Very Easy food for 35! Two dinners.

[cherrypiepie]

Quick -cheap -easy!

For a teens sports group weekend away. Not much time to prep but can shove in over and cook.

Does not have to be super healthy but universal appeal is more important. (Draw the line at turkey twizzlers)

1 hour hands on time. A few of the group will help and will be competent.

I'm not bad in the kitchen!

I'm thinking jacket potatoes and choice of toppings and pasta/ garlic bread and choice of sauce. Would this be ok? Would most teens eat this?

Would this be enough? Where's the protein? Could do a few baguette and soup too? Hot pudding and custard? Cook some sausages in the oven and chop into the pasta? Soo many questions!

Do you have access to a big oven and plenty of suitable baking trays/sheets? I helped out with some cooking for a group of this size recently in a very small kitchen in a community centre. Trying to cook on the hob was a nightmare as it took so long for the contents of the huge tall pan to get hot on a relatively small ring. Oven definitely a better bet unless you have a much better hob and suitable pots!

Your idea of jacket potatoes/toppings sounds great. Tray of veggie sausages, tray of pork or other meaty sausages? Could heat up baked beans on hob or in oven. Garlic bread, tick. Pasta trickier because of hob issue. Draining a huge pot of pasta could be an issue.

Bowls of salad, coleslaw, grated cheese, crudites?

Rather than sponge and custard, what about cake, flapjacks or cookies brought along ready-made? Plenty of fruit?

I'd do a pasta bake rather than pasta & sauce which would difficult to cook & serve successfully for that number. You could do a meat bolognaise one and a vegetarian ratatouille one, serve garlic bread with it if possible.
If funds don't run to meat, do a tomato based bake and a Mac n cheese bake.

Could you get various parents to contribute a cake in a tin each? That would cover you for puddings, that's what scout camps used to do!

Ooh thanks great idea to do beans in oven.

Catering kitchen so no problems there it's a like a brownie pack holiday place.

Was also concerned about the pasta draining.

Cake is a good idea. Trying not to do biscuits flapjack as similar to lunch. Might buy in donuts for first day. (Tesco's ones 5 for a £1 I think)

More great ideas can you do pasta bake from raw pasta and veg? Might have trial run at home scale.

Cake donation is a great call!

A colleague of mine used to make the following, which I thought sounded, looked and smelled disgusting but used to be regularly devoured and re-requested by hungry teens on a school camp.

Hot pasta
Diced raw red pepper
Sweetcorn
Tuna
Mayonnaise as a sauce

Revolting. But they loved it. I checked back after they had gone home and been properly fed and they still said they liked it, rather than just being so hungry they would eat anything. A lot told their parents the 'recipe'. V low effort!

Hot dogs and chips. Pizza, coleslaw and chips. Traybakes/flapjacks/doughnuts for pudding.

Shepherd's pie with ready-made mash? Especially if you can use ready-chopped onions. Veggie version could be knocked up with cooked lentil pouches and tinned chopped tomatoes.

Pasta bake and garlic bread- most types of lasagne don’t need pre cooking
(veggie) chilli and rice or potato
Baked potato, beans and cheese

Brownies, bought choc ices, fruit, yoghurts

Lasagne can be prepared in advance in big foil trays and easily transported

If you're going to use uncooked dried pasta for the bakes, make sure your sauce/filling has plenty of liquid as the pasta will soak it up, as it cooks.
This isn't a problem with fresh pasta, and of course it cooks more quickly than dried.
Another idea is to precook your dried pasta in batches at home and transport in plastic tubs, ready to assemble the bake on site.

I work with teens and eat with them on a daily business.

I'd do a big macaroni cheese with garlic bread and salad. Simple, whack it it in the oven and let it do it's thing. Crowd pleaser. No need to cook separately for veggies.
Then do jackets for the second meal as you suggested.
If you have a freezer I'd just do some kind of ice lolly or cone for dessert.
Strawberry's and meringues for the other.

Day one evening meal
Dinner 2x Hot dogs (real sausages and veggies sausages) and oven chips fried onions
Fresh Donuts/fruit

Supper hot choc and biscuits
Days 2
Breakfast - cereal (cornflakes / rice crispies) and toast

Lunch sandwiches (ham/salad/cheese/ tuna) / yoghurt /crisps/ penguin/ fruit

Dinner
Jacket pots with tuna /veggie cheese /beans /coleslaw (token salad)
Cake for pudding

Days three
as above no dinner needed.

Thanks!

Sorry is meant to have said:

thanks for the help! Does this look ok for Friday tea/dinner to Sunday lunch time?