The secret to cooking for a crowd is all about planning and anticipating as well as creative substitutions. Whether you are hosting the family reunion, a holiday event or even a huge block party, the principles of planning are always going to be the same. It can be easy to pull off a huge meal with style and still have enough energy to mingle with guests too.

Planning the Menu when Cooking for a Crowd

Your menu is probably the most important part of cooking for a crowd and will dictate the rest of the event. If possible, choose some dishes that can be made a few weeks in advance and frozen until the big day. This will greatly ease the stress of trying to make everything fresh the day of your event.

When you are searching for a main meat dish, look to your grill instead of your oven or stove top when cooking for a crowd. You could marinate your meat a day before hand and grill outdoors leaving your kitchen open for other food preparations. You could even borrow a grill or two from the neighbors if you need additional grilling space. In addition, you could look to a local catering place and order just the main dish to ease the burden of cooking for a crowd.

The same idea of consulting with a caterer or even a deli can be used for one or two side dishes. Coleslaw and potato salad are two popular side dishes that tend to be time intensive if homemade. Luckily, the deli section of your local grocery often has great prices for these sides. To make cooking for a crowd even easier, look to gourmet bagged salads and loaves of homemade bread to round out the meal.

For dessert options, look to your local bakeries for cakes, cookies and pies, especially if you don’t have the time nor not kitchen space to make them on your own. Call on a few close friends or family attending and ask them to bring a dessert or buy a variety of ice creams and toppings and have an ice cream sundae party after dinner.

Setting Up and Serving when Cooking for a Crowd

When cooking for a crowd, the easiest way to serve the food is via a buffet line and either recruit some teenagers looking to earn a few buck to serve or have everyone help themselves. When having the event outdoors, set up picnic tables covered in inexpensive tablecloths or you could even rent tables and chairs for the day.  For indoor dining, sometimes the dining table is not quite large enough to accommodate everyone. When cooking for a crowd, you might consider removing most of the furniture in your living room and setting up tables and chairs in there.

Keep in mind food safety as well when cooking. Have chafing dishes set up and use crockpots to keep food warm. For chilled food items, serve them in bowls nestled in bowls of crushed ice, especially if there are any items with mayonnaise in them. Unless this is a formal meal that requires the use of china and linens, use paper plates, napkins and plastic cups as they are perfect for easy clean-up when cooking for a crowd.

The bottom line is that you should have a game plan and schedule set in place so that all duties are covered and nothing is forgotten in the mass of people. Delegate duties whenever possible and utilize resources such as a caterer or bakery. Part of the fun of cooking for a crowd is being able to visit with each and every one of them and you cannot do that if you are tied to the kitchen.

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