Cooking for a crowd, any ideas?

[Kuromi86]

Looking for some inspiration on cooking for a crowd, around 15 or so. I’ve been cooking for the homeless at my local church some Thursdays and need some ideas. The church kitchen is pretty well equipped but the oven is horrendous so it’s actually easier for me to cook at home and take the food over in hot bags. I live just a few minutes away so travel time isn’t an issue.

Ideally I’m looking for things that are easy but filling. I have huge pots at home for batch cooking already and big glass baking dishes. Last night I did meatball pasta bake with garlic bread and salad that went down well. I actually don’t eat meat and neither does my husband so I’m not hugely familiar with cooking it so also needs to be something where I don’t have to do too much meat prep. I have got a meat thermometer so I can check it’s cooked properly. The church is happy for me to serve vegan or veggie but honestly I think the people that come want familiar English hearty food which is the opposite of what I eat. Any ideas gratefully received thank you!

Big pot of chilli with rice?
Chickpea curry?
Dhal?
Sausage casserole?

So kind of you to do this. The first things that come to mind would be curry (padded out with chickpeas / lentils to add variety, plant points and reduce the meat), chilli, bolognese and cottage pie (all can have lentils easily added for similar reasons to the curry).
Good luck!

I do this with a committee. We've got winter and summer dishes that go down well. The trick is doing something that you can cut up in portions as some eat more than others. 15 isn't such a huge number so it will be easier. Also meat is expensive so cheaper cuts etc mean you get more.

Shepherds pie
Chicken and leek bake
Lasagne
Sausage casserole
Huge sausage roll with a jacket potato and peas
Beef bourginon (sorry about the spelling) if you can get reasonably priced beef
Chicken casserole with mushrooms in a cream sauce..use skinless boneless chicken thighs. And rice
Mash and peas go with a lot of dishes and peas are easy to heat up in the Church.

Puddings

Apple crumble (obvs)
Chocolate brownies and cream
Meringues cream and berries
Steamed syrup pudding
Sponge and custard

Check the allergies in advance. And check the regulations. I think Churches now require you to have a Food Hygiene certificate and record the ingredients of everything you serve. Yes ridiculous.

Cowboy pie
Stroganoff
Chicken, leek and mushroom pie
Ham chowder with crusty bread
Fish pie

Thank you everyone that is very helpful, that’s a brilliant list @Pineneedlesincarpet , I do have a food hygiene certificate. I was actually shocked how much meat and also cheese costs when I started doing this. I don’t know why people often think being vegan is expensive as I think a meat and dairy eater must spend far more than me on food!

I know! Beef is definitely a treat.

The other thing the Church asks for is for a certain number of volunteers for any group to be DBS checked. Again, ridiculous particularly as you presumably aren't a Church employee but unfortunately it seems to be required sometimes.

How about chilli with a load of jacket potatoes?

I make a low meat chilli with a small amount of 20% fat beef mince and loads of beans and veg. Makes it more nutritious and also cheaper. The 20% fat mince is the most flavoursome so a small amount makes a big difference.

I’d do sausage casserole. Hearty, comfort food, sausages appeal to a fairly wide variety of tastes and relatively budget friendly, particularly if you pad out with beans/lentils/pearl barely and veg. It also lends itself to being made in advance and can be kept warm over a period of time. Serve with bread and butter to make it extra filling. Leftovers can be frozen.

I would do beef and chicken stew and serve with mashed potato.

To cook, brown the meat. Remove. Cook down chopped sofrito, add carrots, swede, parsnip, cover in a few spoons of flour, add stock and meat (and some herbs) and cook for a few hours. Throw in chopped potatoes and frozen peas. Done.

I volunteer in a food bank and a surprising number of our service users don’t like any chilli, spicy, curry, paprika type foods at all. They eshew a lot of food that is unfamiliar to the average European. And our non British origin service users don’t usually like it either which surprised me. They like their home country food and nothing else.

Hello Op, lovely of you to do this. Do any of your team have a Costco or similar cash and carry card. Most would allow membership for a Church and it allows you to buy ingredients in bulk and more economically.

I’d take inspiration from school dinners, they’re designed to be appealing to the masses, cheap and hearty as well as being easy to add bulking/healthy elements to llke lentils into bolognaise or veg into curry/fajitas. Nothing fancy or massively exciting but a good bet to make as many people happy as possible. I’ve attached the menu from DDs secondary school

Corned beef hash!

Soup and a homemade roll is an easy, filling meal for us. My husband makes lovely bread and I can chuck anything into my soup maker. My husband also batch cooks cottage pie and bolognese. We also do veggie fajitas, bulk it up with loads of veggies, peppers, mushrooms, beansprouts, etc.

If veggie cooking is your forte, then I'd cook dhal, veggie chilli, veggie curries etc. I have worked with the homeless and protein rich meals are often missing from their diet, so something high in protein would be good. Meals high in are filling and high in protein, but I appreciate might not be the meat and 2 veg many are used to. One filling meal I enjoy in autumn/winter is my version of pea/ham soup.

-1x smoked ham hock (I can only buy this from a butchers and never found it in any supermarket) I personally cut off the skin because I don't need the additional fat nor like the texture.
-Soak 2 boxes of quick soak peas. I use quick soak peas that only need 30ish min of soaking as opposed to bigga peas or other version which might need overnight soaking. Follow the instructions and rinse thoroughly after soaking with the tablets from the box.
-I then add almost any veg I have. Onions, carrots, celery, swede, potatoes and/or sweet potato etc.

I cook with water till its a thick stew which can be thinned with water as needed. It freezers well and is very filling.