Menu crisis nearly solved

[cjsmith]

There's a lot of easy stuff I can do, which is a relief.

- Cheese and dried meats platters w/crackers
- Dawn's Famous Hot Dogs In Crock Pot
- Rolled up lavosh sandwiches
- Chopped veggies w/dip
- Fancy olives
- Hummus (on crackers or veggies)
- Cookies, chocolate, etc
- Soft drinks, water, wine, beer

I must apologize to the person who suggested Whole Foods, because I think I'll have to pass up that idea; I took a look at their prices and... well, I didn't faint. (This is expensive already, and I'm not even buying wine -- we'll just wipe out my existing collection.) I am totally happy to chop and arrange a lot of cheese and veggies myself. Sadly, this means the platters won't look anywhere near as pretty.

Two questions left.

1) How do I know how much food I need? (Drinks I'm OK on.) One thing I'm giving up by not using a caterer is that I have to guess at this answer. Assume my menu is just what's written above, and I've got 35 or 40 people. How many pounds of cheese and dried meats are people going to stack onto how many crackers? How many tubs of hummus? How many double-handfuls of chopped celery/jicama/carrots? How many crock pots full of hot dog bits? Rob thinks I'm going overboard and is now threatening to invite more people and not tell me. :)

2) I now own more than one crock pot. If I want to offer an alternative to Hot Dogs In Tangy Sauce:
2a) where do I find and what do I do with party meatballs?
2b) what do I do with those Lil Smokies sausages if I'm too lazy to turn them into Pigs In Blankets? BBQ sauce?

I am keeping records. NEXT time, I will HAVE these answers, darnit. I won't panic. I'll know exactly how much money I should expect to spend if I am inviting "thirty plus spouses". I'll have the crock pots and I'll have the wine glasses and I'll have the serving trays. This could get to be a hobby. In fact, with this kind of initial outlay, it had better become a hobby!

Comments

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

As much as I've liked some of the selection at Whole Foods, there's a reason it's nickname is "Whole Paycheck".

Good luck with your menu! ...Keeping records for next time is a good idea.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, records will be invaluable for next time. We may even get around to ... drum roll ... a housewarming. (January will be eight years since our move.)

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Lil Smokies in BBQ sauce with a can of crushed pineapple. Yummers! Yum Yum Yum Yum!! You can do the same with the meatballs if you want.

You can always freeze cheese. And if crackers are sealed they don't go stale. And if you want to be lazy you can buy bags of already cut up veggies. We get the bags of baby carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.

And who cares if it looks pretty? :) Go to your local Big Lots and grab some inexpensive holiday trays and you are all set. Do you have any random fabric lying around that is colorful? Use it on the table to kind of drape around the different dishes. Also, grab some books or something blocky and drape fabric over it and put a tray on top of it. Makes the table not flat and gives it some interest. That's a trick I learned catering.

Don't forget the simple stuff. Grab a can or three of cashews or mixed nuts and come red and green m&ms. People will eat all of them, I promise.

Mmmm crackers and cheese sounds really good right now. Mmmmm!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Lil Smokies in BBQ sauce with a can of crushed pineapple. Yummers!

Sold! Thanks.

Fortunately, we do have tablecloths. We bought 'em this weekend & will hopefully be able to reuse them in future. Thanks for the "something blocky" trick!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

How long do the Lil Smokies need to burble in the crock pot before serving?

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

I generally figure about 4 oz each of meat and cheese per person--sounds like a lot, and you'll likely have leftovers but it can all be frozen. The other stuff I kind of eyeball.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That means I purchased exactly two times the amount of cheese I need. Maybe I'll skip the meat. Cheese on crackers is yummy, and I have meat things in the crock pot(s).

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Dizzdvl has some great advice. Big/Lots is the right place for the cheap Holiday Trays. Walgreens is probably a good alternative for those, too. One Holiday party I went to years back, the folks setting it up put chips, crackers, and cut bread into holiday *gift bags*. I thought it was festive and quite brilliant. Choose the ones that are more horizontal than vertical.

I recommend only one crock pot of hot dogs in sauce (which are *Akien's* famous recipe, BTW, not mine. :^D ). If you want another crock pot, Dizzdvl's Lil Smokies recipe sounds yummy. (Might have to try that with the ancient package of Lil Smokies in the freezer!).

Your platters will look fine, I'm sure. Just arrange the veggies in groups, the way you've seen on the "professional" trays. Alternate your colors and shapes for a fancier look, e.g., you might have a round plate filled with pie shaped wedges of different veggies, maybe carrot sticks, next to broccoli florets, next to zucchini sticks (these show up more as white than green), next to cherry tomatoes, next to celery sticks, next to cauliflower florets. You can "lift" the dip by setting it on an upturned empty container of the same shape in the center of the plate, which will avoid the difficult center of the pie wedges and keep the dip from getting buried in the middle of the veggies, or separated from the veggie tray itself.

I have some saved party trays (mostly black or silver) kicking about if you'd be interested and if we could figure out how to get them down to you. klrmn works on the other side of the Bay every day, somewhere in the San Mateo area.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I have a couple of cheapo holiday trays (for the veggies) from Target. If I can't get cheese and crackers onto something else I've got, I'll check out Big Lots!

Yep, best I can do is arrange veggies by color. :-)

Thanks!

[eeyore-grrl.livejournal.com]

if you need an extra crockpot tell me. i'll drop it by. i have a 3 quart (ish) one. that i barely use.

good luck

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks! I think I'm set on crock pots, though. Rob is going to kill me if I put out any MORE. :) (Thank GOODNESS I knew where to get one cheap. I was in two other places & saw much more expensive ones. No way!)

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

Rob thinks I'm going overboard and is now threatening to invite more people and not tell me

Just make sure we are on that list. Sounds like fun! And I haven't been to your house in ages.

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

We'll have to have a more general open house next year to show off the various home improvements. This one's going to be entirely pilots...

Perhaps a movie night or two, also.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

A very belated housewarming, at least...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

We'll have to do a housewarming!

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

I make hummus for more than 1/2 the potlucks I go to, or for parties here at the house. It's VERY easy to make and a lot cheaper than pre-made from the store if you're up to it. One standard recipe of 1 can chick peas, 2/3 cup of tahini, 2/3 cup lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of precrushed garlic, along with pita bread cut into triangles will easily feed 8-10 along with all the other goodies you have.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'll have to learn to do this some day. This time I think I'll go with the easy method -- Trader Joe's carries a kind of hummus I adoooooore. How do you moosh it all up? Do you own a blender?

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

We have a $35 Hamilton Beach food processor that's served me well for about 15 years now! (The blender is reserved for margaritas!)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

MMMMMMMmmmmargaritas! :-)

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

Yes, L'il Smokies in the crock in sauce. Its and old fashioned staple of parties. The meatballs can be found frozen in bags. Places like BJ's or Sam's have them prepared and in "party quantity."

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Cool; I'll do those in one crock while the hot dog things in their tangy sauce are in the other. Woohoo! This is sounding like a party I'd want to eat at. :)

[dangerpudding.livejournal.com]

1) I've found that in a party setting with fingerfood you need less food then for a meal (duh). On the other hand, some of that depends on your group and on how the food is set out.

In any case - for 30-40 people, a meal would call for 8-10lbs of meat, so I'd have 5-ish lbs of meat (if you're not doing bread, especially) and the same or a bit more cheese on hand. That may change if you do salami type meats and more interesting cheeses - people are usually a little less likely to pig out on brie.

Lots of crackers - - they last reasonably well, usually. Maybe pita chips for the hummus? (Trader Joes has those, as does costco.)

I'd get something approaching a gallon of hummus - costco probably has that, too. Also, hummus is terribly easy to make, and much cheaper and tastier that way.

3-4 bunches of celery, about the same amounts of other veggies.

(Silly question, but do you have a costco card? If not, I can help out there.. they do party trays for less insane prices, too, and have them ready-made.)

It's worth noting that I tend to over-buy for parties where most people underbuy. In my favor, I ended the summer in the arctic with not a lot left. Hard call. :)

2) Trader Joes carries meatballs. So does costco. I'd do lil'smokies with bbq sauce and maybe some raspberry jam.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'd have 5-ish lbs of meat (if you're not doing bread, especially) and the same or a bit more cheese on hand.

OK, cool; this jives perfectly with ladycelia's answer above. I'll go lighter on the meat because I bought too much cheese. Leftovers here are fine, though -- meat and cheese are things I'll eat.

Wow, I don't usually think of TJ's hummus as expensive or icky, but you're the second person who has mentioned making it instead. I presume this requires a blender?

I actually don't have a Costco card. Thank you for the offer! I may well take you up on it. The only things I don't have yet are the meats, the veggies and dip, the fancy olives, and the hummus.

[wildseakitten.livejournal.com]

little smokies are great in a sauce that's made up of cocktail sauce and grape jelly. just put equal amounts of both in a skillet and melt it. then put the smokies in it in your crock pot. meatballs also work for this. just offer toothpicks in a dish beside the plate for this. this recipe always goes over really well.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cocktail-wieners-ii/detail.aspx

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's really similar to the hot dogs thing Dawn gave me. I'm reassured that it goes over so well!

[stormecho.livejournal.com]

Sounds like things are going well. I'm sure it'll all come off smoothly.

Since it isn't scheduled as a dinner, don't worry about making sure that everyone has a complete meal. When I go to an evening party, and I'm drinking I'm much less likely to eat. You have to figure there will be some people that are just little pickers. Don't think you need enough cheese, veggies, cookies for every single person. No one eats each item, nor do they need a lot of it. Keep track of what does disappear quicker than other things for next time.

Prepare to have leftovers, as it seems you are going to put out quite a lot of stuff.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm getting less nervous as the plan starts to gel.

My leftovers plan is sort of simplistic: everything we're having is stuff I can eat. :-)

[dpolicar]

What I usually do with little party meatballs is put them on a large platter next to a pile of toothpicks and a plate of mustard with a spoon in it.

As for volumes -- pick up about as much food as I would order, then cut that in half. (Which is to say, I'm _so_ not the person you want to ask.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Must remember to put toothpicks on the list.

pick up about as much food as I would order, then cut that in half

[laughter] I know the feeling! That's usually me!

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

Comments & suggestions, after reading everything everyone else has said:

1. I love roll-up sandwiches. It feels more like "food" than crackers & cheese often do -- and I can keep my fingers dry.

2. Hummus *is* super-easy to make. It's also super-easy to make bland, dull, boring hummus. I know, I've done it too many times. (And yes, I *do* know how to use garlic!) Go ahead and buy your hummus this time.

3. Talk to a caterer to get an idea of amounts. Just say that you're starting your plans and need to get some ideas - you're having a party for nn people, and how much will that run you and for how much food? They'll give you info you need.

4. Check cookbooks for suggestions, too. I'll just bet that various editions of "Joy" have info on how much finger-foods to make for gatherings.

5. Juices or juice squeezes as well as soft-drinks and water. If you have anyone who is a non-drinker, they'll appreciate having as many choices as the drinkers do. (This, from personal experience.)

6. If your gathering is going to be more than about 2 hours long, hold back some of the food to set out a little later. People will descend upon the fresh plates like locusts - full plates are very attractive.

7. Ditto with sweets. If your party will be very long, consider holding back most of the sweets for the first bit. Maybe set out some candies, but wait on the cookies, cake, whatever. Again - full plates are very attractive.

8. Do you need people to be leaving by a certain time? If so, be running out of food about then. It gets the message across in subtle ways.

9. If it's not too informal, leave paper bags sitting around for trash & recycling. And label them with BIG FAT markers, too. Make it really obvious & easy for people to help you, and they will. (If you're using paper plates, etc, leave around LOTS of paper bags for trash. People will want to throw their stuff away - we're well-trained for that.) Oh, and prime your bags - put a used paper-plate in one, and an empty beer bottle in another. Or whatever is appropriate, of course.

(Ahh, it's been too long. Makes me want to throw a party in this tiny house we live in.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

2. This sounds sensible. I'll do my learning later. :)

5. Kern's Nectar okay? We have a small pile of that.

8. I never would have thought of timing the food/departure! Thanks!

9. Also never would have thought of priming the bags. Awesome. That'll get the message across with more immediacy than labels do.

I'm getting excited now. I want this dang thing to be this weekend!