Serving a crowd is easy if you stick to family style or buffet meals
When you have eight hungry people to feed, meals that are served buffet or family style are the quickest and easiest way to satisfy everyone. Keep everyone's tastes and dietary preferences in mind when selecting the menu to ensure a successful dinner. Consider using disposable plates, cups, utensils, and serving trays and spoons to facilitate clean-up. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Pot Luck
Italian night is a good theme for a potluck
At a potluck meal, everyone is responsible for cooking a dish for the rest of the group to enjoy. A successful potluck meal requires planning and organizing, but can be the easiest and most inexpensive way to provide a hearty meal for a crowd. Pick a theme for the pot-luck meal to ensure the dishes will go well together. "Italian night" is usually a crowd pleaser. Assign each person with a category like appetizer, main dish, side dish, dessert or drinks. Keep track of what everyone will be bringing so there will be no duplicate dishes. Provide all serving utensils, plates, bowls and silverware for the meal. Pass the dishes around the table family style or set out a buffet for guests to serve themselves.
Taco Bar
A taco or burritto bar is a crowd pleaser
Construct a build-your-own burrito or taco bar for an ethnic crowd pleaser that guests can customize. Set out bowls of toppings like chopped black olives, sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, chopped onion, diced tomato, salsa and hot sauce. Cook a large pot of Spanish rice as a side dish. You can use traditional ground beef as the taco/burrito filler, or offer an assortment of options like refried beans, grilled fish, shredded pork and/or chicken. Set out a big bowl of tortilla chips and an assortment of dips as an appetizer. Guests will then use ingredients to create a meal to their liking.
BBQ
BBQ's are easy and classic dinners for a crowd
BBQ dinners are generally easy to arrange and prepare. Hot dogs, hamburgers and grilled chicken are easy main dishes that cook up quickly and easily on the grill. Add a few side dishes like potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans and macaroni and cheese. You can also purchase big tubs of these BBQ staples at grocery and warehouse stores. Set out hot dog buns, hamburger rolls, sliced tomatoes, onions and cheese, ketchup, mustard and relish and let guests garnish their own sandwiches. Serve easy appetizers like pretzels or chips and dip. Serve a simple fruit salad or watermelon slices for dessert. Use paper plates and plastic utensils for the easiest cleanup.
Tags: crowd pleaser, family style, family style buffet, Italian night, potluck meal, side dish, style buffet