Easy meals for a crowd?

[spinbaby]

I'm about to spend a week in a condo with extended family and we're looking for easy meals we can make for a crowd of ten. Emphasis on fast and easy because we'll be on vacation and, although we want to mostly eat in to save money, we don't want to spend all day cooking. So far the only real idea I've come up with is Stouffer's lasagna. We have a minimally-equipped condo kitchen to work with. I can pick up a crock pot at a nearby Target, so slow-cooker meals are doable.

[elleng]

1. If not south, warm weather place,

chili + hearty soups.

Have fun!

[spinbaby]

11. Florida

But in December, the weather should be cool enough to support chili.

[madinmaryland]

2. Beef stew, pot roast, lemon chicken dishes.

[Freddie]

3. Pulled pork in the crockpot

Buy some rolls and coleslaw

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. A chicken or Turkey ala King type thing served over rice.

Two pots and really simple.

If the local grocery has roasted Chickens (Most do these days, right?) grab one plus onion, carrots, peas and celery, some heavy cream and a can of chicken stock.

Start the rice in one pot.

You're going to need to make a roux, so you'll need flour and butter.

Cut the breasts off the chicken and dice.
Dice up the vegetables.

Start the roux by adding equal parts butter and flour (one stick of butter & 1/2 cup flour) to a large pot. Let it cook a bit, then add the veg. You can reverse this if you like to saute' the vegetables first. Add the chicken stock and some of the cream. When it all gets hot and bubbling and thick, add the chicken. If it's too thick, add some more stock. If it's too thin, ladle some of the broth out into a bowl and whisk in some more flour, then add that back to the pot (makes it easier to avoid lumps of flour). I think it should be the consistency of very thick gravy or clam chowder. Herb it up how you like. I use sage, rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper.

Serve it over your favorite rice.

Simple and easy to expand to feed an army. Just add more of everything!

And only 2 pots to clean.

I used this recipe as a filling for chicken pot pies the other day. I made a good sized batch, made the pastry and had a good sized pot pie but had a lot of the filling leftover. I had that over rice over the next few days.

[spinbaby]

10. Of course, rotisserie chicken!

I don't know if I want to start doing things to it, but there's a Super Target nearby that I'm pretty sure has rotisserie chicken. Throw potatoes in to bake and pick up chicken while they're baking. Add salad and there's a meal.

[A HERETIC I AM]

13. There ya go! n/t

[Lugnut]

5. If soup is appropriate Sausage Tortellini soup is good.

My recipe makes a huge pot full of this hearty soup. Add a few loaves of fresh Italian bread. a pound of butter and bowls and it's all good.

[struggle4progress]

6. Pot roast is easy with a pressure cooker. Spaghetti always does well.

Depending on your clientele, simple may be good

One of the most popular meals I ever did for extended family (a mix of folk, tween-aged to retired) was also one of the cheapest and simplest: I just took a bunch of Italian sausage and put it in several lidded skillets on a very low stove-top, turning it now and then, while I sliced a bunch of potatoes; when much of the grease had come out of the sausage, I tossed the potatoes in, spooned some grease onto them, and waited a while while the potatoes cooked; when they were about done, I pulled out the sausage, turned the potatoes, and then sliced the sausage and tossed it back in. I served it with a creamy coleslaw, I think: mayo goes well with the potatoes and something wet and crispy will counter the sausage-potato flavor. There was plenty -- and nothing was left

Another easy game is to offer a spread of some sort. Bake some bread, or get some to-warm-in-the-oven french or italian loaves. Add some crackers if you like. Put out a variety of cheeses, maybe some lunch meats. Add some sliced tomato and cucumber, some baby carrots, maybe some broccoli tips, maybe some guacamole. Butter, mustard, mayo. Then offer people hot bread and do-it-yourself sammitches

[spinbaby]

9. Pot roast is an idea.

I'm not willing to fool with a pressure cooker but a big chuck roast in the slow cooker would work. The Italian sausage thing, I'm sorry to say, I find somewhat stomach turning.

[struggle4progress]

14. I get very good results by doing pot roasts quite slowly: I usually cook them over two or three days

I like the pressure cooker because one evening I can put a big frozen block of meat into it, with some water and maybe some wine, bring it up to pressure and then turn it off immediately to cool overnight: it cooks very slowly, and my total time investment for that is about five minutes -- I can do something else while waiting for the pressure cooker to start rattling. When I turn it off, it stays sterile. Next day, late morning or lunchtime, it's good and cool: open it up, check the liquid level, toss in some spices, some crushed or diced canned tomato, quartered onions maybe, some scrubbed halved carrots, some scrubbed de-eyed whole potato -- then back up to pressure and turn off. Total time investment now: maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. This step can be repeated if desired, with the additions split into a first or second phase. That doesn't take more than about thirty minutes spread over two or three days, and there's no worry about bacterial growth

[cbayer]

7. Another idea to consider is assigning meals.

We had a rather large family reunion last Thanksgiving.

I made a poster board with breakfast and dinner for each day. Lunch was leftovers or on your own.

Everyone was given a certain number of post-its and had to put them on either clean-up or cooking slots.

7 days x 2 meals x 2 chores (cook or clean) x 2 people for each meal/chore =56

56/10 adults = 5 - 6 stickies per person

That means that out of 14 meals, each person would participate in some way in 5 - 6 of them and everyone would have a partner for the task.

The cooks are responsible for getting the food, preparing and serving it.

The cleaners are responsible for making sure the kitchen is ready for the cooks and cleaning up after the meal.

The cooks can fix a meal or order in pizza if they want.

The beauty of this is that people that want to cook and are good at it can fix a real treat.

The other beauty is that when you are not assigned, you have no obligation to help. This is a particular treat for those (like myself) who feel they have to always help and gets those sometimes reluctant (often men) to do their share.

Sounds complicated, I know, but it was a hit and we had some great meals.

[spinbaby]

8. We have two cooks and two cleaners in the group

We'll be alternating. The other four adults aren't getting off scott free--they have shopping, transport, and child-care duties.

We do want to get menus nailed down beforehand so we can do all the shopping up front with maybe a run for milk mid-week.

[cbayer]

12. Ah, you have a completely different plan then.

A couple of meals that went really well for us were:

Tacos - put everything out and let people build their own. Suits kids, vegetarians and everyone else.

Lasagna - Can make before you leave and reheat. Easy to add bread and a salad.

Gumbo (we had a very good New Orleans cook)

Grilling hamburgers and hot dogs - again, people can build their own. Add store bought potato salad/slaw.

I love an antipasto meal - salamis, cheese, bread, olives, tampenade, pesto and anything that interests you in a jar from Trader Joes.

Breakfast - bagels, lox, cucumber, red onion, cream cheese - build your own.

Have a great time! I love events like these.