Challenge: lunch for 125+ ladies without a stove or fridge on the premises-cheaply!

C

cheezz

Well-known member
We want this to be a hot lunch and do have people who can bake at home and bring it in. Trying to keep cost down. When the ladies arrive for lunch, there will be a big bowl of salad at each table. So we need ideas for the main dish, a bread, and dessert. There's no set budget, but this group has just lost $11,250 due to a technical error, right on the heels on this luncheon in 2 weeks!

TIA!

 
Do any of you have one of the electric roasters?

You can hold and serve large quantities of stew-like or saucy things in one. My grandmother used to Beef Bourguignon for a crowd in hers.

 
those roasters are lifesavers. maybe some rice in one and teriyaki meatballs with pineapple in

another one.

 
cheezz, a few years back in an engineering field office where I worked,

everyone brought in a dish for our Christmas luncheon and the hot dishes were reheated in chafing dishes with half or whole pans in the water trays and sternos. Looked rather nice and we fed about 80-90 people with lots of compliments. We did this for about three years. Homemade baked rigatoni and calzones were served and I picked up some ordered-ahead-of-time very good meatballs with sauce and roast beef with au jus from a deli/caterer after doing extensive homework and taste-testing. Of course everything could be homemade for your lunch.

Check the dollar stores first for the aluminium chafing racks and pans. Also, they can be found in sets at Sam's Club where I have an unopened stash for my hurricane supply kit. They are really inexpensive and reusable.

Edited to say that you'll need ample aluminum foil to cover/tent and start heating the water about an hour or more ahead of time.

 
Some more pointers. We also had those that owned crock pots bring

those in so that we could keep the excess meatballs and roast beef warm before replenishing the chafing dishes for serving.

Saucy-type dishes work great for chafing dishes without drying out. Lasagna is the ultimate profit maker for catering companies, but would be too heavy for the aluminum chafing dishes.

Some other ideas are: chicken cacciatore, chicken masala, gumbo, or jambalaya.*

Okay, so I'll be up all night trying to think of more... thanks a lot cheezzen! smileys/smile.gif

* I made a shrimp, chicken and sausage jambalaya for the guys one day for lunch and served it on a chafing dish and they loved it. Chicken and sausage would be less expensive.

 
also, a baked potato bar comes to mind. keep them hot in a roaster and have lots of toppings and

a salad. hot toppings can be kept in crockpots. is it a buffet or sit-down affair?

 
she is very helpful too. answers questions even. I made my wedding salmon from her tutorial.

she made it seem quite easy. it was terrific.

 
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