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Feeding the masses, party of 15 for 3 full days + 1 dinner.

billyhill

By billyhill
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billyhill

billyhill

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Posted

Son is graduating from high school. For his senior trip, he wanted to go to the beach with his friends. These kids do not come from money, so we will be eating at the beach house for most if not all days. I am comfortable with breakfast, It is lunch and dinner that concern me. Standard kitchen, gas grill, no food allergies, only one picky eater. I am looking for advice.

 

I will have some help, several kids want cooking lessons while we are there.

 

 

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MaryIsobel

MaryIsobel

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Posted
54 minutes ago, billyhill said:

Son is graduating from high school. For his senior trip, he wanted to go to the beach with his friends. These kids do not come from money, so we will be eating at the beach house for most if not all days. I am comfortable with breakfast, It is lunch and dinner that concern me. Standard kitchen, gas grill, no food allergies, only one picky eater. I am looking for advice.

 

I will have some help, several kids want cooking lessons while we are there.

 

 

"Bars" are good in these situations; taco bar, baked potato bar, mashed potato bar, sandwich bar, quesadilla bar... You get the idea. They allow each eater to customize the offerings to their liking. I also found that pulled pork and mac and cheese was a huge hit with teenagers. Serve with buns, cole slaw and whatever fixings you can come up with. The leftover pulled pork (if there is any - that age of kids can really eat!) make great nachos the next day. Mac and cheese would be a great cooking lesson. Also sweets; muffins, cookies, squares, etc.

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Alex

Alex

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Advice #1: Don't cater to the picky eater. Hunger + peer pressure is not necessarily a bad thing. I'd warn the person in advance, though, in case they want to bring their own protein bars, snacks, jar of peanut butter, etc.

 

 

Edited by Alex
to fix a typo (log)
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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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TdeV

TdeV

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Posted

@billyhill, I can't remember if you engage in food dehydrating? Lately, I have been pulling semi-dehydrated stuff out of my freezer; the process of having dehydrated food has also semi-prepared it. I would think this would be a great advantage for bulk cooking.

 

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billyhill

billyhill

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18 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

"Bars" are good in these situations; taco bar, baked potato bar, mashed potato bar, sandwich bar, quesadilla bar... You get the idea. They allow each eater to customize the offerings to their liking. I also found that pulled pork and mac and cheese was a huge hit with teenagers. Serve with buns, cole slaw and whatever fixings you can come up with. The leftover pulled pork (if there is any - that age of kids can really eat!) make great nachos the next day. Mac and cheese would be a great cooking lesson. Also sweets; muffins, cookies, squares, etc.

Pulled pork, maybe made before we leave is on the list. Son mentioned making chorizo today, again before we leave.

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SLB

SLB

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Chili, my friend.  No, it's not really beach food.  However; it's kids, they can be ok with it.  

 

My vote is chili.  

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Senior Sea Kayaker

Senior Sea Kayaker

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Pulled pork make ahead and chili are a definite go to.

To the 'bar' idea I would add burgers/cheeseburgers (make your own version) with add ons and condiments and potato salad or bean salad or coleslaw to accompany.

Pasta with make ahead sauce and garlic bread and salad.

The other suggestion I would make is bring lots of oranges, apples .... etc...

 

 

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'A drink to the livin', a toast to the dead' Gordon Lightfoot

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billyhill

billyhill

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1 hour ago, TdeV said:

@billyhill, I can't remember if you engage in food dehydrating? Lately, I have been pulling semi-dehydrated stuff out of my freezer; the process of having dehydrated food has also semi-prepared it. I would think this would be a great advantage for bulk cooking.

 

I make jerky, zucchini chips and dried tomatoes. Nothing else, as of now.

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billyhill

billyhill

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55 minutes ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

Pulled pork make ahead and chili are a definite go to.

To the 'bar' idea I would add burgers/cheeseburgers (make your own version) with add ons and condiments and potato salad or bean salad or coleslaw to accompany.

Pasta with make ahead sauce and garlic bread and salad.

The other suggestion I would make is bring lots of oranges, apples .... etc...

 

 

Yep chili is added to the list. Pulled pork, if there are enough leftovers could repurposed into a tamale pie/casserole

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billyhill

billyhill

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Other than sneaking away 1 day to go deep drop fishing for swordfish and barrel fish, i plan on doing nothing other than cooking. Even if we get skunked fishing, my brother has a 9 lb chunk of sword loin in the freezer for me. I do not know if I am willing to feed that to teenagers. 

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

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41 minutes ago, billyhill said:

Yep chili is added to the list. Pulled pork, if there are enough leftovers could repurposed into a tamale pie/casserole

Remember that the other name if Pulled Pork is Carnitas!    Many lots.    Like a pork shoulder's worth.

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eGullet member #80.

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MaryIsobel

MaryIsobel

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Coincidentally to this conversation, I made a big batch of beirocks today. They freeze really well (if you have the freezer space) and are great for filling up the bottomless gullets of young men. I just wing them at this point but here is an idea of what they are. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/23658/pams-bierocks/ I do add a layer of cheese.

We are not fond of sweet dough for them, so I just make my regular dough for rolls or white bread. The picture is them proofing on the counter for 1/2 an hour. Once they're proofed I'll egg wash them and bake.

beirocks - 1.jpeg

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Rickbern

Rickbern

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I’ll chirp in with a lunch idea…

 

I always made sausage and broccoli rabe sandwiches on baguettes for my kids when large groups were involved, always a hit even with kids who were new to bitter flavors 


another one that was popular was swordfish salad with onions capers celery and mayonnaise. Could obviously substitute tuna in cans instead 

 

also did pate with gherkins and mustard or thin sliced tenderloin with arugula and pickled onions, sometimes  three together. Always on baguettes. 
 

I never shied away from trying to introduce teenagers to more sophisticated food. Upside is they kept coming back for dinner as they got older

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&roid

&roid

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This sounds like a fun trip
 

Lasagne is a go to of ours for feeding groups, super easy to make the ragu ahead of time, even assemble the whole thing. then you’re only half an hour away from eating. 
 

Curry would be another - maybe a meat dish and a chickpea one with a salad. Very easy to scale up. 
 

Last suggestion would be a slow roast lamb shoulder or two. 5-6 hours of unattended cooking will make the backbone of a great meal. 

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billyhill

billyhill

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Its a good bunch of kids, I do not dread this trip.

9 hours ago, &roid said:

This sounds like a fun trip
 

Lasagne is a go to of ours for feeding groups, super easy to make the ragu ahead of time, even assemble the whole thing. then you’re only half an hour away from eating. 
 

Curry would be another - maybe a meat dish and a chickpea one with a salad. Very easy to scale up. 
 

Last suggestion would be a slow roast lamb shoulder or two. 5-6 hours of unattended cooking will make the backbone of a great meal. 

I love lamb, a few of them have had lamb before when I made smoked lamb nachos with leftover lamb and chili Colorado.

 

Black beans and rice might be a good choice.

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