Advice, please: Feeding 40 people for a little money

[Shwa Girl]

I know that there are great SCs on here who know the answer.
We are having 35 people for light refreshments. That's what the invitation says - light refreshments.
We know some will bring a friend at the last minute (surprise!)

Please advise me - how do you feed 40 people for a little money? With very little cooking?
It's in the middle of May.

Thanks!

[mulock]

I'd call in sick.

[Natalka]

If it's for up to two hours, you would be looking at around six to eight appetizers per person
e.g. mini quiche, pinwheel sandwiches, etc.

Cheese tray with crackers/bread, and maybe a spread like a pate.
Crudite trays with dips
Fruit tray, or skewers - and dip if you like

I'd go with squares for the something sweet, they are easy to make, cost-effective, and you can make a variety.

Ideas

http://www.thriftyfun.com/Easy-Appetizer-Recipes.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/di...mini.html?_r=0

[Shwa Girl]

I'd call in sick.

lol It’s not like that. I want to be there. Just not spend lots of money. What do you suggest? What would like to eat if you were there. A male perspective is really helpful!

[Shwa Girl]

If it's for up to two hours, you would be looking at around six to eight appetizers per person
e.g. mini quiche, pinwheel sandwiches, etc.

Cheese tray with crackers/bread, and maybe a spread like a pate.
Crudite trays with dips
Fruit tray, or skewers - and dip if you like

I'd go with squares for the something sweet, they are easy to make, cost-effective, and you can make a variety.

Ideas

http://www.thriftyfun.com/Easy-Appetizer-Recipes.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/di...mini.html?_r=0

Thank you! Lots of good ideas. Over 100! wow...

[scouponer]

For something sweet you could get a slab cake at Costco. They are good and feed a lot relatively inexpensive or cake mixes are cheap this week, buy a few and make cupcakes. Make ahead and freeze. Meat balls could be made ahead and frozen and put in crockpot with a sauce. Or get some cheap pork and make pulled pork and keep warm in crockpot. A big bag of buns from Costco is cheap. Did you get in on the bacon deal? Maybe try Candied bacon, hummus is cheap to make, salsa and chips is cheap and easy, could do a punch of some sort which is great for a crowd. If wanting to serve alcohol sangria is a nice refreshing drink. Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest for ideas. I always make way more food than I need.

[torontogal12]

My go to is a lasagna. A box of pasta, a jar of sauce, few sprinkles of cheese, one package of beef and some frozen or canned vegetables and you can feed like 10 people for about $10 and with very little work (just assemble and let oven do the cooking)

Make it vegetarian and it becomes even cheaper


Or just pasta and sauce. You can buy sauce for $2 and a box of pasta for .99 cents and feed several people. Only two pots needed

[Momof3girlies]

BLT's (KIDDING!)

[lecale]

A couple of ideas...cheese ball...pick up some Black Diamond cheese spread or the new Philly cheddar with the $1 coupons when they are $1.99. You need a couple. Soften, add Worcestershire sauce, chopped green onion, a half-pound of crisp fried bacon that you no doubt got for dirt cheap these days, and a 100g bag or walnuts or pecans.

Pasta salad - also on the cheap bacon, I would do BLT pasta salad with some free Barilla shapes green onions, halved grape tomatoes and the rest of that crisp fried bacon, mayo dressing.

For a veg salad I would do Greek with cucumbers, red pepper, green pepper, onions, grape tomatoes, feta cheese, kalamata olive slices, oil and balsamic. You can get a bag of Kraft Cracker Barrel feta 300g for $5.99 and that is my cheap go-to. I have the freezer full because there were $1.50 coupons and SDM puts it on for $.99 sometimes (pm WM that carries the feta). All the veg are coming into season now and should be cheap from here on in. You can buy the peppers and onions weeks ahead when there is a sale anyway.

For cheap protein I would do mini meatballs...I slice air-dried white bread grated per 1 lb beef and 1 egg to start. Then season however - e.g., garlic, ginger and soy for teriyaki, etc. Put some sort of cheap sauce on it (VH sauce from SampleSource ?)

You can do cheap mini-quiches as Natalka said by buttering white bread both sides crusts off and pressing it into muffin cups and adding a ham egg onion mixture. Similar idea, use garlic butter on white bread and press into empty cups - fill with Caesar salad minus the croutons - the bread crust is the crouton. But now we're messing around in the kitchen...at least the quiche you could do ahead.

[jasperandchar]

how about a salad bar with fresh buns or bread?

bean salad
pasta salad
greek salad

canned beans are cheap you could purchase those super big cans (2 types) and toss in Italian salad dressing

pastas cheap and filing

get the large packs of buns at Costco they have 2 types and a pound of butter and voila