[disneysteve]

Does the meal have to involve meat? A vegetarian meal would be far cheaper since vegetables are a lot cheaper than meat. I'd head to Produce Junction, or the local equivalent. $100 will go a long way in buying veggies. Grill or stir-fry (as Joan suggested) and serve over rice (also cheap) and you're all set.

[Granite]

meatloaf and mac n cheese

or

swedish meatballs over egg noodles

or

polish sausages in a bun with saurkraut, mustard, onions & potato salad

or

Make your own taco buffet (ground beef, beans, spanish rice, shredded lettuce, salsa, olives, sour cream)

or

chicken burgers and french fries

[Caoineag]

Since you have eggs, have you considered a brunch, do french toast with whatever fruit is cheap at the time made into a topping. Otherwise anything rice based is definitely cheap and you have a huge array of options for that.

[creditcardfree]

Other soups...chicken noodle, chowder, stew?

Walking tacos....open a single serving dorito's bag on its side, add taco meat, nacho cheese or shredded, add lettuce, tomatoes, ect. These are ymmy and you dont' need plates! Just forks and lots of napkins.

Pans of lasagna?

[zakity]

Ooo... What about chicken and dumplings?

[simpleyme]

meat ball subs?

[mommyof4]

Since you need something that is relatively easy to prepare for a large group, would stew or a home made soup work? You could get potatoes and carrots relatively cheap, add a bit of hamburger/stew meat/chicken to the pot, and spice it up with some home grown parsley, etc. Maybe make some pies/cakes/brownies too, for dessert? If we were closer, I'd come and help you- cooking for large crowds does not intimidate me- I married into a very large family, and I can cook for a lot of people fairly inexpensively and without breaking much of a sweat!

[Hot dog]

Anything with rice or baked potatoes Maybe a potato bar with brocoli cheese bacon salsa ground beef etc. Breakfast sounds like a good idea. Have a pancake night or egg casseroles. How bout chicken legs they're cheap sometimes. you could bake it or have like a pulled chicken on buns with potatoe salad and deviled eggs

[Granite]

or ham and cheese quiches in large roasting pans since you have eggs

you can also make a large salad to go with it

and serve with bread rolls

[whitestripe]

what about some type of curry? massaman curry is quite cheap, and it would be different to what they normally get. all you would need is:
coconut milk (make it go further by using coconut cream and adding water, as coconut cream is thicker and usually cheaper)
massaman curry paste (or make it yourself)
potatoes
peanuts
onion
chicken or beef
and a ton of rice.

you could also add more veges to go further, which is what i usually do to make it healthier as well. pumpkin, beans, carrot, capsicum and brocoli.

i think you would be easily able to do this for $100.

[whitestripe]

i forgot to add, you can make up some pappadoms (sp?) to fill them up too!

[globetraveler]

Originally Posted by zakity

Ooo... What about chicken and dumplings?

Oh Yea! I vote for the Dumplins'!


In reality, grandfather grew up really poor. There were seven of them living in a 2 bedroom house for several years when he was young, and they ate lots of pork and chicken Dumplins'. His sister (my great aunt) still has the original family recipe and we still have home made dumplins' every time the family gets together.

They always had hogs and chickens on the farm, so always had some meat, but the dumplins made it filling and and tasty.

[DebbieL]

Chicken and dumplings gets my vote too. My mouth is watering just thinking about them I like the curry idea too, but I'm not sure if lots of children might eat it?

[snafu]

Ethnic food can be made in large batches to feed 100 on the cheap but it depends on what you think they would eat. Spanish rice or paella or pilaf.
Hungarian goulash, Cuban Picadillo, French Ragout [stew], Californian Style Tamale Pie.
If you make a thick, filling soup like Crockpot Squash/Apple it extends the casserole. I made Coq-a-vin for a large crowd using really cheap boiling hens but it was a lot of work that I wouldn't repeat!

[whitestripe]

Originally Posted by DebbieL

Chicken and dumplings gets my vote too. My mouth is watering just thinking about them I like the curry idea too, but I'm not sure if lots of children might eat it?

massaman curry is quite sweet and flavoursome and generally can be made (or the paste purchased) completely mild with no spiciness. it is usually the green/red curries that are hotter and not really for kids.

[Brad VanGuard]

Haha, probably a good idea you don't feed them chili.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I like the brunch idea. If you have a ton of eggs what about omelets? Or eggs with pancakes (cheap from flour from scratch) and bacon?

Or I like the chicken and dumplings.

I love ethnic curries, but I'm not sure how that would go over...