Menu Planning for 17 people for a weeked

Youthworkers_Wife

Hi

I'm relatively new to this site and would really appreciate advice/wisdom from people who know far more than I do!

I've been given the job of catering for a weekend away my husband's running for his youth group. Which means: Fri dinner, all day Sat, Sun breakfast and packed lunch for 11 hungry teenagers and 5 adults. Oh, and two of the teenagers have milk allergies.

I'm a fairly competent cook - but not used to catering for such large numbers.
I'd really appreciate any advice on cheap (church youth group - budget virtually non-existent!) menu ideas to keep them fed. I'm planning on appealing to our old ladies for a donation of cakes so I don't have to bother with desserts.

Any ideas,

Please?

Thanks in advance
Youthworker's Wife

esmf73

Ask for cakes etc, but bear in mind you may only get 6 slices per cake if they're hungry teenagers. Think around the staples of rice, pasta and potatoes.

Friday dinner - how about Veg chilli with rice (large portions of both with red lentils or chick peas to bulk it out. Top with cheese for those that can eat it. Plus bread & butter. Pudding - how about bread and butter pudding??

Saturday / Sunday breakfast - fried egg sandwiches, cereal, fresh fruit, bread & butter etc.

Saturday lunch - if you can do it hot - then jacket potatoes with a bit of salad (most probably won't eat this) served with beans and cheese / left over chilli / tuna & mayo etc. Cake for pudding

Afternoon snack - if they're teenagers this might be a necessity - try more cake with tea / coffee. Fruit cake is very filling!

Saturday dinner - pasta bake / macaroni cheese / with something like a home made (one of your ladies might make one) cheesecake / chocolate pudding something filling.

Snacks - fruit and cake

Sunday packed lunch - sandwiches - ham / cheese / egg etc with packet of crisps, cake, fruit and yogurt maybe?

blueberrypie

I'd suggest looking at the things you normally make and choosing things that are just as easy to make in large quantities - spag bol, for example, is no more bother if you make four times as much in one go, and with some garlic bread it would make a good meal. You could even make it cheaper by stretching the mince - there are lots of ideas on this forum for doing that.

Similarly, chili - either con carne (with meat) or vegetarian. Baked potatoes - don't even think of meals that involve peeling the potatoes though! But anything you can make in a big pot, or put lots into an oven, is good.

I do a sausage casserole which is pretty easy but looks impressive and is tasty and filling - it's oven-baked and made with potatoes, mustard, cider and marmalade - which might sound a slightly odd combination, but I've yet to meet the person who didn't ask for seconds. I can post the recipe if you want, but that's the kind of thing I'd be going for - filling, tasty, looks good, pleases everyone, doesn't cost a lot :-)

A big pot of vegetable or minestrone soup with sandwiches would make a good lunch for the Saturday - I'd go for a good crusty bread rather than sliced white, as it will feel like more of a meal and won't cost very much more - if you make it yourself it will be cheaper and you can make it without milk, so the same bread can feed everyone.

If you can get your hands on catering-size trays and pots, that will make life a lot easier.

For packed lunches you could use flour tortillas with things like cheese, ham, pickle, cream cheese and jam, peanut butter, whatever - not all at once, obviously - instead of plain sandwiches. Again, it will feel like something more substantial. You could let them make up their own if you put out bowls/plates of fillings, with a big bowl of fruit for them to choose from. If you're asking people to bake, ask for some biscuits to put in the packed lunches.

Plenty of fruit - don't get exotic, they'll likely be happier to polish off apples and bananas. If it looks like you'll have lots of fruit left over, it could be sliced over cereal on Sunday morning. I'd offer porridge too, with a variety of flavourings available - you can stir in jam or honey or chopped up fruit... Lots of toast, of course!

Hope that gives you some ideas.

wogglemaker

When taking Cub Scouts on camp it's the norm to ask everyone to bring a cake or perhaps a couple of packs of bickkies to share.

Instant whip is a staple on camp but would n ot help with your milk alergies

Youthworkers_Wife

Thanks for your ideas!
I'm sure they're going to be useful.

Wouldn't mind a copy of that sausage casserole if it's not too much hassle?

Thank you!!

greenbee

I used to cater for large groups of students on university sports camps.

Find out what the lactose intolerants usually eat, and get some ideas, but you should be able to adapt. To avoid any risk of cross-contamination, don't take any butter, just a vegan/pure vegetable margarine.

Breakfast - porridge made with water will get round the milk problem (plus cut costs!), and mean that they're all eating the same thing. You can serve it slightly differently each day - maybe one day with bananas & raisins, the other day stewed apple with cinnamon. I nearly suggested giving them honey with it (or golden syrup!) but to avoid mess, I'd suggest sugar if they want it sweetened (make the apple unsweetened as sweetness is a personal taste, and as long as you let them know they can then adapt to taste). They'll probably be hungry, and big breakfasts are a good idea if they're going to be outside all day, so it's worth having a decent amount on offer. Toast/marg & marmite or jam, plus bacon and/or egg (decide whether to do these scrambled or fried and do NOT offer a choice!) for the very hungry ones (remember, you can use up any left over bacon later in the day - eggs are best cooked to order).

Lunches - as these are packed, then you're looking at sandwiches. You need to decide whether you're going to offer a selection and get them to put their order in the night before, or just give them all the same thing. If the latter, you'll need to avoid cheese... otherwise you could offer a choice of e.g. cheese salad sandwich, egg mayo & tomato sandwich, tuna mayo & cucumber sandwich, marmite sandwich etc... the cheese can be grated in advance, and the egg mayo & tuna mayo made up in advance. You'd then just need to prepare the salady bits on the day, but these should make substantial sandwichs. Add to this fruit (choice of apple, banana or satsuma - or whatever you find on offer!), a drink and maybe crisps. If you aren't doing egg sandwiches, a hardboiled egg is always a good addition to a lunchbox. If you could do hot soup served wherever they're going to be at lunchtime, it would probably go down well - even if it's just a mug full to go with the sandwiches. Biscuits or a square of tray-bake cake to finish up.

Tea - if they're having it, toast & marmite/jam and maybe cake/biscuits if you've got enough!

Evening meals - baked potatoes are easy carbs to prepare as you just wash them and bung in the oven. With some chilli and salad (which if they don't eat can go in the sandwiches the next day!) you should be able to create a substantial meal - you can put plenty of veggies & pulses in the chilli, even if it isn't vegetarian. If you aren't able to do soup for lunch, then maybe this would be an idea for supper on the first day. They'll probably all have had lunch as a main meal so just need something warm and filling but not too time-consuming. Something like apple crumble and custard for pudding (gets some fruit into them, is cheap, hot and filling). Obviously you'll have to find out what the lactose intolerants might have instead of custard - if they can have non-dairy ice-cream, then maybe go with this and give everyone ice-cream so that there is no distinction.

Hope this is useful!

blueberrypie

Youthworkers_Wife wrote: »

Wouldn't mind a copy of that sausage casserole if it's not too much hassle?

No hassle at all :-)

I feed eight people with this, and while some of us are very small, some are teenaged boys, so it evens out ;-) If I was cooking for a bunch of teens, I'd probably triple the quantities.

About 1.5 kg of potatoes - baby new potatoes are great in this, but wedges work well too. Wash (and cut) if needed and put in a roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in a 200 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Put 16 sausages in around the potatoes and roast it all for another 15ish minutes - turn the sausages part-way through so they get crispy all over (a good shake will do the job if your roasting tin is big enough). Meanwhile heat about 6 good tablespoons of marmalade, about 4 tablespoons of mustard and about 300 ml of sweet cider in a pan, stirring it until the marmalade has melted. Turn up the heat and let it boil until it's reduced by about half. Pour that over the sausages and potatoes and toss it all again, then scatter some sprigs of rosemary over it and give it another ten minutes in the oven. Sprinkle with salt and coarse-ground black pepper before serving.

That's about 40 minutes in the oven (including time to take out and put back when you're adding things), but there's almost no prep at all, and it's a whole meal in one dish :-)

Mands

blueberrypie wrote: »

About 1.5 kg of potatoes - baby new potatoes are great in this, but wedges work well too. Wash (and cut) if needed and put in a roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in a 200 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Put 16 sausages in around the potatoes and roast it all for another 15ish minutes - turn the sausages part-way through so they get crispy all over (a good shake will do the job if your roasting tin is big enough). Meanwhile heat about 6 good tablespoons of marmalade, about 4 tablespoons of mustard and about 300 ml of sweet cider in a pan, stirring it until the marmalade has melted. Turn up the heat and let it boil until it's reduced by about half. Pour that over the sausages and potatoes and toss it all again, then scatter some sprigs of rosemary over it and give it another ten minutes in the oven. Sprinkle with salt and coarse-ground black pepper before serving.

I've cooked this too, it is good. The original recipe was from Good Food I think;

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2396/dads-special-supper

The comments there give ideas on how the dish can be bulked up, or have the veg element increased, both of which would be useful with hungry teenagers!

Mands

Youthworkers_Wife

Thanks again!

BexInLondon

I sympathise - I've done weekends like this myself!

For the packed lunches - could they make their own sandwiches? You'd just need to put out plates of fillings, bread, marge and knives.

I second (or is it third) the idea of a giant spag bol for the Friday night. Particularly if there's a bit of a journey to get where you're going, as everyone will really appreciate a hearty meal.

A massive vat of scrambled eggs isn't difficult to make and would be a popular breakfast on toast. Some fruit, cereal, and milk on hand too would mean people had choice.

Teenagers love hot chocolate in the evenings, and you could buy a bag of marshmallows and some squirty cream too, a surefire way to be a very popular youthworker's wife!

blueberrypie

Mands wrote: »

I've cooked this too, it is good. The original recipe was from Good Food I think;

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2396/dads-special-supper

*That's* where it came from! I didn't make a note of it when I saved the recipe, and was never sure where I'd found it. I could have linked to it and saved typing it out ;-) - well at least youthworkers_wife doesn't have to take my word for it that it's a good'un :-D