Cooking for large groups

shelovestobuystuff

Does your church group have church premises?If it does couldn,t you all use the church kitchen then you wouldnt have the problem with space that you have in your house.When I was little we used to have big dinners for about 30 people in the kitchen of the church.Each family took turns to cook but the money for the food came out of a pot that everyone contributed to according to the number of members in the family.

purpleivy

This has been a really good thread for me as well. Even though I'm a competent cook and used to cooking for large numbers (I used to be the cook in a boarding school many moons ago as well as getting to cook for loads at home!) I still find it difficult in the 'trying to please everyone all of the time' syndrome. I don't care what people give me when I go to their house, it's the going and being with folks and not cooking myself that is the big attraction, not necessarily what's on the menu!

I tend to throw too much money at the situation, but now I see that there are sooooo many budget option that I could use. I'm going to make a list in the back of my notebook for future use.... and if the Canellini bean and chorizo recipe was to appear here by magic........that would be fab! Was that 'shelovestobuystuff'?

blue-kat

when I have large groups over I do hotch potch buffet type meals,served on paper plates. If they don't like it, they don't have to come to my house I haven't had any drop outs and there's little washing up. It's friends, not restaurant service Nothing wrong with serving variants of the same buffet every time.

• One pot pilau rice is a good filler, and only takes about 20mins, you could prep the veg in the morning to speed things up: onion, 1 cup red lentils, 2 cups rice, diced veg (whatever you have), good dollop of Patak's korma paste, + water. simmer.

• Quick pasta salad: cook 1 bag of pasta day before, in the morning add 1 tin of sweetcorn, green beans, diced gerkins, peppers...), mix with blob of mayo/yog.
• serve with tarted up shop bought quiche, tuna, couple of plates of plain crudites (cucumber, carrots sticks ), humous, crisps
• I agree with earlier poster that big choc gateau from Lidl goes down well too. costs about £3.29. slice when frozen when you get home, then the slices will be thawed when your guests have eaten mains. plus it can be eten off paper plates again.

good luck !

purpleivy

Very lush for ice cream is my mum's hm chocolate sauce. Very quick too and can be done in advance, keeps for ages in the fridge and can be served hot or cold. You can make it into chocolate milkshake as well, as my nephew found out at Christmas! Nice with icecream or pears... or both! 'Poire Belle Helene'. Might be nice with a slosh of rum or something, a little vanilla? A little cream ( but it wouldn't keep as well) Ours is still going and I made it at Christmas. It's disguised in a small port bottle, it was the only thing I could find to put it in!

6oz granulated sugar
1/4pt water
2oz cocoa powder

Dissolve sugar in water and simmer for one minute.
Take off the heat and whisk in cocoa powder. Mix till smooth.
Cool for 15 minutes.

pink.1970

I had to cook for 12 bikers/trikers (including me and OH) last November, I was a lil bit scared at first but I decided to do a savoury mince in the SC and rice pudding in another SC, served with swede n carrot mash in plastic bowls and hey presto 12 hungry bikers/trikers fed and watered b4 going on a rally.

fiscalfreckles

I think the quickest and easiest meals for you to prepare cheaply would be either jacket potatoes (pop them in the oven as soon as you come in from work, or give them a head start in the microwave if you have one) and you could offer a choice of toppings - tuna & mayo, cheese, coleslaw etc. OR pasta with a sauce (soften onion, peppers, mushrooms & garlic and then add tinned tomatoes & black pepper, simmer until reduced a bit.) Suitable for veggies but lovely for everyone. You could serve salad with either of the above too.

For dessert, you could buy large empty flan cases from the supermarket, which are lovely filled with drained, tinned peaches (or any tinned fruit). Or fresh fruit salad. Or just get a big tub of ice-cream and serve with crushed maltesers on top.

Don't stress, choose something simple and then you won't be fretting on the night!

shelovestobuystuff

I will look out the canellini bean and chorizo recipe,its still in the good houskeeping mag I found it in a few years ago.Its now my speciality meal,hubby asks for it on special occassions as its so tasty.

Mrs_Toxy

purpleivy wrote: »

Very lush for ice cream is my mum's hm chocolate sauce. Very quick too and can be done in advance, keeps for ages in the fridge and can be served hot or cold. You can make it into chocolate milkshake as well, as my nephew found out at Christmas! Nice with icecream or pears... or both! 'Poire Belle Helene'. Might be nice with a slosh of rum or something, a little vanilla? A little cream ( but it wouldn't keep as well) Ours is still going and I made it at Christmas. It's disguised in a small port bottle, it was the only thing I could find to put it in!

6oz granulated sugar
1/4pt water
2oz cocoa powder

Dissolve sugar in water and simmer for one minute.
Take off the heat and whisk in cocoa powder. Mix till smooth.
Cool for 15 minutes.

My friend makes a chocolate sauce like this and it's lush, She serves it as a dessert with plain vanilla ice cream, you don't need much as it's so rich.

As for group cooking, I would agree with everyone else, a veggi lasagne, or something in the slow cooker, a curry maybe with veg and chickpeas/lentils? What day is your meeting on, could you cook something at the weekend and reheat it when you get in from work?

Don't forget that a big bowl of green salad and some crusty bread can make a meal stretch quite far.

Above all, don't panic, you will do fine next time and I'm sure that apart from the lady who is allergic to cats, the rest of your guests appreciated your efforts.

skintchick

Thanks everyone!
Squeaky - I meant in the SC and no coconut please cos I'm not keen on it.

Mrs_Toxy

I'd like to add that some of the most fun meals I've had have been 12 plus people squished into a living room sitting on dining chairs, sofas, the floor, whatever. Don't be embarrassed by having a small place.