Final yr I used to be in control of all of the meals for a big lady’s camp for church. We fed 260-270 individuals for almost every week, and I made a deliberate effort to take tons and much and many notes alongside the way in which so as to share every thing with you!
For these in control of planning meals for youth camps and the like, there are various constraints and circumstances distinctive to every scenario, like:
- Funds
- Dimension of group
- Location and providers obtainable for cooking/serving (stoves, fridges, energy, and so forth)
- Meals allergy symptoms to work round
- Size of the occasion
I received’t be delving an excessive amount of into budgets and cooking on a price range as that issue will fluctuate broadly between teams.
I additionally acknowledge that some individuals may be cooking out of coolers and over a campfire for all of the meals whereas others have a gourmand kitchen and 5 fridges at their disposal. (VERY jealous of that final group 😉)
The knowledge I’m sharing on this put up is concentrated on:
- prep suggestions
- portions
- advised menus
- useful sources
- meals allergy workarounds
- and so forth
My hope is that this Data might be useful and relevant regardless of should you’re within the mountains at a church camp or on a seashore for a household reunion.
MY TOP THREE TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Tip #1: Get Your self a Committee That Will Go to the Ends of the Earth With You
An excellent committee is every thing! I had six of essentially the most wonderful girls on the committee with me, and so they had been so extremely useful.
I couldn’t have achieved it with out them, and if I ever handle to get myself into this example once more, it will include the clear caveat that I might solely do it if I had the identical committee. (Additionally, if my price range might be elevated by $2,000, that will be fantastico, ok’thanks.)
Executing meals for this measurement of group isn’t only a week-of type of factor. We deliberate for months to make it occur. I feel formally we held two precise in-person conferences to plan. In any other case, we did most of our planning/strategizing through texts.
A number of on my committee labored full-time and/or had main life occasions happening main as much as camp, so their principal tasks had been brainstorming, grocery procuring (extraordinarily useful! particularly the few days main as much as camp), and hands-on assist up at camp.
Others had extra time obtainable within the months main as much as camp and had been instrumental in serving to prep and freeze meals.
The week of, everybody that would make it was all fingers on deck. Every single day of camp, we had been up at 5:30 a.m. and on our toes till 9:30 p.m.
Every night time earlier than we hit the sack, we’d take a look at the following day’s schedule collectively and resolve who would deal with what. In fact, all of us pitched in the place we noticed a necessity, however assigning the duties helped us be efficient with our time and permit everybody to have a fast break right here and there.
Actually, it couldn’t have run smoother for us up at camp. The truth that my committee was low-drama, high-working, and fun-loving was such an enormous blessing.
End up a committee you may plan with, snicker with, work with, and nonetheless love one another after it’s all mentioned and achieved!
Tip #2: A Word About Meals Allergic reactions
Sure, this step comes earlier than any of the menu planning. As early as you may, work with those that are attending to determine what meals allergy symptoms you will have to work round.
Figuring out the meals allergy symptoms firstly allowed us to plan most of the meals to be naturally gluten- and egg-free. We additionally had a number of ladies who had peanut/nut allergy symptoms, so we made a concerted effort to make all meals, snacks, and all the camp kitchen peanut- and nut-free.
For the meals or meals objects that weren’t gluten- or egg-free, we supplied a gluten- and egg-free model – planning the menu after figuring out meals allergy symptoms helped us to streamline what meals to make.
For many of the baked items, we additionally made a gluten-free model principally simply subbing in gluten-free flour 1:1 for the all-purpose flour.
The one exception was the selfmade brownies. I used this brownie mix aff. hyperlink as a result of it has such nice evaluations (and I can attest from snitching: DELICIOUS).
I additionally talked with mother and father and did analysis on how to ensure we didn’t cross-contaminate whereas prepping and cooking at camp.
Most of our egg-free ladies might have gluten, so I made a number of batches of those egg-free cookies forward of time (common chocolate chip and double chocolate chip) for them.
For the few attendees that had been gluten- and egg-free, I made the boxed brownies above utilizing applesauce for the eggs and likewise had Heavenly Hunks aff. hyperlink obtainable for snacks/treats in addition to an EF/GF blondie bar.
Tip #3: Make Every thing You Can Forward of Time and Freeze It
Making meals forward of time was our committee’s superpower when feeding 260 individuals for lady’s camp.
After we met as a committee and set a menu, I put collectively a calendar from March till the primary week of June, and I set a meals precedence for every week.
I texted my committee the week earlier than and mentioned “subsequent week is pulled pork week” (or cookie week, and so forth). Anybody who might assist cook dinner/bake for that week texted again and we divided and conquered.
I, or certainly one of my committee members, would go to the shop on Monday after which farm out the elements to whoever might assist.
I tackled the entire gluten-free and egg-free desserts and meal diversifications and reserved particular days for that the place I wasn’t cooking or baking something that would cross-contaminate.
We principally prepped and cooked every thing forward of time that will freeze nicely.
This meant that we needed to transport A LOT of frozen meals as much as camp (it was about two hours away). The great thing about that is that we didn’t want coolers for all of it.
As a result of most of it was frozen in freezer luggage, we piled them in layers in massive totes and so they stayed frozen on the way in which as much as camp the place we put them within the fridge and so they thawed slowly there.
The opposite upside to prepping and freezing a lot of the meals was that it meant we weren’t dealing with or prepping or cooking any uncooked meat whereas we had been there.
(One of many principal causes we prepped a lot forward was as a result of our camp kitchen didn’t have a working oven till the week earlier than…and we knew it was a risk the oven wouldn’t be working in any respect. In the long run, it *type* of labored, however we had been glad to have cooked virtually every thing beforehand!)
We did have to search out plenty of freezer house within the months main as much as camp.
We despatched out a message to a number of church congregations and located a pair individuals who had plenty of house of their massive chest freezers, and it was loads to freeze every thing that we prepped.
PREP AHEAD TIPS
- All the meat was cooked forward of time in large electric roasting pans (and some slow cookers) aff. hyperlinks.
- These liners for electric roasting pans and these liners for slow cookers had been revolutionary – not just for the prep cooking but additionally up at camp for reheating. It saved HOURS on scrubbing out crusty roasting pans and crockpots aff. hyperlinks above.
- These 2-gallon freezer ziploc bags aff. hyperlink had been so useful with the huge amount of meals we had been freezing. They helped reduce the variety of luggage we had to make use of and bear in mind to move.
- Cookies had been all baked, cooled and frozen in gallon freezer ziplock luggage and these containers aff. hyperlink
- Even the Swig sugar cookies had been baked, frosted, sprinkled and frozen. They freeze and thaw nice even frozen (and had been the hit dessert at camp!).
THE MENU + PRINTABLES
Under was our menu for camp.
My purpose was to have one FRESH merchandise for dinner (ultimately, this was one of many highlights for the ladies, particularly the caesar salad, cucumbers and watermelon) and one FROM-SCRATCH merchandise for a house cooked really feel.
I saved the menu above as a excessive decision .pdf in photoshop and printed it as an engineering print at Staples (very cheap to get a big black and white print). We hung this up within the camp kitchen, in addition to the day-by-day schedules, which I’ll share beneath.
Under are particulars about every meal that we served up on the camp.
**For a printable/.pdf model of those particulars with bigger font, click on right here**
(Maintain scrolling as a result of there’s A LOT of more information beneath these menu charts.)
Hawaiian Haystacks Dinner (for 60)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Haystacks | Used this recipe however made all the batch gluten-free utilizing cornstarch as a substitute of flour. Made it the day earlier than, refrigerated it, and reheated up at camp. | 8X batch fed 60 individuals | ||
| Rice | Cooked the rice up at camp (baked it by combining 8 cups rinsed rice + 1 1/2 tablespoon salt in a big disposable roasting pan and pouring over 2 1/2 quarts boiling water, protecting the pan tightly with aluminum foil and baking at 350 levels F. for 45 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes, then fluff) | 15 cups dry lengthy grain white rice for 60 individuals | ||
| Toppings | Served it with chow mein noodles, chopped tomatoes, chopped olives, canned and drained mandarin oranges and pineapple tidbits, shredded cheese, and some different random toppings. When the youth leaders had been serving to plan lady’s camp, this was their high requested meal. 😉 | One #10 can of mandarin oranges and pineapple tidbits was loads. Deliberate about 16 cups every of most contemporary toppings and 18-20 cups of shredded cheese (1/4 cup cheese per individual) |
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| Selfmade Rolls | Made and froze this recipe for French bread rolls forward of time. Allergy Pleasant Variation: used gluten-free biscuits (particulars underneath “Tuesday breakfast”). |
Deliberate for 2 rolls per individual | ||
| Grapes | Served crimson and inexperienced grapes; lower the grapes into small bunches | 3 (4-lb) containers | ||
| Brownies + Ice Cream | Made this recipe forward of time – baked, cooled, lower into squares and frozen (thawed earlier than serving). Allergy Pleasant Variation: made these delicious gluten-free boxed brownies aff. hyperlink; had GF/EF blondie bars. |
Made 5 batches and lower every 9X13-inch pan into 12 servings. 7 quarts of vanilla ice cream |
Tater Tot Breakfast Bake (for 60)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In a single day Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole |
Made this recipe and froze (unbaked) forward of time. When prepping, we assembled double batches into massive disposable baking pans somewhat than making seven 9X13-inch pans. Lesson realized: it took loads longer to thaw than anticipated which meant it wanted an extended baking time. Allergy Pleasant: this meal is of course gluten-free (double examine tater tots and sausage for gluten elements); we didn’t have any egg-free eaters on this group. |
7X batch fed 60 individuals | ||
| Biscuits Butter/Jam |
A church member donated biscuits from an area bakery for this morning – we reheated and served them with butter and jam. They had been a success. Allergy Pleasant Variation: I made a batch of gluten-free biscuits (this recipe with gluten-free flour) forward of time and we baked them that morning. |
Deliberate on two biscuits per individual however might have deliberate for one biscuit per individual and been fantastic | ||
| Orange Slices | Used one 20 pound field of oranges understanding we might have leftovers (we used the leftover orange slices for snack time within the afternoon). | 15-18 sliced oranges for 60 individuals | ||
| Milk Sizzling Chocolate Apple Cider |
Sizzling chocolate and apple cider had been the hit of lady’s camp (a lot in order that we needed to cease placing it out so early within the morning as a result of the ladies had been consuming a number of cups of it after which not wanting breakfast). Each night time earlier than mattress, we boiled water on the range and poured it into 4 5-gallon insulated water coolers. It was loads sizzling the following morning. Lesson realized: nobody actually drank milk for breakfast. | Deliberate for one sizzling chocolate packet per individual per morning and one apple cider packet for each 4 individuals per morning. |
Ham + Cheese Croissant Lunch (for 60)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat Ham + Cheese Croissants | Prepped these up at camp utilizing Costco croissants. Brushed this combination on each side of the croissant: 1/2 cup melted butter + 4 tablespoons Dijon mustard + 3 tablespoon honey + 1/4 teaspoon salt + pinch of pepper (14X’d this combination) adopted by thinly shaved deli ham and sliced cheddar cheese. Put the assembled croissants in lined electrical roasters and coated with foil + lid and heated at 200 levels for a pair hours till the cheese was melted (watch rigorously as a result of the croissants tucked within the corners can burn). Allergy Pleasant Variation: made a model of this sandwich in a sanitized panini press with gluten-free bread. |
Deliberate for one croissant per individual. We lower them in half earlier than serving; about 1/3 of the group solely took half a sandwich so we had some leftover | ||
| Chips | Used lunch bag-sized chips from Costco in a spread field. | Solely about 2/3 of the group took chips – served extras for an additional lunch and snack time | ||
| Veggies + Ranch |
Provided cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots and celery. The cucumbers and grape tomatoes had been by far the largest hit (hardly anybody opted for celery). Served the ranch in two massive bowls with small ladles. | 12-15 sliced English cucumbers; 3 (2-lb) containers grape tomatoes; 4 (2-lb) luggage child carrots; 2 (1-gallon) jugs of ranch lasted for 3 lunches |
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| Apple Slices | Cored and sliced the apples and served on massive trays. | 24 medium apples for 60 individuals | ||
| Cookies | One among my committee members made scrumptious chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (baked, frozen and thawed). Allergy Pleasant Variation: had many GF/EF cookie choices (see Tip #2 within the put up). |
Deliberate for one cookie per individual |
Baked Ziti Dinner (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baked Ziti | Ended up simply being a lazy pasta bake utilizing this recipe. Initially we had deliberate to assemble and freeze this forward of time, however after we realized the astronomical quantity of freezer house we would want for that many pans of pasta bake (and fridge house up at camp), certainly one of my committee members advised we deal with it between lunch and dinner, and though it was insanely busy (boiling pasta, simmering sauce, assembling and baking), it labored out. Allergy Pleasant Variation: in a separate pot, we boiled gluten-free/egg-free noodles and made a separate GF/EF batch. |
17X batch of the recipe fed 260 individuals | ||
| Breadsticks | An area bread outlet (Franz) gave us a reduction for many of our bread merchandise, together with Seattle Worldwide brown ‘n serve breadsticks. We brushed them with olive oil + Johnny’s garlic unfold seasoning and heated them on the griddles within the camp kitchen. Allergy Pleasant Variation: used Dealer Joe’s gluten-free toasted English muffins. |
Deliberate for 2 breadsticks per individual; might have gotten by with one breadstick per individual (some took two, others didn’t take any) | ||
| Caesar Salad |
Used the Caesar salad packets from Costco. HUGE hit. | Used about 22 luggage for 250-ish individuals. Every bag serves about 12 | ||
| Watermelon | Cut the watermelon into sticks and served in massive stainless serving bowls | 4-5 massive watermelon serves 260 individuals | ||
| Big Cookies |
Made these blended oatmeal chocolate chip cookies bakery-style (bigger than regular – two #40 scoops per cookie). Allergy Pleasant Variation: made a gluten-free batch (with gluten-free flour and gluten-free oats) and likewise provided heavenly hunks for GF/EF possibility. |
Deliberate for one cookie per individual. Served any extras at snack instances | ||
| Root Beer Floats (Late Evening Snack) |
This was requested by the leaders in control of planning camp. One among my committee members made a run into the small city 45-minutes away for the ice cream as a result of we didn’t have freezer house. | 10 gallons vanilla ice cream; 16 liters of root beer (for 200 servings) |
French Toast Breakfast (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| French Toast | Used Texas Toast bread (donated/discounted from native Franz bakery outlet). Whisked collectively milk and eggs for dipping and cooked the French Toast on two massive griddles in camp kitchen and stored heat in massive roasting pans coated with foil within the oven. Allergy Pleasant Variations: used gluten-free bread (cooked in a separate sanitized skillet) and used a retailer purchased vegan egg substitute for egg-free ladies (cooked in a separate skillet additionally). |
400 slices of French Toast (about 25 loaves) for about 260 individuals. Used about 16 dozen eggs and 3-4 gallons milk | ||
| Scrambled Eggs |
Added scrambled eggs for a heartier breakfast. | Scrambled 28 dozen eggs for about 175 servings | ||
| Butter Syrup Jam |
Used tubs of spreadable butter. Syrup was way more common than jam, however even nonetheless, we didn’t undergo almost as a lot syrup as we thought we wanted. | Two massive tubs of spreadable butter; 1 1/2 (64-ounce) jugs of syrup |
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| Sausage Hyperlinks |
Heated these within the oven in disposable aluminum pans. Bought the turkey sausage hyperlinks from Costco. We deliberate for 2 sausage hyperlinks per individual however had loads leftover. Allergy-Pleasant Variations: purchased sausage that was egg- and gluten-free. |
1 – 1.5 sausage hyperlinks per individual | ||
| Milk OJ Sizzling Choc Apple Cider |
As talked about underneath “Tuesday Morning – Breakfast” only a few individuals drank milk or OJ for breakfast in favor of consuming sizzling chocolate and apple cider. | Deliberate for one sizzling chocolate packet per individual per morning and one apple cider packet for each 4 individuals per morning. |
Strolling Tacos Lunch (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strolling Tacos |
Used this recipe (intentionally as a result of the rice helped stretch the bottom beef and made it heartier). Allergy Pleasant Variation: this recipe is of course gluten-free. |
22X recipe for 260-270 servings | ||
| Corn Chips | Bought 2-ounce luggage of corn chips (discovered them on-line; tougher to search out than 1-ounce luggage). Some piled filling and toppings contained in the bag; others dumped bag of chips onto plate and loaded up that approach. | Deliberate for one bag of chips per individual | ||
| Toppings | Offered lettuce, bitter cream, shredded cheese, salsa, olives, chopped tomatoes. | 7 Costco packs of romaine (with six romaine hearts in every bundle) 1 (64-ounce) jar of salsa; 5 (2.5-lb) luggage of Mexican shredded cheese; 2 #10 cans sliced olives; 4 (3-lb) tubs bitter cream; 30 cups chopped tomatoes (about 30 medium tomatoes) |
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| Cuties (Oranges) |
In hindsight, we didn’t want a fruit facet dish for this meal. Only a few individuals took a clementine cutie with their meal. | Deliberate for one cutie per individual. Ended up serving them for snack since they didn’t get eaten at dinner | ||
| Veggies + Ranch |
Provided cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots and celery. The cucumbers and grape tomatoes had been by far the largest hit (hardly anybody opted for celery). Served the ranch in two massive bowls with small ladles. | 12-15 sliced English cucumbers; 3 (2-lb) containers grape tomatoes; 4 (2-lb) luggage child carrots; 2 (1-gallon) jugs of ranch lasted for 3 lunches |
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| Selfmade Caramels |
Used this recipe and made these two weeks prematurely and stored them saved in a tightly coated container at cool room temperature. Allergy Pleasant Variation: these caramels are naturally gluten- and egg-free. |
Deliberate about two caramels per individual. Made 5 double batches (equates to 5 9X13-inch pans of caramels). |
Pulled Pork Sandwich Dinner (for 260 -270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulled Pork Sandwiches |
Made this pork recipe prematurely (cooking massive portions in electrical roasters), shredded, and froze it (with out BBQ sauce). Used the brioche buns from Costco – they’re fairly massive; smaller buns would have been simply fantastic. Allergy Pleasant Variations: used gluten-free hamburger buns from Dealer Joe’s. |
Cooked 80 kilos of boneless pork shoulder for 270 individuals (calculated 1/3 pound uncooked meat per individual); one bun per individual | ||
| BBQ Sauce | Served the BBQ sauce individually for individuals so as to add to their sandwich. | 5 gallons BBQ sauce | ||
| Potato Salad |
We purchased ready potato salad and scooped it out and served it in massive bowls. About half the group took a serving of potato salad (which is what we figured prematurely). | 8 (3-lb) tubs of potato salad for 130-140 servings | ||
| Watermelon | Cut the watermelon into sticks and served in massive stainless serving bowls | 4-5 massive watermelon serves 260 individuals | ||
| Corn | This was in all probability the favourite a part of this dinner (heard plenty of rave evaluations). Blended quite a lot of white and yellow frozen corn in massive disposable aluminum pans with 1/4 cup sugar and a pair of tablespoons butter for each 5 kilos of corn; cowl with foil and warmth within the oven at 350 levels F simply till heated by way of (don’t need it to over cook dinner or boil); stirred nicely earlier than serving and gave it sprinkle of salt. | 8 (5-lb) luggage frozen corn (number of white and yellow) | ||
| S’Mores Cookie Bars |
Used this recipe and made it into bar type by tripling the batch and dividing the triple batch between two half sheet pans (baked for about 25 minutes). Minimize into squares (24 servings from every sheet pan), froze in ziploc luggage and thawed earlier than serving. Allergy Pleasant Variation: served gluten-free cookies from Tuesday (nonetheless contemporary within the fridge) and these egg-free cookies. Had heavenly hunks obtainable for GF/EF possibility. |
Made 12 sheet pans of bars (4 triple batches) |
Bagel Cream Cheese + Yogurt Breakfast (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bagels | Served plain bagels and blueberry bagels (bought these at a big low cost from Franz native bakery outlet). Didn’t toast or warmth them up previous to serving. Allergy Pleasant Variation: served gluten-free bagels from Dealer Joe’s. |
30 (6-ct) luggage of bagels (most most well-liked plain bagels) | ||
| Cream Cheese |
Served quite a lot of plain and flavored WHIPPED cream cheeses (essential to serve the whipped cream cheese for simple spreading, particularly if consuming outside on a cold morning with the cream cheese chilly). Flavored cream cheese (strawberry and blueberry) was way more common than plain cream cheese. | 20 cups whipped cream cheese | ||
| Yogurt | Served vanilla, strawberry and peach yogurt. If doing it once more, would solely serve vanilla, particularly with all of the toppings (the vanilla yogurt went first and ran out). | 1500 ounces yogurt | ||
| Granola + Toppings | Served honey oat granola (bought in bulk at US Meals) – the feel was very piecey (not clumpy) and was excellent for yogurt parfaits (and stretched additional than cluster granola). Served blueberries, bananas and chopped strawberries. Strawberries had been way more common than blueberries (and bananas not common in any respect). The most well-liked topping was mini chocolate chips! Allergy Pleasant Variation: had gluten-free granola obtainable. All granola was nut-free. |
10 kilos granola 40 kilos strawberries, chopped 5 kilos blueberries 15-18 cups mini chocolate chips |
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| OJ + Sizzling Choc + Apple Cider |
As talked about underneath “Tuesday Morning – Breakfast” only a few individuals drank milk or OJ for breakfast in favor of consuming sizzling chocolate and apple cider. | Deliberate for one sizzling chocolate packet per individual per morning and one apple cider packet for each 4 individuals per morning. |
Meatball Subs Lunch (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meatball Subs | Heated retailer purchased frozen meatballs in marinara sauce in massive electrical roasters. Served on sturdy hoagie buns (positively want a sturdy bun for these). Assembled by sprinkling mozzarella cheese on bun FIRST (so it will soften), adopted by 4 meatballs and sauce. This was probably the most common meals! The ladies liked it. Additionally, this was the ONLY meal we dished up for the ladies, which went quick (two strains) and was a very good thought in hindsight. Allergy Pleasant Variation: made batch of GF/EF meatballs and froze for camp; heated them in sauce separate from principal batch. Served on GF sizzling canine buns from Dealer Joe’s. |
6 (6-lb) luggage frozen meatballs 16 #10 cans marinara (Roseli model) 8 (2-lb) luggage of shredded mozzarella cheese |
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| Chips | Used lunch bag-sized chips from Costco in a spread field. | Solely about 2/3 of the group took chips – served extras for snack time | ||
| Veggies + Ranch | Provided cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots and celery. The cucumbers and grape tomatoes had been by far the largest hit (hardly anybody opted for celery). Served the ranch in two massive bowls with small ladles. | 12-15 sliced English cucumbers; 3 (2-lb) containers grape tomatoes; 4 (2-lb) luggage child carrots; 2 (1-gallon) jugs of ranch lasted for 3 lunches |
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| Grapes | Served crimson and inexperienced grapes; lower the grapes into small bunches | 15 (3-lb) containers | ||
| Swig Sugar Cookies | Used this recipe (used baking powder instead of cream of tartar). These cookies freeze nice even frosted and sprinkled. Bake them, frost them, add sprinkles, then place in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze. Place frozen cookies in ziploc luggage (can double layer – add parchment or wax paper in between layers) and freeze. Allergy Pleasant Variation: made gluten-free batch utilizing gluten-free flour 1:1 in recipe. Provided egg-free cookies as nicely. Had heavenly hunks obtainable for GF/EF possibility. |
Made 250 common cookies; 1 dozen GF cookies |
Cafe Rio Meal (for 325)
*had additional guests/leaders this night time*
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cafe Rio Pork | Made this pork recipe prematurely (cooking massive portions in electrical roasters), shredded, and froze it (with out the ending sauce and spice combination – introduced each these issues as much as camp and mixed with the pork to reheat in electrical roasters). Allergy Pleasant Variations: used gluten-free elements for the pork. |
Cooked 98-100 kilos of boneless pork shoulder for 325 individuals (calculated 1/3 pound uncooked meat per individual) | ||
| Black Beans | Heated black beans with retailer purchased salsa in electrical roasters. | 5 #10 cans black beans, drained 2 (64-ounce) jugs salsa |
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| Cilantro Lime Rice | Cheated right here and acquired cilantro lime rice from Costa Vida with the financial savings from discounted/donated bread (somebody introduced the rice as much as us midweek); boiled the luggage of rice in water till sizzling and stored heat in electrical roasters to serve. | 50 kilos rice | ||
| Tortillas | Deliberate for 275 tortillas (for a bunch of 325) which ended up about proper. Allergy Pleasant Variation: provided gluten-free tortillas. |
275 flour tortillas 12 GF tortillas |
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| Toppings | Offered lettuce, bitter cream, shredded cheese, salsa, olives, chopped tomatoes and guacamole. We used much less toppings this night time than we did when serving strolling tacos. | 5 Costco packs of romaine (with six romaine hearts in every bundle) 1 (64-ounce) jar of salsa; 4 (2.5-lb) luggage of Mexican shredded cheese; 2 #10 cans sliced olives; 3 (3-lb) tubs bitter cream; 20 cups chopped tomatoes 4 Costco packs guacamole |
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| Cilantro Lime Dressing | A committee member made all of the cilantro lime dressing utilizing this recipe and introduced it as much as camp the day of with different groceries. We served it in massive squeeze bottles. | 12X batch of cilantro lime dressing | ||
| Watermelon | Cut the watermelon into sticks and served in massive stainless serving bowls. We acquired by with much less watermelon this night time as a result of the meal was so hearty. | 4-5 massive watermelon served 300+ individuals |
Seize-and-Go Breakfast (260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leftovers from week | Initially we had been going to have somebody arising for Thursday night time’s dinner convey us 250 Costco muffins for the grab-and-go breakfast the following morning (that is the morning everybody was packing up and leaving camp).
Nonetheless, we had so many leftovers to make use of: orange slices, bagels, bananas, snacks (granola bars, applesauce packets, and so forth) that we solely ended up buying 100 costco muffins and lower them in half. The ladies had PLENTY to place of their breakfast luggage and so they had been residence by midday. |
270 paper luggage 100 Costco muffins – number of flavors, lower in half |
Snacks (served 1X a day within the afternoon)
We had been tasked with offering a snack within the afternoon. In hindsight, I’m undecided the snack was vital. The ladies had plenty of meals/snacks/junk at their very own campsites, and we additionally had plenty of leftover cookies and objects from meals that we might put out and the ladies would snack on in the event that they had been hungry.
These had been the snacks we had available to offer, however ultimately, we used most of them for the grab-and-go breakfast on Friday morning.
- String cheese
- Granola bars
- Applesauce packets
- Cuties (oranges)
- Heavenly Hunks
- Leftovers
HOW TO FIGURE OUT QUANTITIES
I gave plenty of suggestions within the above tables about portions, however here’s a fast overview of how I calculated the portions (and what I realized from having leftovers in plenty of areas!).
- Meat (for meat-centric meals): 1/3 pound meat (raw) per individual for meat-centric meals (like sloppy joes, pulled pork sandwiches, and so forth)
- Meat for less-meat meals: 1/4 pound meat (raw) per individual for much less meat-centric meals (like spaghetti, Hawaiian Haystack gravy, and so forth)
- French Toast: two slices French toast per individual; for the egg/milk combination use 1 egg + 1/4 cup milk for each 2 slices bread.
- Watermelon: 50 servings for common to massive measurement watermelon
- Rice: 1/4 to 1/3 cup DRY rice per individual
- Pasta: 2 ounces pasta per individual (for this simple pasta bake, we ended up needing even lower than that – in all probability depending on our explicit group who had eaten loads through the day so not ravenous at dinner, and we additionally had plenty of facet dishes).
- Ice Cream: 18-20 servings per gallon of ice cream
- Root Beer (for root beer floats): 10-12 servings per liter of root beer
Let me know within the feedback you probably have some other particular amount questions – or examine up above within the tables for every meal. I included plenty of suggestions there!
ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
Right here is the tools we couldn’t have lived with out at lady’s camp.
- Electrical roasters: we had eight of these at camp (needed to scatter them round to totally different retailers if we had been utilizing all of them), however they had been invaluable at heating and cooking meals each prepping for camp and up at camp.
- Electrical roaster liners: my total committee agreed that these liners single-handedly saved us at camp. We used the electrical roasters for almost each meal. The truth that we didn’t should a number of of them clear after every meal was a much-needed life (and again) saver.
- Helpful chopper: certainly one of my committee members introduced this chopper to camp (I didn’t have one earlier than, however I used to be transformed after camp and promptly purchased one). Although we simply had one, it was revolutionary for chopping strawberries and tomatoes, to call only a few issues. I feel the outline states it doesn’t work for tomatoes, however it labored nicely for us utilizing agency cherry tomatoes (and a agency hand!).
- Knife sharpener: we did plenty of different chopping too – cucumbers, lettuce, and so forth. Our knives did time beyond regulation obligation and a knife sharpener was essential to maintain them doing their greatest.
- Disposable aluminum pans: we used these full size pans for EVERYTHING. Heating, serving, prepping. We washed and re-used lots of them over the course of the week, however we had been all glad we had an enormous stack to start out with.
- Block ice: we used block ice to maintain water chilly through the day, and it lasted a lot longer than cubed ice (and was simpler to stack and retailer within the freezer).
DAY-BY-DAY CHARTS + SPREADSHEETS
My love for spreadsheets runs very deep. Some would say it’s a bit…er…extreme. However spreadsheets and charts saved me through the planning and executing of cooking (and procuring!) for 270 individuals all week.
My precise spreadsheets received’t be tremendous useful to anybody else as a result of they’ve such particular data for me and my committee, however I stored the next spreadsheets operating:
- prep calendar for what to make when within the weeks main as much as camp
- grasp meal planning spreadsheet with every meal merchandise listed and all of the elements wanted for every merchandise and sub-item
- grasp procuring listing separated by when to buy it (most of the pantry staples we shopped for a number of weeks forward of time vs the contemporary elements we wanted to get the day earlier than or day of) and which committee member would deal with it
- price range spreadsheet that stored observe of what we had been spending, after we had been spending it and what we had been spending it on (ultimately, we got here in only a bit underneath price range – yay!)
- day-by-day ladies camp plan spreadsheet – this was essentially the most intense of all of the spreadsheets because it detailed hour-by-hour up at camp what we wanted to do to prep for every meal, find out how to serve meals and what to serve them in, and many different particulars.
I turned this into massive engineering prints (pictured beneath) that we held on the again of the camp kitchen door to maintain us all on observe!
And sure, I acquired plenty of good-natured grief from leaders/ladies who stopped into the kitchen and noticed my minute-by-minute outlines. 😂 I’m positive some thought it was excessive, however it stored us on observe, and my committee all agreed it was useful to see precisely what wanted to be achieved.
Here’s a .pdf model of my day-by-day plan for reference in case it would assist to see the main points I included (with private figuring out particulars eliminated). Sadly a customizable format isn’t simple/obtainable to share because the information are monumental and this system shouldn’t be user-friendly.
Ooof! AND THAT’S A WRAP! That may be the longest put up I’ve ever written right here on this weblog!
I assumed I used to be exhausted after lady’s camp – however, man, I’m much more exhausted now reviewing and typing up all this data. 😂
Little question, it’s a ton of labor to plan for and make meals for a big church camp (or no matter massive group you’re planning for), however with good serving to fingers, a lot of planning, and a scrumptious menu, it’s doable!
Use the remark part beneath to ask any questions and ESPECIALLY to remark with any expertise you might need (favourite meals to make, suggestions, classes realized). We be taught essentially the most after we share collectively!
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