If you’re involved in a church or community organization , you may have been charged with the potentially daunting task of feeding a large crowd. “What should the menu be? How much of each item should I buy? How much will it cost?” might be some of the questions that loom and create a little (or a lot) of anxiety concerning your task. We are here to help. We were asked to plan breakfast for 200 people (more like 225 showed up) and we figured we’d post some of the numbers and tips in hopes that it might help some poor soul out there who might be feeling a little lost about a similar assignment. In the past, this 4th of July breakfast was always a pancake breakfast. Bor-ing. OF COURSE we had to complicate matters by being rebellious and changing up the menu:
1) Nutella Crepes with Berries, Bananas & Whipping Cream
2) Ole Souffle with Salsa & Sour Cream
3) Bacon
4) Grapes
There may have been a few traditionalists who didn’t appreciate our shaking things up, but we did hear the phrase “best 4th of July breakfast we’ve ever had” thrown around more than a few times, so we think it went over pretty well.
Before any further ado, let us disclose that this isn’t the cheapest menu out there. If you don’t have this kind of budget (about $625 total for food and disposable tins), stop right here and head for the pancake mix isle (there’s nothing wrong with pancakes, by-the-way).
Tip: If you are doing all of the shopping yourself, be sure to plan ahead for fridge space. Reserve some space in the fridge’s of a few friends if you know you won’t be able to accommodate this kind of volume:
Plan for how brown your bananas will get during time lapsed between time of purchase and serving time and buy the appropriate ripeness.
Santa needs elves and so will you. We’ve found that people are happy to help when provided with the ingredients, a disposable way to convey the assignment, and a simple, easy-to-follow recipe. We asked 5 people to make 2 Ole Souffles each as it’s just as easy to assemble and throw two in the oven as it is one.
Each souffle kit included a clear recipe and every ingredient was in a disposable bag or container. Each volunteer was given amounts to double the recipe, but certain ingredients were separated into two halves, eliminating any guesswork (for example, each recipe calls for 8 oz sour cream, so two baggies containing 8 oz of sour cream in each bag were given to each volunteer, as opposed to one 16 oz bag). Ask your volunteers to come to you and collect the ingredients, eliminating the need for you to drive around for hours making deliveries (volunteers to cook bacon are needed too and that’s a lot of driving for you to do yourself).
You will need 5 griddles going for crepes with 7 servers (a couple extra hands on the line came in handy). Two crepes can be made at a time on each griddle. The servers make their crepes by laying a crepe on the griddle (about medium-high heat), slathering it with 2-3 tablespoons of Nutella, letting it heat up a bit (the crepes are pre-cooked and things just need to get warm and melty), folding it into a triangle (fold in half, then half again), and placing it into a disposable tin for patrons to snatch:
A separate table for strawberries, blueberries, bananas, Redi Wip and grapes eliminates congestion at the crepe-making station. Ask volunteers to show up an hour early to wash fruit and cut strawberries and bananas as they tend to become mushy if washed and cut the night before.
Nine volunteers will be required to cook bacon – 4 pounds per volunteer. It takes about 15 minutes to cook each batch and it will take each volunteer about an hour to cook their 4 pounds of bacon. It isn’t a super labor-intensive job but does take listening for the timer from the TV room, so it’s worth mentioning to your bacon elves to reserve an hour to devote to this job.
Tip: We don’t love the method of placing a rack on a cookie sheet for cooking bacon. The rack gets really gross and the bacon doesn’t cook any better as far as we’re concerned. Simply place some heavy-duty foil on a cookie sheet and bake the bacon at 400 degrees until crisp, then transfer to paper towels. We wished we would have provided paper towels to each of our bacon volunteers. Be sure and give each volunteer a disposable tin with which to convey their bacon to the event. We noticed that some batches of bacon were brought less crisp than others. People were searching for more crisp pieces, so suggest that your volunteers bring their bacon on the crisp side.
A separate table for Ole Souffle, bacon, salsa, sour cream, and Sriracha sauce is a must. We suggest setting this table up so it’s the first stop people have to make upon entering the event. We had our crepe-making line and fruit table in first position and we think that people may have come back for crepe seconds before ever hitting the souffle/bacon table, thereby filling up on crepes and leaving little room for the other half of the offerings.
This truly is a beloved breakfast item. It will all make sense once you behold the amount of cheese that goes into it:
To make ahead of time, you can assemble the dish up until this point (see below) and store the egg mixture in a separate bowl (covered), refrigerate both components, and pour the egg mixture on top of the casserole just before time to bake.
Final thoughts: Be sure and have extension cords on hand for the griddles. Our breakers kept tripping at the church, but that’s sort of unavoidable. You will need 14 volunteers total to cook souffles and bacon.
To feed 200 people:
CREPES: About 1.5 crepes/person = 300 crepes
OLE SOUFFLE: 10 (9X13 pans)
BACON: 2 slices per person (plus 1 extra package)
GRAPES: 16 lbs
CREPES: Costco, 16 packages @ 20 crepes/package = 320 crepes. 16 packages @ $5.99/each pack = $95.84
NUTELLA: Costco, 6 double packs (33.5 oz jars X 12) = 6 double packs @ $11.99/each pack = $71.94
STRAWBERRIES: Costco, 32 lbs, $55.84
BLUEBERRIES: Smart & Final, 18 lbs X $2 each = $36
BANANAS: Smart & Final, 70 bananas = 25 lbs, $18.64
REDDI WHIP: Costco, 9 cans = 3 double-packs @ $8.89/each pack = $26.67
BACON: Costco (Kirkland Brand), 36 lbs = 9 packages @ $11.99 each = $107.91
LARGE EGGS: Smart & Final – Need 80 eggs, (we over-bought) a box of 150 for $14.99
DICED GREEN CHILES: Smart & Final, 20 small cans @ $1.09 each = $21.80
CORN TORTILLAS: Smart & Final, (need 40), package of 56 small = $2.50
SOUR CREAM: Costco, need 80 oz plus some for serving, 3 containers @ $4.39 = $13.17
ROMA TOMATOES (any other tomato will lend too much water to the dish): Costco, 20 tomatoes, 2 packages (assuming you get 10 in each package) @ $3.49 = $6.98
MEXICAN-BLEND CHEESE: Costco, Need 15 lbs = 3 double-packs (5 lbs in each double-pack) @ $10.89 = $32.67
ONION SALT, GARLIC POWDER, CUMIN – (Walmart) 5 teaspoons each
SALSA: Smart & Final, 1 large bottle of picante @ $3.99
RED SEEDLESS GRAPES: Costco, 16 lbs, 4 containers @ $6.99 each = $27.96
WATER: Smart & Final – 13 gallons. We held this event in the summer and you could get away with 9 gallons in cooler months
ICE: 20 lbs (we did not purchase this)
9X13 DISPOSABLE TINS w/ lids: Walmart – Need 30, $2 per tin = $60
*PAPER TOWELS FOR YOUR BACON VOLUNTEERS
TOTAL = About $625
- 2 small cans diced green chiles
- 4 small corn tortillas, torn into pieces
- 1.5 lbs grated Mexican blend cheese
- 2 roma tomatoes, sliced
- 8 large eggs
- 8 oz. sour cream, plus more for topping
- ½ tsp. onion salt
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- ½ tsp. ground cumin
- paprika, for sprinkling
- Salsa, for serving
- Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
- Lay half of chiles in bottom of dish.
- Top with half of tortillas and half the cheese.
- Arrange all tomato slices on top.
- Repeat layers, using remaining chiles, tortillas, and cheese.
- Beat eggs, sour cream, and all spices in a bowl until smooth.
- Pour egg mixture evenly over layers. Sprinkle with paprika.
- Bake, uncovered, at 350 for approximately 45-50 minutes (until dish is puffy and set in the center). Let stand approximately 10 minutes before cutting.
- Serve with a dollop of sour cream and salsa.
- *NOTE: You can assemble this dish the night before and bake it the next morning. Just keep the egg mixture in a separate bowl and pour over the ingredients in the 9X13 dish just before baking.
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