I Need Help with Food Suggestions for a Large Party!!!

do you have a costco or a sam's club nearby? We have had lots of successful events that are easy by getting most of the food and paper goods there. Prepacked fruit and veggie trays are easy along with crackers and pre cut cheese. You can pick a main hot dish and get sides or order deli trays (you have to do this in advance). Have fun at the party.

How about a taco bar or salsa bar? You could make a bunch of types of salsa and buy several bags of tortilla chips. If you want to get fancy you could also put out queso dip, guacamole, and different beef/cheese combinations.

And a truckload of watermelon!

Borrow every crock pot you can!!!

Pastas
Meatballs
Stoups
Dips
and more,
can all be prepared in crock pots.

Put out platters of chips, crackers, veggies, fruit, and cheese.

Serve it all buffet styles on paper plates.

Sit back, relax and celebrate.

You don't have to make the food yourself but if you pick up prepared food and set it up at the party yourself, it will probably be much cheaper than catering.

Sandwich and salad buffet: Many grocery stores have a deli and can put together trays of coldcuts, cheese and breads. Get large containers of salad from the deli and put them in plastic serving bowls.

Costco has tons of great party food: A friend of mine threw a birthday party for his wife. He bought several of those 6 pound frozen lasagnas and had several of us take them home to bake and bring them back (too much for his oven). Costco also has frozen appetizers, large plastic containers of prepared wraps, sushi, shrimp - all ready to serve. Plus those huge pies and cakes.

Honeybaked ham store, or the Boston store has ready to set out party food.

Is an outdoor party possible? If so I suggest hotdogs and hamburgers. Seriously, what's better than a family style grill party? Everyone gets to mill about, be casual, and enjoy themselves. It's not fancy, but it is comfortable.
You can get those really great Hebrew National quarter pound hotdogs that are tastely and filling. Potato salad, fresh, crunchy hand held veggies and a huge fruit salad. Get sidewalk sundaes for dessert. Who doesn't love ice cream on a stick? Since it is such a big crowd, I'm assuming that you've got some friends who can come and help you cut fruit and veggies, and you can make the potato salad a little at a time, like cook a batch of potatoes, chop some onion and pickles, and put it all in the fridge in separate containers. By the third day, you'll have enough to mix it all together and ta-da, potato salad for 100 without stress.

Good luck.

If it were me I'd do hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill, chips, veggie tray and fruit tray. It would be super easy and everyone likes those things!

We did my college grad/ 41st birthday party last year..with maybe 50 people who came (in the rain so all had to be in my small house..ugh). We did a taco bar!

I browned burger with the taco seasoning a few pounds here and there for about 2 weeks before..and froze it. Borrowed crock pots (for meat...for refried beans, black beans, for cheese sauce). We had sour cream, cheese, shredded lettuce (bought that way), tomatoes, giant jar of black olives..etc and etc...and bought a few boxes of the small lunch size bags of doritoes (2 flavors) and ut them in a big decorative tub. All was bought at Sam's Club from the burger and seasoning, to the lettuce, cheese and chips.

We also had a fruit plate and cheese and crackers (there were alot of small kids so we thought those a good idea). Then a HUGE cake.

Everyone LOVED LOVED loved it. Walking tacos (make your taco salad in the little bags), or just a taco salad/nachos on the plate (we had a big crock pot of the melty cheese nacho sauce from a giant can). It was pretty easy for me to prepare a little at a time before hand, buy the canned stuff here and there, then one final big fresh stuff purchase.

Enlist a few people to help, borrow crocks...buy your cups and such...

It made for a great backyard type (well inside as it rained most of the day) casual event. I had been to others similar and they were great as well!

Just an idea!

My first thought is to slice a bunch of French bread, peel and cut up some veggies,and have a fun time with an array of dips and spreads. Most of them can be easy and inexpensive to make. Also, you can make cakes, brownies, etc in sheet trays, and cookies are always in style. ;)

Other than that, try making pulled chicken or pulled pork in a crockpot, or make a variety of salads for sandwiches... egg salad, tuna salad, chicken salad...

Good luck!

Go to the local library and find the older issues of Taste of Home. There used to be a section called cooking for a crowd or something with the word crowd in it. Often it had charts and grafts for amounts of food to cook for X amount of people, like for something like meatballs it takes 1/4-1/2 lb. of hamburger meat per person......it is also full of ideas of foods to fix that are for large groups. Most of my dinners at church have been for over 100 and I almost always use Taste of Home recipes.

Some of my fav's have come straight from their pages. There are also many recipes in other magazines and some publications just for large quantities of food for large crowds.

I have cooked 5 onion soup for 125, spinach salad , orange glazed carrots, or steamed mixed squashes, and the meat was a flattened pork loin. We flattened it and put cornbread stuffing from Pepperidge farms inside. We used twine to tie it shut for cooking. The meat was pretty and wonderfully tasty. We sliced the meat across the short way and gave several slices to each person. They reminded me of pinwheel tortilla roll ups. We just baked them until they were not pink inside. This is one of my favorite Christmas meals for a crowd.

One of my favorite meals is Lion House Sweet and Sour Meatballs served over/with oven steamed rice, veggies, and a salad.

I even did Chicken Parmesan. I dredged the flattened chicken breasts in a flour seasoning mix, then fried them up, placed them in large cookie sheets in a low tempreature oven to keep them warm, made gallons of marinara sauce, sliced the mozz. cheese myself. I did place the meat on a bed of cooked spaghetti, cooked some green beans with butter and garlic powder on them for the side, added a salad with Italian dressing and done. It was one of the prettiest dishes I had ever put together. The white pasta with the golden brown chicken, the red marinara sauce with a slice of white cheese to top it off was really pretty then add the bright green.

There are many ways to approach what to do. Are you having light hors de'ouvers snacks or appetizers then a sit down dinner? Is it going to be paper plate friendly or actual dishes with much clean up afterwards, is it all hot food or all cold? A mix? You have a lot to decide even before considering a caterer. Go to the local library and check out some books on entertaining or setting up a buffet. There are tons of books that will help you define what you want.

Call grocery stores in your area and see how much they charge for chicken. We bought 100 pcs from KFC years ago for a party and it was $1.00 a piece. The you could make things like meatballs (buy frozen, toss in a crock pot with BBQ sauce) and MOSTACCIOLI (cooks.com has a receipe for cooking for a crowd) or some Mac-n Cheese.
I would do a lot of pick on things that you can keep in a crock pot so they don't get yucky sitting out for hours. Mini Crescent Dogs (look at Pillsbury website for recipe)…super simple and ALWAYS a hit! A Veggie platter always goes fast too. If you make cool things, like salad, put out a small bowl and dump the excess if there is any after an hour and them put more out.
You could put out pick on things and when it hits a meal time, you could order x-large pizzas and bread sticks and make a few salads. Pizza is fast and easy and no clean up on your end (have it delivered or have the grad make a run!). Those not there for "dinner" will have to have the dips and other pick on things.
Most want to migle and much, not have a big fat meal in the summer heat at a party.

I know exactly how you feel! Pasta dishes can be made by yourself I think cheaper and they are pretty easy. I always do a penne w/ vodka sauce that is a big hit and really simple to make. Maybe a meatball dish, either with marinara sauce or a sweet and sour sauce. Whether you make the meatballs homemade or buy the frozen ones and just make the sauce. That would something easy and less expensive to make yourself. You could also maybe just have one tray of food catered like a chicken dish or something you are not comfortable making. I always weigh the price of the catering vs the stress and work of cooking yourself. Sometimes it is worth paying a little extra. Also consider different options such as instead of a sub sandwich, maybe just buying lunchmeat and having a platter may save a little money. You could also ask for help and have some other people make a dish. I never hesitate to enlist the help of my mom or sister when I'm having a big party! Just make sure you do some research first about the prices, because with the economy these days, the ingredients at the supermarket aren't always as inexpensive as you might think.
Just remember that whatever you decide, to have fun and make sure that you can enjoy the party, too! Good luck and Congratulations to your daughter!

I highly recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Do-Less-Parties-Professional-Catere...

I'd make some things in advance like baked ziti, sausages and peppers and pulled pork. All, but especially the ziti, can be warmed in the oven and put on sternos on a folding table. The sausage and peppers and pulled pork can be put out in crock pots.

Then you can make some simple salads like a green, antipasto platter and potato salad and put those out in small batches. But some french breads and cut them up so people can make sandwiches if they like and smaller pieces to use as a "roll" on the side.

We like the "cupcake" cakes better than sheet cakes because they're already in individual servings so no messy cutting. But I hear CostCo has great sheet cakes at reasonable prices.

Add a cooler of water and sodas, and one with beers if you want.

Go with the caterer... you won't regret it. Honestly, with 100 people attending and expecting to eat you will be in the kitchen for days, including the day of the event when you would rather be outside with your guests. In this case, you need to look at the "value" of your time.

You can have a caterer do the food, but do it "buffet" style so you aren't paying for someone to "serve" and "monitor". This is what we did for our rehearsal dinner and my son's first birthday. In all honesty, we have 100 people at our home for our rehearsal dinner. We rented a huge white tent, round tables, chairs, full bar, and a full Southern bbq for under $3000 (including papergoods and desserts).

Save yourself the stress and just hire someone. You will enjoy the day much more if you aren't worried about the food!

We went to a graduation party last year where the family got stuff from a BBQ place, so we did our own at home for a summer party. We got a huge pork shoulder roast (18 lbs I think), cooked it in the crockpot with some seasonings, finished it with BBQ sauce, then shredded it and served it in big pans set over sterno with rolls and coleslaw. Delish and super-easy (and cheap - I got the meat at Costco or BJs). So something like that could work for a crowd.

Other easy and inexpensive dishes for a crowd include pasta dishes (penne with chicken and broccoli using jarred alfredo sauce, stuffed shells, baked ziti - anything you can make giant pans of), deli and finger sandwich platters, giant hero sandwiches cut into slices, a big crockpot full of meatballs and sauce, and chicken wings.

All that said, we've done many family parties for 50 - 100 people. Growing up, we used to make all of the food ourselves and it was a TON of work and my mom was always super-stressed out. Plus it's hard to keep all of that food hot or cold. If you use a caterer, the food can arrive hot or cold or you can get it the day before or morning of and just have to worry about heating things up, not cooking them. Perhaps you can get deli and finger sandwich platters from a "club" (BJs, Cosco) or your grocery store and get a few large pasta or other entree pans from a caterer and then you can just concentrate on sides such as salads, appetizers, beverages, desserts etc. Our parties were a lot more enjoyable once we started buying food instead of making every darn thing, and it didn't cost that much more.

Whatever you do, DO NOT do hot dogs and hamburgers or anything on the grill. Unless you have literally like 4 huge grills going and enough people willing to stand there and man the grills, it will take forever to cook everything and people will be standing around starving.

Browse through this Mamapedia question...it had 38 responses....

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/6161960703214223361

I need more details:

What time of day?
And how long? 2 hours or 4 hours? or all night?
What graduation? HS or College (ergo drinks or no drinks)
Casual or Fancy? I would recomend mainly finger foods

I second the idea for chicken. If you get a deal on the chicken from your local grocery store or restaurant, you can pick that up and then make a bunch of sides (salads, chips and dip, appetizers, cheese and crackers, veggie platter, fruit salad). You could also order and pick up a cake from the same grocery store (even if you are a baker, a cake for that many people would be a big job!).

Added: I also wanted to suggest doing a pulled pork or shredded beef in a really big crock pot or cooker, and serve on buns. It's easy to make and great for lots of people. You could even do sloppy joes, which would be even cheaper.

Indoors or out? Luch or dinner? Theme? Casual or dressy?

If it is like grad parties I went to, then it will be pretty casual and mostly out of doors. I suggest getting trays at Costco with fruits, veggies, salad, and cold cuts. If you have someone to man the grill, then hot dogs and burgers, but that is time consuming for the chef.

I recently went to a party where Chik fil-a catered and it was awesome and they delivered!!

I also did a party, where I got wraps from Froots (like Robeks). And they do salads too. That is a little fancier feeling than deli meats on a tray.

I am from NY, and the tradition there is to go to the Italian deli and get trays of pasta and meats, etc. There is no where good enough around me now to do that, but I bet you have some great food in Chicago.

Check around for the best deal on meat and build from there. I have found chicken leg quarter on sale for .59 per lb before, so that was cheeper than serving hot dogs!!! Burgers and brats are a good stand by too. Check local food service stores and weekend flyers for good deals. Here we have Gordon Food Service, it's a place where restaurants by food and they also sell to the public. Do multiple sides so you don't have to make or buy tons of one thing - potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans etc. Lots of fresh watermelon too!

A big pan (or pans) of mostaccioli are always cheap!! Pasta is about $1 a box, and if you buy jarred sauce or make you own, it's pretty inexpensive. You can feed a lot of people for around $20 or less. Then you can figure out sides/appetizer type foods. Making a homemade taco dip is cheap, too, and salads can be inexpensive.

I just googled "recipes for 100 people" and tons of websites with recipes come up. I don't envy you at all! Good luck!!

i just went to a large wedding. They had trays of cheese and crackers and fruit placed in several corners of the reception hall to give flow and avoid a long line. That worked out well. I don't think anyone would expect a full sit down dinner at a grad party. You could go to sams or costco and choose maybe 2 or 3 appetizers that you like and buy $100 worth of those. Place trays of those in serving areas and some warming in the kitchen to be replenished. You don't like messing with food and it's YOUR daughters graduation! You don't want to be chained to the kitchen or serving line all night. So, I suggest finding an aunt or couple of best friends and ask them to take charge of the food prep and serving for the night. That way you can mingle and play gracious hostess and enjoy the day with your daughter.

If you want to do an entire dinner, I like to do a serve yourself bar, like a taco bar or fajita bar. You can get the big disposable metal pans on a rack over sterno setup at most party stores. Set up a line of those. Put fajita chicken in one, fajita beef in one, one full of refried beans, one full of mexican rice. Then stacks of tortillas, and a huge bowl of tortilla chips. then big containers of salsa, sour cream and shredded cheese. You can also do a few pans of enchiladas for relatively cheap.
Or go bbq. Have big pans of pulled pork or chopt beef brisket, and pinto beans, and potato salad. Hamburger buns and bbq sauce. You may be able to get a bbq restaurant to do all this for you for less than calling a full time caterer.

I live in the country so everything is Potluck. My in laws even brought a dish to my wedding even though it was catered = ) If you do not feel comfortable asking all the people to bring something, you can just ask family. We have also gone to Sam's and bought hamburgers and hotdogs and then asked close family and friends to bring a few bags of chips and such each.

Walmart also does sub sandwiches for a pretty decent price or maybe BBQ sandwiches. Anything that you can buy a little at a time and freeze until needed would help defer the cost as well.

Good luck and grats to your grad

Easy meal:

*Sloppy Joe (This you can do ahead of time. Brown and season all the meat. Add 1T vinegar, 1T mustard, 2 cans tomato soup, 1/2 to 1 cup brown sugar, and ketchup till it looks good =to EACH 2# to 2 1/2# of hamburger.) EASY, KID FRIENDLY, EVERYBODY LOVES THIS RECIPE. You can freeze this and through it in a big roaster to keep warm all day.

Then have a small plastic kiddie pool filled with ice and keep salads and fruit in there to keep cool and fresh.

*fresh fruit

*dirt salad (oreo cookie salad)

*taco salad

*pickles

Serve a few kinds of chips and some cake and you're done!

EASY and everyone seems to like this food.

Baked mostaccioli, get a couple throw-a-way alluminum pans, cheapest pasta sauce you can get, a big garden salad, loaves of french bread, you could do a couple jello molds. Any kind of meat is going to increase your cost, we do italian sausage cut up into smaller pieces with oil and peppers, and it's not so expensive. Chips and salsa and chips and dips for appetizers. Getting into fruit, vegetable, cheese trays gets expensive. Good luck!

t.