Any cheap and easy recipes for catering for a large crowd?

[NannyR]

Our church provides lunch each week after the service, it's my turn to cook this week and I'm stuck for inspiration.
The meal needs to be cheap, vegetarian, ideally cooked in one pot on the hob or in the oven, easy to dish up/portion out and serve around 60/70 people, preferably no curry, chick peas or rice as those already feature in lots of the other Sunday lunches.
My go-to is lentil soup and French bread, it always goes down well but I'm getting a bit bored of cooking it and wondered if anyone had any other ideas.
Thank you

How about a big pasta in a tomato / veg sauce dish? With bread on the side or salad. It would have to be a very big one pot !

Bean chilli served with cheese scones or crusty bread / rolls (less labour intensive!).

Bombay potatoes (done in the oven) served with flatbreads and mint yoghurt (literally mint sauce mixed in with plain yoghurt). I used tinned potatoes for ease and they are lovely.

French onion soup? Labour intensive for the chopping though.

Mac cheese. Bean chilli. Pasta with a tomato sauce and veg

Dahl (I know you said no curry but if you'd do lentil soup), bean chilli, could serve with wraps of rice is out?

60/70 people?? 😱😱😱

We used to make veggie lasagnes or mushroom stroganoff with crusty bread.

Loaded potato wedges with ratatouille and cheese is nice too.

How do you cook for 60/70 people using one pot on the hob?? Misses point of thread completely

I can't get the recipe to load at the moment but Tesco's recipe for Nana's Magic Soup looks nice and not too difficult or expensive. You could buy the sweet potato ready peeled and chopped for quickness, or use frozen chopped butternut squash instead. I wouldn't bother with the cheesy stars, just rolls or slices of baguette.

I'm guessing portions are small as this is effectively refreshments akin to tea and biscuits after the service, not the main meal of the day. Big pot needed, though!

We have huge catering size saucepans! I don't mind cooking two pans of the same dish, I just don't want a recipe that needs several different pots and pans.

Jackets, cheese and beans.

Pasta bake is a good idea - I could cook it on Saturday then stick it in the oven to reheat during the service on Sunday.

Leek and potato soup and crusty bread/ cheese baps

Veg lasagne

Mushroom stroganoff and rice

Lentil and veg chilli and rice

Cheese and potato slab/ pie

Church sounds lovely

Leek and potato soup sounds good - I might have a think about the logistics of making warm cheese scones to go with it as a change from sliced up baguettes.

I do similar after rugby games. I suggest bean/veg chilli over nachos - you can get cheap bags from supermarkets - you'd need about 8 bags at 50 odd pence each.
Then soured cream (not fresh, in squeezy bottles) or yoghurt plus grated cheese if you can run to it.

Some great ideas here, thank you.

at the people thinking a 'one pot meal' means the food for all the people literally needs to be cooked in 'one pot'

I'd definitely go for soups.
Smooth pea and mint (onion and celery base, pea and mint jelly added, thickened with potatoes, cooked then blended)
Leek and potato
Butternut squash with thai curry paste
Tomato and basil (onion base, thickened with potatoes, cooked then blended)
Vegetable and herb

Some good ideas on here already.

Tomato/butter bean stew, served with focaccia or flat bread.

That was my first thought!

I'm cooking Tuscan bean stew for 40 tomorrow at church - pretty easy apart from chopping the onion, carrots and celery as use canned chopped tomatoes, canned beans, stock cubes, frozen garlic (or tube) paprika and oregano served with crusty bread. It's gluten free as long as you use gf stock cubes

I was going to say Tuscan bean stew. You can buy bags of frozen sofrito to avoid chopping carrots/celery and onions!

For this number my menu includes
Baked potatoes with a mix of toppings
Vege lasagne
Butternut squash (was meant to be hot pot but was more like) soup
Vege chilli / pasta Bolognese. Can mix it all into one pan for ease of service
Bangers and mash
Fajitas
Spinach and chickpea curry which I appreciate wouldn't be to your liking

This reminds me that I really need to sort my menu out for, oh my god it's next weekend!! Thanks op.

A big saucepan.