Dinner parties that are frugal

[2moretrees]

I was talking to a single friend of mine and we were trying to figure out a date we were both free. One of the dates she said she couldn't make it because it was her "dinner party" night. I thought people here might appreciate this:

She and 6 single friends have made a party group. You know how it's much more expensive to cook for one person rather than a group. This is how they solved it. Each person makes dinner for 7 people once a week. That means that they only need to cook once a week and overall their food costs are a lot cheaper than if they made a meal by themselves each night. She also says that she eats better as well since everyone only cooks once a week, they tend to make a healthy meal for everyone.

It just seemed like a great idea to me that I wish I had thought of when I was younger.

[irmanator]

thats great! I hate eating alone and cooking for one.

[Ima saver]

I was invited to a party and I thought this was a great idea. The host and hostess provided all the drinks, liquor and set ups. They also provided a variety of cheese and crackers. The guests were each asked to bring a plate of appetizers to share. They was lots of food and it was great!!

[osadg]

In the area I live there is a food co-op that also does this. Each family signs up and makes a meal for the other families in their group and delivers it on their day. Everyone uses the same dishes that the group purchased together, and the same reusable grocery bags, so things just go back and forth. I've never been part of the service, but I have friends that do participate, and the food has always been good, and it sure saves them a lot of time during the week!

[Abiqua]

Wow. I've never heard of this but what a fantastic idea. The closest thing I've heard of is once-a-month-cooking.

[momof1in150]

I do this once a month with my friends for lunch. We all have children involved in multiple activities and are trying to find ways to cut our budgets so we get together once a month at my house for lunch. Dinner is too hard with all of our schedules but lunch is easy. Everyone brings something and enjoys a couple of hours with good friends, food and talk.

[Hot dog]

Great idea for single people but it would be a little harder to make dinner for seven families in one night.

[Abiqua]

I think that's the point...when you make just one serving, you pay a more per pound than if you make enough for a whole family. So dinner parties (or lunch parties) are a good way for single people or even couples to economize the costs of their meals. A family probably already realizes the benefits of scale.

[kork13]

Great idea for single people but it would be a little harder to make dinner for seven families in one night.

haha i have exactly the opposite problem. I don't know how to make single- or small-portion meals! For myself and my 2 roommates, I normally do most of the cooking, just because I enjoy cooking. But for the 3 of us, I normally make portions large enough for at least 5 or 6, sometimes more! I grew up in a large (-ish) family, so i guess I'm just used to cooking big. I just find it easier to cook in large portions (I've cooked full meals for groups of 20-30+). Now, with both roommates out of town for a few weeks, it's impossible for me to cook.... i always end up with too much food! My saving grace is the fridge/freezer and a lunchbox for taking leftovers to work.

What we have done a few times, we get a bunch of the people we work with (there's about 8-10 of us who all arrived new here at about the same time) and they all come over for dinner. As others have said, that sort of thing generally works out great.

[Hot dog]

I just had a picture of one person making a huge meal and seven people coming to get their serving and taking it home. But if everyone were to eat at that particular persons home it would make for good company or at least lots of company. I dont think I would want to eat at someone elses house 6 nights a week. But I do like the idea of only having to cook once a week.

[cptacek]

I used to have friends over on Sunday nights and I would cook a good home cooked meal (fried chicken and mashed potatoes, baked ham, spaghetti, grilled steak, um, that was all I knew how to cook but that was more than they knew!) and someone would bring over movies. I would pay for all the food and one friend would come over and help, but you know, cooking for 4 or 5 was cheaper than what we usually did on other nights...out to eat and a bar afterwards. I figured that I was actually coming out ahead!