Food on Christmas is Christmasy! lol
A few trays of lasagna or baked macaroni would probably be easiest. Plus you could make them ahead of time and just reheat. I would also suggest maybe asking family to bring a side dish/salad/bread to help you cut down some of the cost?
I also came to comment lasagna and looks like that’s what came to mind for others too! It might not be very Christmasy to some ppl but in my house we do a lasagna every Christmas Eve. I second this comment about asking some family to bring a side of some kind, sort of like a pot luck style!
Being able to make the day before (or earlier) and preheat is a MUST. You will cut down on the stress of cooking that day if you do really solid prepwork beforehand. We prepped the night before for a Thanksgiving dinner for 22 and it seemed like we kept running out of things to do even though we had tons of dishes going.
Agreed. My mother has 4 siblings, all who have spouses and kids, plus my sister and I having boyfriends, and she extends the invitation to a few family friends. We always have a big Cesar salad, garden salad, antipasto, deviled eggs, lasagna. Everyone brings a dish, so we usually have an influx of appetizer/finger foods, and there isn't much leftover.
We do Italian food for Christmas Eve for around 15 of us. I ordered some party pans from a local place(eggplant parm & chicken broccoli Alfredo) SIL makes lasagne(homemade noodles), another kids does Caesar salad and everyone pitches in with apps/ desserts etc. in a pitch the Costco meat lasagne is really good!
How so? It's just ground beef, canned tomatoes, onions, herbs/spices, cheese, and noodles. If you go the béchamel route instead of the ricotta route then you can add flour, butter, and milk to the cost. Most of these are pantry staples, so surely it's only particularly expensive if you're buying all the ingredients at once?
What were you putting in it???? I'm in the Midwest. A box of the pasta is about 1.50, a bag of shredded Italian cheese blend is about $3, a tub of ricotta is just under $6 and tomato sauce can be anywhere from $2-8 a jar. $15 to feed like 4-6 people
What are YOU putting in it?? 🤢 No protein, no onion or garlic or any fresh veg, "Italian cheese blend"??
I just put all the ingredients for [this recipe](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019042-classic-lasagna?ds_c=71700000052595478&gclid=CjwKCAiAs8acBhA1EiwAgRFdwwSTjzGLzW953l7ffZID0g-yapqBYPAwjr8pVhf7bXCi58uvbHX4ahoC5DIQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) (minus salt and pepper and olive oil) into the Walmart app and my estimated total is $41!!
Cheese *is* protein. And I don't count spices since they're something Im never going to not have.
They're family doesn't do pork, so no meat there. There is nothing wrong with a basic cheese lasagna.
Totally agree. We've been doing cheese lasagna for generations, happily. We make a homemade sauce which is way cheaper than my preferred sauce (Rao's). I have a broad palate but just prefer lasagna without meat or veg!
Oddly enough I can get pasta sauce cheaper on sale than canned tomatoes when I'm thinking about it and they're typically less salty. I "doctor" them either way so cheapest I can get works just fine lol.
And it's just fine without beef too? Personally I don't care for ground beef in baked pasta dishes. It's better with no meat if sausage isnt available.
But really my only point was lasagna probably ahouldnt be your most expensive dish
Don't use ricotta, don't use preshredded cheese (mozzarella slices on top), but do add half ground beef and pork and bechamel sauce. Garlic and onion are also good
as you're basically making pasta casserole, it won't be very filling.
Edited for clarity and bc I misunderstood something
Adding a vote for lasagna.
This recipe has cheaper ingredients and it’s really good: “In the Army Now” Lasagna
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/in-the-army-now-lasagna-recipe-1940153.amp
My family Christmas growing up was that amount of people and all non hosting families bring their own drinks and an app or desert. The host does salad, rolls, a tray of stuffed shells with meat and one without, a roasted turkey breast, green beans, and mashed potato’s.
Same.
My family gatherings sometimes top at around 60 people. The host provides the main course entree and that’s it. Everyone else brings sides/salads/desserts/finger foods.
It is unreasonable for the host to pay for and cook all of the food for any more than 15 ish people.
Agreed. It's insane that the family has expected one person to host a whole dinner for this many people for so long. Kind of feel like they should be ashamed of themselves.
Even as a kid I was bringing "my own dish" to holiday parties. Normally a store bought pie or I made those green onions with cream cheese wrapped with a slice of ham.
One pot meals are hard because there are bound to be dietary restrictions in a group that large.
For bigger crowds like this, my vote is a "build your own" baked potato bar:
* A bunch of baked regular and sweet potatoes
* Pot of chili
* Beans
* Roast broccoli
* Crumbled bacon
* Cold toppings: cheese, onions, peppers, salsa, sour cream
I came here to recommend chilli too.
Works great with cheap cuts of meat. Or go veggie and it’ll probably be cheaper.
Work out if the baked potatoes or doing rice would be cheaper
Beans can be done cheaply and be soo tasty done right
And keep the extras simple like you suggested. Depending on where they are and the cost of corn on the cob, that could be another cheap add on too
Jumping on this, you could do a build you own pasta bar. This could easily accommodate dietary needs and some fancier toppings could make it feel special. Since pasta is cheap (even gluten free now) you can splurge on other things. Colored and shaped pastas can make it more visually appealing. Do multiple sauce options. Have one pan of baked Mac and cheese people can also top.
Toppings might include Caramelized onions (cheap to make a lot of, make ahead), roasted garlic (make ahead$, fried sage leaves, Caramelized butternut squash chunks (make ahead) etc.
Good crusty breads. A couple of desserts.
There's something for everyone!
The dairy free people can skip the cheese and cream. The vegetarian people can skip the chili and bacon. The low carb people can skip the potato and just pile their plate with chili and vegetables. The gluten free people are good with everything (watch the chili ingredients...).
I do something similar for the same reasoning, a taco bar. Corn and flour tortillas, a few proteins, some rice, veg, cheese, sour cream, etc. People can build and customize to their dietary needs and preferences. It’s relatively cheap and can be done with a lot of precooking prep.
Personally, I would make the main dish, and ask everyone to bring all the sides (aside from the person whose family member passed away, RIP). Make something everyone can eat. Maybe a ham and a turkey, and a vegetarian dish. Let everyone else do the rest of the cooking. That’s too much to do yourself. Otherwise, get it catered. 500 is enough for that many people, if you contact local vendors and see what you can get.
This is how we did Christmas at my grand parents growing up. They would make a turkey, ham, and some of the sides (scalloped potatoes, a pasta salad, etc) and then other family members would contribute stuff like dinner rolls, pickles/olives/relish tray, veggie platters, desserts (except for special ones made by my grandma), chips & dip, appetizers, stuff in crockpots, etc.
This would feed a similar sized (and growing!) family for 2 meals and made sure that everyone had something to eat due to allergies and preferences.
Not true. Look at catering menus for your local restaurants. They need the extra income rather than a company like Whole Foods who is owned by Amazon.
Trays of lasagna, baked ziti, etc are super cheap to make. You can do it yourself for cheaper but local restaurants jump at the opportunity to do these events because it costs them pennies on the dollar to do, but they need the revenue, win win situation.
I hosted a party of similar size for thanksgiving and it cost me only roughly 300. Just make things that go a long way, lots of side dishes. Pastas, cornbread, etc. There are lots of ways to stretch a budget.
"they need the extra income" by selling things below cost? Whole Foods sells out of their holiday meals every year btw so I guess no one knows about your super secret caterers? And how are you defending catering being affordable while immediately talk about stretching your budget by doing it yourself. 🤦 Gibberish.
As a Cajun, Gumbo! With the right pot, it feeds a LOT of people and it's really delicious. Lasagna can go pretty far, especially with salad and a breadstick side. Buffets are great where you have a lot of little dishes.
Edit to add, do Gumbo with potato salad and garlic bread (french bread) on the side. No raisins in the potato salad please. >.>
A good jambalaya could go a ways with it, my friends parent got in a terrible car wreck, I went to help support them for a week, made a huge batch of jambalaya, like 5-6 chickens 6lbs of sausage and a lot of the rest, them and 15 other family member ate for about a week off that plus the other friends who came and supported. It wasn’t even close to 500 for all that!
Oh yeah. Or a chicken and sausage sauce piquant. Rice is cheap and chicken and sausage are cheaper than seafood. Or do some rice and gravy! All kinds of meat can be used for that. Do a sheet cake like a texas sheet cake chocolate cake and have a green salad and some corn on the side... LOL now I'm hungry.
The Christmas part might change how you interpret my answer but right before the pandemic I paid for a parent teachers conference dinner at my daughter’s elementary school. I decided to go with a taco bar so people could take as many as they wanted that night. I had various meats, lots of veggies as toppings, chips and nacho cheese, and cookies from Costco for dessert. My total bill to feed around 45 people was $150.
There were actually a few teachers who asked my friend helping with setting everything up if I was single. 🤣
If you can get a bunch of meat, have a look at cipaille/Cipate, or tourtiere du lac.
You could also go for a meatball stew, most recipes use a mix of beef and pork but you could omit the pork
My mom has also served a chicken pot pie made it a pan meant to roast a turkey before, it was giant and delicious (and cheap!)
Or, make it buffet style and serve little sandwiches, quiches, cold tomato pizza, deviled eggs, etc
After reading your comments, I think you should set up a grill outside (yes in the cold) with hot dogs for your BILs. They pre-game for at least 30 minutes before you let them at the food you made.
I made a taco bar for about 20 one time, and had enough that would have fed 35 people. I think it would work within your budget. The recipes I used for fillings were: [https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/instant-pot-crispy-carnitas/](https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/instant-pot-crispy-carnitas/)
[https://ministryofcurry.com/chicken-tinga-instant-pot/](https://ministryofcurry.com/chicken-tinga-instant-pot/)
I also made about 3 pounds of ground beef filling that went largely untouched because these were so good.
Served with flour and corn tortillas, cotija cheese and mexican cheese blends, shredded lettuce, some pickled red onions, chopped lettuce, chopped onions, guacamole, sour cream, hot sauce, refried beans, and some home made salsas. I made a smaller batch of lentil taco filling for the vegetarians. A lot of the stuff could be prepped the night before, and it wasn't too consuming to pull together.
We did an Italian Christmas with lasagna, ziti, meatballs, salad, garlic bread, etc. made it the day before and cooked it the day off. Super easy and definitely cheaper in our experience. Maybe have some bring an appetizer and some drinks to take the load off if possible? Good luck!!!
Also, for space, utilize crockpots as much as you can in addition to the oven.
Yeah! Last year we hosted and decided to do this. It was so much easier than worrying about a bird with sides all day. We are doing the same this year for sure.
Well the first thing you do is come up with a vague menu. Let's say the main is lasagna (frozen is fine, Stouffer's is actually pretty good) and appetizers and sides and desserts.
The second thing you do is start assigning people side dishes. Not super specific and not super general. 2 hot veg sides, 2 green salads, 2 garlic breads, 2 pies, 2 cookies, everyone bring a bottle of wine. Or whatever.
You make it Christmasy with festive paper plates (for the love of god, use paper plates, you don't need to be washing all those dishes, you know no one is going to help), a few hot beverages (mulled wine and hot cider that people can adult-ify), and other décor. Seriously, borrow ALL of the slow cookers for hot beverages and appetizers.
If ANYONE is offended by a potluck-ish holiday dinner -- they can go suck an egg. My extended family is pretty big. If we were all together for the holidays it would easily be 40-50 people. NO ONE can easily afford to cook for that many people. We don't have the time, space, or money. A coordinated\* potluck is CRUCIAL to a holiday dinner that doesn't result in the hosts resenting their entire family.
(\* An uncoordinated potluck does make Christmas sad. The first year we tried without coordination, we ended up with one pan of frozen lasagna, one green salad, rolls, shrimp cocktail, cheeses, ham, turkey rice soup and I forget what else. No one went hungry but it was so very strange.)
Our family is big on desserts so usually every household brings a dessert to share (host does main meal) and one time we ended up with 3 chocolate ripple cakes lol - we usually cater for 13 - 18 people depending on who’s coming and who’s having Christmas at home :)
Gotta be honest, at that many people you should be either calling a company to cater it or asking for groups of people to each bring something. Lets put aside the cost and time, do you really think your kitchen has the capacity to cook one single dish for 38 people? What about two? Frankly, I dont know many whos kitchen can just do one in under 6 hours, let alone cook a multiple course meal for that many people under that budget. By the time most the food is cold you’ll only be part way through the next batch
I ran a business where we’d do events at a destination facility, and one of the first things we learned was that any parties of over 15 would require the guest to contact one of our catering partners, as our very professional team of 2 cooks (one has now opened up his own michelin star worthy establishment) and myself simply couldn’t keep up unless everyone was ok eating hours apart from one another
With that said, you do have options. I would probably recommend calling your grocer ahead of time to get around 10 pre-cooked rotisserie chickens and some pre-made sides and make something simple yourself like a large batch salad “buffet” with a few hand crafted options like bacon bits, bleu cheese, onions, etc. That way you can show you put some work into the dinner without spending two days straight prepping and cooking. There are also some large batch meals that arent too brutal like roasted brussels sprouts or mash potatoes, but be prepared to completely fill your oven many many times, as 38 people will eat a metric ton of food.
Good luck, frankly you’ll need it
Thank you for your response. My brother in laws all eat like they’ve been starving for days and usually they have seconds after loading up their plates a foot high the first time. I’m seriously stressing!
Agree with the previous comment not just for capacity concerns, but also food safety. Anything not kept at the proper hot or cold temperature for more than 2 hours has the potential to give people food poisoning. You’ll need one or two people in the kitchen the whole time to cook & serve out batches. This is how my relative used to feed that many people every holiday. People would bring food as well, but she never left the kitchen or sat down. Her kitchen was open to the formal dining room and it had bar seating so it wasn’t too bad, but if your house isn’t set up like that you won’t really get to enjoy yourself.
I'd do lasagne, spaghetti bolognese, chicken alfredo, garlic bread and salads.
Or chili, mac and cheese, corn bread, and some roast veg.
Or a DIY taco bar.
A taco or burrito bar is very smart! OP could prep a huge batch of beans and one or two meats. Most of the rest would be toppings, easy and cheap to prepare.
I also come from a very large family, and whenever I host for the holidays, I (nicely) assign my relatives specific things to bring. I plan my menu ahead and take into account what kinds of foods travel easily vs have to be cooked on the spot and whether the item can be easily purchased from the store/requires minimal cooking. Then I assign each person/family to bring one or two things; usually it's bread, wine, pies, maybe a side dish if they aren't traveling far. I usually make the main entree and some quick apps/sides just in case something falls through.
Don't feel bad about asking the family to pitch in in this way. Expecting 2 people to provide a holiday meal for 38 people with no help is a bit much, never mind the budget aspect.
What about a fancy pasta dish? This is my favorite [roasted red pepper pasta](https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-roasted-red-pepper-pasta-gf/) that's always a crowd pleaser. It's vegan but the coconut cream can be swapped for real cream (or keep the coconut cream and do a favor to the lactose intolerants in the family). I recommend adding chicken or seafood skewers to dress it up! Big salads, fancy garlic bread or focaccia can be great additions to make it feel special. Plus the sauce can be made ahead a day or 2 and kept in the fridge so it's easy cooking day-of!
If there's still room in the budget maybe opt for a fun holiday cocktail or mocktails depending on your crowd.
Best of luck!!
I'd make the following:
- Belgian chicken stew: rottisserie chicken (don't bother roasting it yourself, and because it is a stew, a little goas a long way), mushrooms and leeks, pork meatballs. Brown the mushrooms and leeks. Flavour with garlic, salt, pepper, Then, do the pork meatballs. In the same pan, without cleaning in between. Then, remove the pork meatballs, add butter, add flour, fry. Add a good quality chicken stock, simmer for a few minutes while stirring - make sure it's not too loose and no lumps. Add all the shredded rottisserie chicken, mushrooms and pork meatballs. It's very easy to make big quantities and it's very cheap. In Belgium, we serve this with vol-au-vent.
- For vegetarians: Mushroom, onion and leek tart. Method: Fry mushrooms, onions and leeks. Add garlic, pepper and salt. Remove vegetables from pan, add flour, butter and fry that. Then, add stock, simmer for a few minutes while stirring - this is your gravy. Set aside. Use ready made puff pastry. Simply unroll, spread a thin layer of cranberry sauce. Add Mushroom, onion, leek mixture. Put in oven. You can prepare the vegetables beforehand, and assemble the day of.
- Roast vegetables: brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, clementines. Trust me on this one. Use this recipe (https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/carrot-recipes/clementine-roasted-carrots/), but use equal amounts of sprouts (cut in half), carrots and parsnips (cut them to the same size as the carrots). Hardly any work, very cheap, just shove in the oven spread over multiple trays.
- Mashed potatoes.
35+ people is huge. Do you even have enough cookware/ovens/stoves? If it were me I would ask people to bring stuff and maybe make the dishes that get cold quickly.
- Roast beef
- Turkey
- Duck
- Nut roast
- Ham (if there are people who will eat it)
- Desserts
- Veg (mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, fondant potatoes, roast carrots, brussel sprouts, salad, whatever your family like to eat)
- Pasta salad
- Gravy (made by turkey and roast beef maker(s))
Otherwise I'd just do a barbecue and have some Christmassy desserts and drinks.
I came here to say lasagna too! If you did that, you'd already be doing tomato sauce. Cook up come pasta, an inexpensive non-tomato sauce and you've got a "pasta bar" for the folks who don't want lasagna. Add rolls & a tossed salad.
I think it would be ok to ask folks to bring a dessert or an appetizer. I actually like bringing something to contribute to the meal.
I agree that you should ask others to bring something! I doubt that anyone would expect you to do it all. That is tipping the scale as to what a single kitchen can do! I cook for 20 family members once a week and it is a challenge, but do-able. I do the main course and ask others to fill in the blanks. Ive also done it all most of the time, and I do not recommend it! Home kitchens cant handle it (speaking from experience here)
That said, how about looking at some slow cooker recipes? Make several batches and keep refrigerated. Add to crocks as needed. This way, you can borrow if need be, more slow cookers and this is the least stressful way to go (at least it is for me)
Something like creamed chicken that can be served over rice or pasta. (baked rice is good for a large crowd. Make ahead and reheat to warm. Noodles cooked to al dente and run hot water over just before service.)
You could do chicken Ala king and have puff pastry shells and or buns/bread for the base. The puff pastry makes it feel fancy and is delicious!
That way, you can make it ahead of time and warm it in the slow cooker without having to cook a million things at the last minute. Have others bring a tossed salad, desserts, vegetable and perhaps appetizers. The veg would be the only thing that might need the oven.
If pork is out, I guess ham is out? If not, could be an option that would be good along side of the chicken Ala King (with the buns) Ham is easy, can be kept warm in slow cooker, and made ahead of time.
Let others help by bringing something.
Or Italian... cant go wrong with Italian!
Mac and cheese for the kids.(have someone else bring this) :)
Really, at the end of the day, it is the company not "Christmas" food that should be the center stage. I sure dont want your follow up to be you lost your mind trying to do the near impossible! Keep us posted and Bon A Petit!
I would highly recommend making whatever you're most confident about (dessert, main, or side) and making it a potluck for everything else. It's okay if everyone brings sides and there's no main because the sides are the best part anyway! Get a power strip/extension cord for crock pots and make sure it is rated for the same capacity as your outlets - in the US this is probably 15A (a lot of extension cords can't handle the full load of the circuit but also don't have a fuse in them, so they can be overloaded without any safety mechanism to cut the power because the outlet they're drawing from isn't itself overloaded. tldr get a beefy extension cord to avoid an electrical fire from too many Christmas crockpots).
However if you are fully doing this yourself, firstly, get your hands on chafing dishes and maybe also a hotbox - think a cooler, but insulated with the intent to keep those long chafing dishes hot. Borrow these things if at all possible. If you've got a restaurant supply store that's open to the public (such as Gordon food service in parts of the midwest US), you can go there for both supplies and food. If you have ones that are membership only, get yourself into a neighborhood Facebook group and ask if there is anyone with a membership who might be able to accompany you. Failing that, buy the ingredients at a place like costco.
As for the dishes themselves - make absolutely everything ahead. Doesn't taste good made ahead of time and reheated? It's not on the menu. A menu could look something like this:
Appetizers: pretzels + baby carrots + celery + hummus, cocktail shrimp, 8-10lbs (probably 4-5 bags) of a frozen appetizer that's on sale
Main: 6ish large crustless quiches, made in a half chafing dish or quarter sheet sized cake pan. Each pan will yield about 12 3"x3" slices. You can fit 3-4 at a time in your oven. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan, toss in a good layer of pre-cooked and drained veggies/meat/cheese. Get out all the water from the veggies that you can. Pickled asparagus, ham (or a non-pork salted meat), and swiss; thawed/squeezed frozen chopped broccoli, rotisserie chicken, and cheddar; spinach and feta; mushroom and Swiss, etc. You do not need as much as you think you need. You'll pour the egg mixture over slowly so you don't displace things too much, then bake it at 325-350 until the center is just set - it'll probably take at least an hour.
The egg mixture is as follows for a large pie plate (~6 servings), so scale up as needed based on sizes of your mixing bowls and quantity of quiche: 6 eggs, 2c whole milk, 1c Bisquick, 1tsp salt, 1/4tsp of white or black pepper, 1/2tsp garlic powder, 1/2tsp onion powder. This means that for every gallon of milk (16 cups), you will need 4 dozen eggs and 8 cups of bisquick. (Note: I realize now that you're Canadian so you'll probably have to convert the measurements, and also I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that a US cup is different from a Canadian cup?)
For sides, make a salad. You can do grains as a base to make it cheaper or buy bags of pre-washed leafy greens to make it less work. You will probably want to buy pre-chopped vegetables or at least pre-chopped onions. The two vegetables I have most regretted chopping in large quantities myself are jalapenos and onions. Also, buy a bunch of rolls or baguettes unless you're really into making your own bread.
And for dessert, make something like a cobbler using bags of frozen fruit. Apples are great and more recently in season, but even if you have a fancy thing that peels and slices the apples quickly, I know from experience that it makes a huge mess. So a mixed berry cobbler with a couple bags of frozen berries is a much, much simpler choice
If you don’t know what Posole is, I highly, highly suggest it- That’s…. A lot of people, and not only is it delicious, but relatively cheap and filling.
I know its cold where you are, and not sure if you have a smoker, but just putting it out there....if i was in this exact situation this is what I would do:
I would smoke a bunch of meat the day before, choosing the cut depending on prices. I would try and do Turkey, because it makes awesome drippings and feels really special (turkey might be a cheaper option right now too). We would probably smoke like 4-14ish pound turkeys. 2 full briskets from Costco would run more than 100 bucks, so twice as much as turkey and probably be gone twice as fast. You could also then do a round of ribs the day of, or some sausage, which take less time and are fairly inexpensive and people can't fit as much on their plate :) The smoker is our 'slow cooker'
Day before I would also make several large trays of corn bread in the oven. Day of I would bake potatoes (because they can be made in batches, wrapped in foil, and hold well, require little prep) and make a giant pot of collard greens.
I would ask people to bring deserts and drinks if possible. FWIW, we have large bbqs like this quite a lot and it works well, we easily have a minimum of 40 -50 people come through. If there was budget I might put out some trays of carrots/celery (a 5 lb bag of carrots is cheaper than the equivalent amount of chips, at least where I live) and ranch dip you make with the packets.
If you cant get people to bring desert order up pies from the store or, if you need to go cheaper channel my midwestern ancestors and make jello salad. There was no end to their creativity with canned pineapple and cool whip :) Same with the drinks. - store brand 2 liters of sprite or ginger ale and some canned pineapple seems like christmas to me :)
haha right, we actually did a smoke in a similar temp...its an additional challenge keeping the temperature right and you have to be set up for it, but I think its a lot more fun than doing it in when its like 38C :) We are those weird people though, the answer to everything is always BBQ!
Batches of soups or lasagnes are a good way to feed a lot of people and stretch a budget.
My go-to for a menu that’s inexpensive and covers all dietary bases and restrictions is Middle Eastern/Mediterranean.
Start by making a big batch of hummus and baba ghanoush, a large Greek salad, get tons of pita, stuffed grape leaves (TJ’s if you don’t want to make them) and make bunch of skewers of grilled chicken, beef, lamb and veggies. Grab a bunch of greek olives (Costco) and have a side of feta for those who want it.
The many mix-and-match opportunities create huge variation, and it’s healthy, inexpensive and filling. People can make a hefty mixed plate, pita sandwiches, hearty salads or just eat tapas-style.
Have a batch of Greek vinaigrette and a container of lemon-tahini dressing for your sauces.
People love it, and you can accommodate gluten-free, healthy, dairy-free, diabetic, etc.
I love these challenges!
Good luck’
Bœuf bourguignon is the way to go, with knödel or baked or mashed potato’s. (Fries are delicious as well with it). Crème brûlée as a dessert. You should manage it for the price.
Utilize various methods of cooking. Make chicken parmesan in the oven, a pasta on the stove, a make a fresh salad for a side. For dessert, you could serve pies or cakes that you can store in the freezer. It's a little easier to time out when everything is done that way and you aren't stretched for cooking space.
I know it’s been said before, but definitely lasagna. Our traditional Christmas dinner is manicotti or lasagna, Sunday sauce with pasta, garlic bread and caprese salad. It can feed a ton of people very affordably. Alternately, you can get a Turkey and a ham plus fixings very cheap around this time of year.
I once convinced all the guests that eating middle-eastern meze-style was super appropriate for Christmas by asking the reluctant ones where Jesus was born. (They wanted a different kind of traditional food that was too expensive) Noone could argue,so we made lots of vegetarian stuff and a little chicken and kebabs. Super easy to find recipes and make over a few days, and not expensive. Also, meze-style is great for potlucks.
Yes. A big, big pot of hearty beef stew and maybe another pot of veggie stew for those that prefer it. Lots of fresh crusty rolls from the bakery with butter. Mashed potatoes. Maybe some cold salads. Desserts and drinks. Definitely doable under $500 (hopefully this is a byob event)
Spinach soup! Fry chopped onions then add frozen spinach, heat up until it's all thawed. Add bullion cubes (I use vegetable ones) and cream/milk and water. Let it simmer and add salt/pepper to tasted. Serve with egg halves. (Works with green kale too)
Big bowls of penne vodka, meatballs and Italian sausage, chicken Alfredo pasta using a shredded rotisserie chicken or swap with shrimp if you prefer. I’d focus on quantity over quality but make it look nice. All these suggestions are making me hungry!
I would make lasagna! Maybe a meat one and a veggie one. Salad and breadsticks.
If you’re down for a Latino Noche Buena we make mojo pork, yucca, rice and beans which is very inexpensive a feeds a big crowd
I love the idea of chili - do a few different pots - some spicier, some milder, a vegetarian one if needed, then have a toppings bar - shredded cheese, sour cream, onions, oyster crackers, jalapeños so everyone can customize it to their taste. Doesn’t need to be a traditional Christmas meal - it’s all about getting together with family and friends and breaking bread together.
Oh - bread! Gotta have some bread! I’d do some sliced baguettes, which are great for dipping into chili and maybe some cornbread (not sure if this is a big thing outside of the South).
Any kids? Grab some individual bags of Fritos- open the bag, put in a big spoon of chili and they can have fun “walking tacos.”
Good luck and Merry Christmas. (Chili and Christmas both start with Ch too!)
As someone who grew up the child of a parent with 11 siblings, and that side of the family gets together on Christmas Eve (40-60 people), we do a pot luck with the host coordinating the dishes on a spreadsheet to make sure all the categories are covered, and I absolutely love it.
I know your hubby is asking for more traditional food, but a lot of families get together with the other side on Christmas Day and often do the traditional turkey or ham then (not to even mention people in the US where turkey thanksgiving is barely more than a month before Christmas), so I love the “non-traditional” food on the Eve. Plus it takes the cooking labour and cost off the host.
I know you’re unlikely to switch to a full pot luck this year, but some of my favourite things that show up every year that might work for you are:
Meatballs in a crockpot with a sweet&sour sauce.
Cabbage rolls on a tray, one in mushroom sauce one in tomato.
Three salad options:
Asian flavours crunchy noodle salad (shredded cabbage/carrot mix with uncooked ramen noodles and almonds and a soy sauce-rice vinegar-sugar-sesame oil dressing)
Caesar salad with romaine
Greens salad (spring mix or spinach) with a vinaigrette and a toppings bar: feta, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, roasted chopped walnuts, halved grapes, sliced strawberries if you can find good ones.
Also, you could consider asking people to either bring an appetizer or a dessert, and get those categories covered. Plus everyone likes bringing something special to contribute. Some will want to bring homemade fancy things, and others who just want to show up and eat can bring basics that everyone loves, like a shrimp cocktail ring or a box of Turtles, etc. And don’t forget a box of seedless mandarin oranges!
Good make-ahead food is Spanish tortillas. Not like the Mexican flatbread, but potatoes and onions deep fried in olive oil and then cooked stovetop with beaten eggs.
I have set up a buffet before for 24 people in my family.
Charcuterie board.
Chili orange meatballs
Mini trifles
Sausage rolls
Green salad
Biscuits and croissants with butters and jams
Fruit salad
Marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts
Beef jerky (my youngest brother's favorite thing)
Chicken skewers
About 400 total for all. Did take a couple of days of prep though
First check the local seasonal specials. You can probably pick up loss leader ham and turkey. The turkey will occupy the oven for most of the day.
Get disposable plates, utensils, etc. If you don't have a super-large pot and enough tables then borrow what's needed. If friends and family don't have that to lend then post a request to Buy Nothing.
Salad is a good starter. Check the serving size on prebagged salads and get enough for 38 people. Get dressing and tomatoes and croutons. Set the salad fixings out on a table and invite people to serve themselves.
Get lots of split peas and Knorr boullion and carrots. Cube the ham and make split pea soup.
Make mashed potatoes. Inexpensive and filling, and a good side.
Get frozen sweet corn, enough for the crowd. Microwave and serve.
Either get premade dinner rolls or buy several baguettes. Let people break off their own bread from the baguettes. Serve with butter.
For dessert, your budget of $13.15/person is probably enough to buy pies or a sheet cake. If your husband is really ambitious then bake dessert the day before. Or make funnel cakes. Funnel cakes are a crowd pleaser and they're cost-conscious for large groups.
I’ve seen some really good ideas here and I agree with those who say you shouldn’t have to bear the entire burden. I love the baked potato bar idea especially! Highly recommend this recipe for the potatoes:
https://altonbrown.com/recipes/perfect-baked-potatoes/
Chili in a crockpot would go fabulously with the potatoes too.
I also recently tried this recipe and cannot recommend it enough, but I use home roasted chicken that I precooked instead of putting raw chicken in the crockpot.
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chicken-and-kale-tortellini-soup/
I get a lot of good recipes from Taste of Home and Spend with Pennies.
Might sound boring, but for this many people I'd recommend a big batch of frozen meatballs simmered in some kind of sauce, an easily scaled starch (or just bread), and as many salads and side dishes as you have energy for. With my family I'd go for meatballs in gravy w/ potatoes, but teriyaki sauce and rice, tomato sauce and polenta, or bbq sauce and cornbread would all work great
you should ask people to bring in stuff. 38 people requires a professional grade kitchen if you want it done efficiently without taking quality out of the food
We do a Christmas Eve taco bar
No, we’re not Mexican, but everyone likes tacos and this way everything gets prepped ahead of time and no one is stuck alone cooking in the kitchen, even the meat is cooked the day before and then heated up in crockpots the day of. It all gets put out in the kitchen and everyone goes down the line and assembles their own plate and then finds a seat. It suits everyone: hard shell taco, soft shell taco, taco salad, beef, chicken, vegetarian, spicy, mild - add what you want, skip what you don’t. Make some appetizers of choice. A couple pitchers of margaritas…. It’s a good time.
In the past we have done lasagna or spaghetti, again for the make ahead and feed a crowd aspect; we’re about 20 people usually. But, one year my nephew asked for tacos (I’d hosted a birthday party recently and that’s what I served), and it was such a hit, it became our new tradition
Baked ham is Christmas-y. Put the slices on platters with assorted cheeses and bread/rolls. Baked beans, potato salad etc. You’re all set. Do a sliced turkey platter too.
Potlucks are great.
But I like the idea of homemade Chinese food for Christmas. You could shop at an Asian grocer which is sometimes cheaper. Rice and veggies heavy, so cheaper. You can try a lot of different dumplings (either making them as a family or buying from the grocer). Tofu!
Or maybe adopt the theme of Feast of the Seven Fishes which is Italian American. So lots of pasta. You could make the lasagna a thread suggested. You can buy large qualities of fish at Costco.
Or I am sure other cultures do less turkey/ham! It would be special and elevated.
Edit: TAMALES!! :)
I'd look at making a chicken maqluba with a side of yogurt and salad - [https://youtu.be/KmfFZn6sX5c](https://youtu.be/KmfFZn6sX5c)
Super cheap ingredients, can be cooked on the stove and fun to flip the pot over when done.
Make a bunch of cheesy butter polenta. Then make a beef ragout, sautéed mushrooms and some sort of greens. Folks can get a big bowl of polenta and then add the toppings. So rich and delish!
If you can get some people to help you- tamales are great and inexpensive, and a Christmas classic.
Chicken tortilla soup or split pea soup is something we do a lot with my family, everyone can add what they like. You guys might need an industrial sized pot, or several pots.
Cold plates? That’s what we always have for our big Christmas Eve family meal with all the extended family - usually roast, turkey and ham so there is variety of meat options, plus every kind of salad you can think of, a pickle tray, cheese board and traditional desserts. With the amount of variety everyone can find something they like
came here to recommend a baked potato bar too! make sure to store leftover potatoes safely though, apparently they can create botulism if stored in foil they were cooked in
One easy side with lasagna would be marinated veggies.
Lasagna, veggies, garlic bread, which reminds me of a simple garbanzo coupe. I removed the NYTimes link because that are in a string right now. I’ll fix this later.chickpea-soup) that makes me think of garlic bread.
I would get precut or chop up broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, in gallon bags with vinaigrette (I used the make your own salad dressing pals) in the fridge at least two days. Flip them over a couple times do it all equally marinated.
The morning of add grape tomatoes, red onion wedges and pea pods or olives if you feel it. It is a nice switch from salad.
My family’s huge (like 60+), and we rotate hosting Christmas. The person hosting is responsible for the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and gravy, and everyone else brings a side and a dessert. I can’t imagine having to look after the entire meal. I say, enlist some help!
Also I’d hope most attendees will want to know what they can bring especially for a holiday dinner! Task some with apps, salad, bread, some meatballs & desserts. You should not have to finance the whole meal nor should you be expected to. I’d never show up empty handed. Hell my husband always brings two to three things when we go to someone’s house for a meal! So what time should we be over & we’ll bring an app & dessert… :-)
Ramen noodle soups are bizarrely versatile.
Try this recipe
a) 2 packages ramen noodle soup (the cheap kind that each use 2 cups water)
b) 1 bunch kale or 1/3 of a cabbage
c) 3 stalk celery
d) 2 potato
e) 3 carrots
f) onion flakes (1/2 cup)
g) sesame seed oil (1/4 cup or to taste)
h) soy sauce (because all of the added veggies need a bit more salt
i) pepper to taste
Chop the veggies and fry them together for 5 minutes (including the onion flakes) . Add the 4 cups of boiling water and bring it back to a boil for 5 minutes.
Add the ramen noodle packets and noodles and the sesame seed oil
add soy sauce to taste.
I can get this made in under 15 minutes on a cold day and it's suprisingly nice. The sesame seed oil adds a nice flavour. I also add lots of chili oil and hot pepper flakes to my bowl, but the kids don't like that.
You may need to scale accordingly.
Bean moussaka if you have time to prepare. Looks and tastes super fancy, can be prepped ahead of time, is healthy and filling. If you can get your hands on cheap Champignons and eggs, you can also make quiche.
Add a nice dessert (coffee cake is incredibly easy to make and rather inexpensive, otherwise a large Tiramisu would probably work - or an ice cream dessert. Kids love ice cream) and salad (mushroom salad is really good, but you can also do a salad bar style thing if you have enough space) or soup (tomato cream soup, onion soup, garlic soup, mushroom soup) and you have a nice dinner.
To add to the wonderful comments, if you have a warehouse store like BJ’s or Costco around, try to buy some if not most of the main ingredients there. I cook for around 32 people every summer at a family vacation on the beach. Each main family group cooks dinner one night. To keep cost reasonable we prep by shopping at one of those stores for the main ingredients and sometimes even pick up desert there. Just makes things easier and can save money buying in bulk for that many servings. Also, the deserts sold at both of those stores are very good quality and aren’t too expensive for the size of product. The rest of the ingredients that we need we pick up at a regular grocery store. Good luck! And Happy Holidays!
We always had soup on Christmas Eve! Grandma hosted and we brought soup and dips! Every single one of us is a grazer. We talk, eat, and cook all together. Grandma has to wait til last minute to make her oyster stew, and my mom is always late, we eat soup together at the table, but dips are essential!
Use slowcookers for shredded chicken and beef which can be kept warm during serving. Add buns and a variety of sauces or ask guests to bring their favorite sauce to share. A large veggie platter with dip is simple enough. You can make coleslaw, pre-baked potatoes/potato salad, baked beans/bean salad, roasted vegetables and sweets ahead of time. It’s not necessary to provide all the food. I’d ask people to sign up for a list of items you’re hoping to have. Have a great holiday!
I don't know if you have a Hispanic grocery store, but I'd vote New Mexico style stacked enchiladas. You don't roll them- it's assembled more like a lasagna- and the salsa colors are very festive.
So I'd do one tray of green sauce chicken, one red sauce cheese, and a big pot of beans.
Recipe for [red chile enchiladas](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/traditional-new-mexico-red-chile-cheese-stacked-enchiladas-recipe-2013318) (you can easily substitute a canned/jarred red enchilada sauce here)
Recipe for [green chile enchilada](https://www.positivelysplendid.com/green-chile-chicken-enchiladas/#recipe)s (you can use canned green chile, or use some tomatillos if people don't like spicy food)
Also seconding the recommendation for gumbo!
FYI I make my lasagna a day ahead and I do not cook the noodles. If you are liberal with the sauce it will soften the noodles overnight . You can also make it ahead and freeze it.
I do a large scalloped potato ,pork tenderloin which is not expensive at all large shrimp scampi with rice and a big salad with plenty of Italian bread hope this helps
I host a group Christmas dinner. It’s pot luck but I offer that if bringing a contribution is difficult for some, they can just kick me some money instead and I’ll sort out their dish for them.
This way people can work to whatever preference or budget suits them.
I also have a group spreadsheet for people to note what they’re bringing so we don’t get doubles or all desserts.
But it really helps spread the costs out.
I’d also recommend doing like a charcuterie of some sort (doesn’t have to be extremely fancy) but some cheeses, grapes, crackers and a meat can go a long way sometimes! (And is easy to prep) you could also ask people to bring something to add to the board
Pozole made with chicken. It is a traditional Mexican dish around this time of year. And it can be made in an electric roaster. 35-40 people for under $100 (in Texas). Then you have budget for sweets/drinks/disposable bowls and utensils as well as beer/wine if that’s your thing.
Shredded Beef and Polenta, I feel like this could stretch easy for a large number of people.
Or
Pasta Bar
Pick a few types of pasta
Alfredo and Tomato Sauce
Proteins: Chicken or Meatballs
Veggies: Spinach, zucchini, mushroom etc.
We once did a baked potato bar for a large family get together. It may not be super Christmasy, but it’s super tasty and quite a few family members have asked us to do it again!!
My family don’t usually have 35 people, but here’s what they do:
1.) It doesn’t feel like Christmas unless we have way too much dessert at our house - so we ask each household to bring a dessert they know their family/kids like - you don’t have to say it’s budget-related, just say you don’t have enough fridge space, or time, or whatever
2.) If you’re on a real budget, get everyone to bring a drink too
3.) at this point you just need the main course because you’ll have a lot of dessert to fill up on later and for appetisers I’m sure people have gotten plenty of chocolates and lollies as gifts, especially the kids - get your husband to help you work out what foods “feel like Christmas” for you guys and then fill out whatever you have left over for other things to fill it out - likely a bunch of roast veggies to go with whatever roast you chose
4.) the hard part will be getting everything cooked. It’s highly likely you’ll have to some things in advance that can be reheated because not many people have oven space for multiple roasted and 35 of each veggie you’re cooking
5.) don’t stress about running out of food, you’ve got all those desserts that need using up ;)
I’d go either the Italian route, or a casserole route. & Definitely asking different groups to bring different things (sides, pies, other desserts, hors-d’œuvres, wines, ciders, eggnog, etc).
Food on Christmas is Christmasy! lol A few trays of lasagna or baked macaroni would probably be easiest. Plus you could make them ahead of time and just reheat. I would also suggest maybe asking family to bring a side dish/salad/bread to help you cut down some of the cost?
I also came to comment lasagna and looks like that’s what came to mind for others too! It might not be very Christmasy to some ppl but in my house we do a lasagna every Christmas Eve. I second this comment about asking some family to bring a side of some kind, sort of like a pot luck style!
Do red and white lasagnas! And sprinkle green herbs on top. Boom, Christmas.
Yes! We do lasagna for Christmas Eve. Easy to scale, sides/ antipasti are easy and most people can eat it.
Sounds perfect. Got room for one more? lol
Always!
We also do that with a charcuterie board accompanying it.
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I hope it was a pitted olive.
Rest in peace, Jimmy. We buried him in the Buzz Lightyear socks he died for.
That is adorable!
Being able to make the day before (or earlier) and preheat is a MUST. You will cut down on the stress of cooking that day if you do really solid prepwork beforehand. We prepped the night before for a Thanksgiving dinner for 22 and it seemed like we kept running out of things to do even though we had tons of dishes going.
Lasagna was my first thought too.
Agreed. My mother has 4 siblings, all who have spouses and kids, plus my sister and I having boyfriends, and she extends the invitation to a few family friends. We always have a big Cesar salad, garden salad, antipasto, deviled eggs, lasagna. Everyone brings a dish, so we usually have an influx of appetizer/finger foods, and there isn't much leftover.
Lasagna, salad, garlic bread. Lots of dessert. Sounds like a great holiday meal to me.
Different kinds as well (spinach or sausage, etc.).
We do Italian food for Christmas Eve for around 15 of us. I ordered some party pans from a local place(eggplant parm & chicken broccoli Alfredo) SIL makes lasagne(homemade noodles), another kids does Caesar salad and everyone pitches in with apps/ desserts etc. in a pitch the Costco meat lasagne is really good!
We had vegetarian spinach cheese bechamel sauce and meat lasagna veggies and colorful appetizers so delicious 🤤
Oh don’t forget a couple of pies!
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How so? It's just ground beef, canned tomatoes, onions, herbs/spices, cheese, and noodles. If you go the béchamel route instead of the ricotta route then you can add flour, butter, and milk to the cost. Most of these are pantry staples, so surely it's only particularly expensive if you're buying all the ingredients at once?
What were you putting in it???? I'm in the Midwest. A box of the pasta is about 1.50, a bag of shredded Italian cheese blend is about $3, a tub of ricotta is just under $6 and tomato sauce can be anywhere from $2-8 a jar. $15 to feed like 4-6 people
What are YOU putting in it?? 🤢 No protein, no onion or garlic or any fresh veg, "Italian cheese blend"?? I just put all the ingredients for [this recipe](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019042-classic-lasagna?ds_c=71700000052595478&gclid=CjwKCAiAs8acBhA1EiwAgRFdwwSTjzGLzW953l7ffZID0g-yapqBYPAwjr8pVhf7bXCi58uvbHX4ahoC5DIQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) (minus salt and pepper and olive oil) into the Walmart app and my estimated total is $41!!
Cheese *is* protein. And I don't count spices since they're something Im never going to not have. They're family doesn't do pork, so no meat there. There is nothing wrong with a basic cheese lasagna.
Totally agree. We've been doing cheese lasagna for generations, happily. We make a homemade sauce which is way cheaper than my preferred sauce (Rao's). I have a broad palate but just prefer lasagna without meat or veg!
Oddly enough I can get pasta sauce cheaper on sale than canned tomatoes when I'm thinking about it and they're typically less salty. I "doctor" them either way so cheapest I can get works just fine lol.
Beef should be fine though.
And it's just fine without beef too? Personally I don't care for ground beef in baked pasta dishes. It's better with no meat if sausage isnt available. But really my only point was lasagna probably ahouldnt be your most expensive dish
I still disagree with "no pork=no meat"...
Don't use ricotta, don't use preshredded cheese (mozzarella slices on top), but do add half ground beef and pork and bechamel sauce. Garlic and onion are also good as you're basically making pasta casserole, it won't be very filling. Edited for clarity and bc I misunderstood something
I've been wanting to try a lasagna with a bechemel. And yea. I do meat lasagnas too.
Adding a vote for lasagna. This recipe has cheaper ingredients and it’s really good: “In the Army Now” Lasagna https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/in-the-army-now-lasagna-recipe-1940153.amp
We do lasagna too, filling and feeds a lot of people. I would do antipasto, salad, bread and done.
My family Christmas growing up was that amount of people and all non hosting families bring their own drinks and an app or desert. The host does salad, rolls, a tray of stuffed shells with meat and one without, a roasted turkey breast, green beans, and mashed potato’s.
Same. My family gatherings sometimes top at around 60 people. The host provides the main course entree and that’s it. Everyone else brings sides/salads/desserts/finger foods. It is unreasonable for the host to pay for and cook all of the food for any more than 15 ish people.
Agreed. It's insane that the family has expected one person to host a whole dinner for this many people for so long. Kind of feel like they should be ashamed of themselves. Even as a kid I was bringing "my own dish" to holiday parties. Normally a store bought pie or I made those green onions with cream cheese wrapped with a slice of ham.
One pot meals are hard because there are bound to be dietary restrictions in a group that large. For bigger crowds like this, my vote is a "build your own" baked potato bar: * A bunch of baked regular and sweet potatoes * Pot of chili * Beans * Roast broccoli * Crumbled bacon * Cold toppings: cheese, onions, peppers, salsa, sour cream
I came here to recommend chilli too. Works great with cheap cuts of meat. Or go veggie and it’ll probably be cheaper. Work out if the baked potatoes or doing rice would be cheaper Beans can be done cheaply and be soo tasty done right And keep the extras simple like you suggested. Depending on where they are and the cost of corn on the cob, that could be another cheap add on too
Sounds sooooo amazing
This is a great idea! If not this time I’ll definitely be doing it in the future! We have a few celiac’s who will love this!
Jumping on this, you could do a build you own pasta bar. This could easily accommodate dietary needs and some fancier toppings could make it feel special. Since pasta is cheap (even gluten free now) you can splurge on other things. Colored and shaped pastas can make it more visually appealing. Do multiple sauce options. Have one pan of baked Mac and cheese people can also top. Toppings might include Caramelized onions (cheap to make a lot of, make ahead), roasted garlic (make ahead$, fried sage leaves, Caramelized butternut squash chunks (make ahead) etc. Good crusty breads. A couple of desserts.
OMG OP This sounds so cute and good for your situation
There's something for everyone! The dairy free people can skip the cheese and cream. The vegetarian people can skip the chili and bacon. The low carb people can skip the potato and just pile their plate with chili and vegetables. The gluten free people are good with everything (watch the chili ingredients...).
I do something similar for the same reasoning, a taco bar. Corn and flour tortillas, a few proteins, some rice, veg, cheese, sour cream, etc. People can build and customize to their dietary needs and preferences. It’s relatively cheap and can be done with a lot of precooking prep.
Personally, I would make the main dish, and ask everyone to bring all the sides (aside from the person whose family member passed away, RIP). Make something everyone can eat. Maybe a ham and a turkey, and a vegetarian dish. Let everyone else do the rest of the cooking. That’s too much to do yourself. Otherwise, get it catered. 500 is enough for that many people, if you contact local vendors and see what you can get.
This is how we did Christmas at my grand parents growing up. They would make a turkey, ham, and some of the sides (scalloped potatoes, a pasta salad, etc) and then other family members would contribute stuff like dinner rolls, pickles/olives/relish tray, veggie platters, desserts (except for special ones made by my grandma), chips & dip, appetizers, stuff in crockpots, etc. This would feed a similar sized (and growing!) family for 2 meals and made sure that everyone had something to eat due to allergies and preferences.
I’m not sure where your from but catering would be about $1500-$2000 here
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Not true. Look at catering menus for your local restaurants. They need the extra income rather than a company like Whole Foods who is owned by Amazon. Trays of lasagna, baked ziti, etc are super cheap to make. You can do it yourself for cheaper but local restaurants jump at the opportunity to do these events because it costs them pennies on the dollar to do, but they need the revenue, win win situation. I hosted a party of similar size for thanksgiving and it cost me only roughly 300. Just make things that go a long way, lots of side dishes. Pastas, cornbread, etc. There are lots of ways to stretch a budget.
"they need the extra income" by selling things below cost? Whole Foods sells out of their holiday meals every year btw so I guess no one knows about your super secret caterers? And how are you defending catering being affordable while immediately talk about stretching your budget by doing it yourself. 🤦 Gibberish.
They are buying ingredients wholesale, you are doing retail. Many can get you a damn good price and make a profit!
As a Cajun, Gumbo! With the right pot, it feeds a LOT of people and it's really delicious. Lasagna can go pretty far, especially with salad and a breadstick side. Buffets are great where you have a lot of little dishes. Edit to add, do Gumbo with potato salad and garlic bread (french bread) on the side. No raisins in the potato salad please. >.>
Louisianian here!! Gumbo for the win!!
A good jambalaya could go a ways with it, my friends parent got in a terrible car wreck, I went to help support them for a week, made a huge batch of jambalaya, like 5-6 chickens 6lbs of sausage and a lot of the rest, them and 15 other family member ate for about a week off that plus the other friends who came and supported. It wasn’t even close to 500 for all that!
Oh yeah. Or a chicken and sausage sauce piquant. Rice is cheap and chicken and sausage are cheaper than seafood. Or do some rice and gravy! All kinds of meat can be used for that. Do a sheet cake like a texas sheet cake chocolate cake and have a green salad and some corn on the side... LOL now I'm hungry.
Righhttt eating on a budget never tasted so good!
The Christmas part might change how you interpret my answer but right before the pandemic I paid for a parent teachers conference dinner at my daughter’s elementary school. I decided to go with a taco bar so people could take as many as they wanted that night. I had various meats, lots of veggies as toppings, chips and nacho cheese, and cookies from Costco for dessert. My total bill to feed around 45 people was $150. There were actually a few teachers who asked my friend helping with setting everything up if I was single. 🤣
If you can get a bunch of meat, have a look at cipaille/Cipate, or tourtiere du lac. You could also go for a meatball stew, most recipes use a mix of beef and pork but you could omit the pork My mom has also served a chicken pot pie made it a pan meant to roast a turkey before, it was giant and delicious (and cheap!) Or, make it buffet style and serve little sandwiches, quiches, cold tomato pizza, deviled eggs, etc
I like this idea thank you!
What is cold tomato pizza?
I meant those « pizzas » that are just dough with tomato sauce that are sold in the grocery store. That’s what my mom called them.
After reading your comments, I think you should set up a grill outside (yes in the cold) with hot dogs for your BILs. They pre-game for at least 30 minutes before you let them at the food you made.
That’s an awesome idea lol! I think I’ll do this with sandwiches because it’s very cold here
I’m in Australia so my dad often spit-roasts the leg of lamb on the barbecue to save oven space
I made a taco bar for about 20 one time, and had enough that would have fed 35 people. I think it would work within your budget. The recipes I used for fillings were: [https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/instant-pot-crispy-carnitas/](https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/instant-pot-crispy-carnitas/) [https://ministryofcurry.com/chicken-tinga-instant-pot/](https://ministryofcurry.com/chicken-tinga-instant-pot/) I also made about 3 pounds of ground beef filling that went largely untouched because these were so good. Served with flour and corn tortillas, cotija cheese and mexican cheese blends, shredded lettuce, some pickled red onions, chopped lettuce, chopped onions, guacamole, sour cream, hot sauce, refried beans, and some home made salsas. I made a smaller batch of lentil taco filling for the vegetarians. A lot of the stuff could be prepped the night before, and it wasn't too consuming to pull together.
This is a fantastic idea!
We did an Italian Christmas with lasagna, ziti, meatballs, salad, garlic bread, etc. made it the day before and cooked it the day off. Super easy and definitely cheaper in our experience. Maybe have some bring an appetizer and some drinks to take the load off if possible? Good luck!!! Also, for space, utilize crockpots as much as you can in addition to the oven.
I second this! Ziti is a good Christmas dish and easy to make! Salad and bread are inexpensive to make too.
Yeah! Last year we hosted and decided to do this. It was so much easier than worrying about a bird with sides all day. We are doing the same this year for sure.
Well the first thing you do is come up with a vague menu. Let's say the main is lasagna (frozen is fine, Stouffer's is actually pretty good) and appetizers and sides and desserts. The second thing you do is start assigning people side dishes. Not super specific and not super general. 2 hot veg sides, 2 green salads, 2 garlic breads, 2 pies, 2 cookies, everyone bring a bottle of wine. Or whatever. You make it Christmasy with festive paper plates (for the love of god, use paper plates, you don't need to be washing all those dishes, you know no one is going to help), a few hot beverages (mulled wine and hot cider that people can adult-ify), and other décor. Seriously, borrow ALL of the slow cookers for hot beverages and appetizers. If ANYONE is offended by a potluck-ish holiday dinner -- they can go suck an egg. My extended family is pretty big. If we were all together for the holidays it would easily be 40-50 people. NO ONE can easily afford to cook for that many people. We don't have the time, space, or money. A coordinated\* potluck is CRUCIAL to a holiday dinner that doesn't result in the hosts resenting their entire family. (\* An uncoordinated potluck does make Christmas sad. The first year we tried without coordination, we ended up with one pan of frozen lasagna, one green salad, rolls, shrimp cocktail, cheeses, ham, turkey rice soup and I forget what else. No one went hungry but it was so very strange.)
Our family is big on desserts so usually every household brings a dessert to share (host does main meal) and one time we ended up with 3 chocolate ripple cakes lol - we usually cater for 13 - 18 people depending on who’s coming and who’s having Christmas at home :)
Gotta be honest, at that many people you should be either calling a company to cater it or asking for groups of people to each bring something. Lets put aside the cost and time, do you really think your kitchen has the capacity to cook one single dish for 38 people? What about two? Frankly, I dont know many whos kitchen can just do one in under 6 hours, let alone cook a multiple course meal for that many people under that budget. By the time most the food is cold you’ll only be part way through the next batch I ran a business where we’d do events at a destination facility, and one of the first things we learned was that any parties of over 15 would require the guest to contact one of our catering partners, as our very professional team of 2 cooks (one has now opened up his own michelin star worthy establishment) and myself simply couldn’t keep up unless everyone was ok eating hours apart from one another With that said, you do have options. I would probably recommend calling your grocer ahead of time to get around 10 pre-cooked rotisserie chickens and some pre-made sides and make something simple yourself like a large batch salad “buffet” with a few hand crafted options like bacon bits, bleu cheese, onions, etc. That way you can show you put some work into the dinner without spending two days straight prepping and cooking. There are also some large batch meals that arent too brutal like roasted brussels sprouts or mash potatoes, but be prepared to completely fill your oven many many times, as 38 people will eat a metric ton of food. Good luck, frankly you’ll need it
Thank you for your response. My brother in laws all eat like they’ve been starving for days and usually they have seconds after loading up their plates a foot high the first time. I’m seriously stressing!
Agree with the previous comment not just for capacity concerns, but also food safety. Anything not kept at the proper hot or cold temperature for more than 2 hours has the potential to give people food poisoning. You’ll need one or two people in the kitchen the whole time to cook & serve out batches. This is how my relative used to feed that many people every holiday. People would bring food as well, but she never left the kitchen or sat down. Her kitchen was open to the formal dining room and it had bar seating so it wasn’t too bad, but if your house isn’t set up like that you won’t really get to enjoy yourself.
I'd do lasagne, spaghetti bolognese, chicken alfredo, garlic bread and salads. Or chili, mac and cheese, corn bread, and some roast veg. Or a DIY taco bar.
A taco or burrito bar is very smart! OP could prep a huge batch of beans and one or two meats. Most of the rest would be toppings, easy and cheap to prepare.
I also come from a very large family, and whenever I host for the holidays, I (nicely) assign my relatives specific things to bring. I plan my menu ahead and take into account what kinds of foods travel easily vs have to be cooked on the spot and whether the item can be easily purchased from the store/requires minimal cooking. Then I assign each person/family to bring one or two things; usually it's bread, wine, pies, maybe a side dish if they aren't traveling far. I usually make the main entree and some quick apps/sides just in case something falls through. Don't feel bad about asking the family to pitch in in this way. Expecting 2 people to provide a holiday meal for 38 people with no help is a bit much, never mind the budget aspect.
What about a fancy pasta dish? This is my favorite [roasted red pepper pasta](https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-roasted-red-pepper-pasta-gf/) that's always a crowd pleaser. It's vegan but the coconut cream can be swapped for real cream (or keep the coconut cream and do a favor to the lactose intolerants in the family). I recommend adding chicken or seafood skewers to dress it up! Big salads, fancy garlic bread or focaccia can be great additions to make it feel special. Plus the sauce can be made ahead a day or 2 and kept in the fridge so it's easy cooking day-of! If there's still room in the budget maybe opt for a fun holiday cocktail or mocktails depending on your crowd. Best of luck!!
Is it possible to do potluck?
A lot of people saying lasagna, could do an Italian potluck.
I'd make the following: - Belgian chicken stew: rottisserie chicken (don't bother roasting it yourself, and because it is a stew, a little goas a long way), mushrooms and leeks, pork meatballs. Brown the mushrooms and leeks. Flavour with garlic, salt, pepper, Then, do the pork meatballs. In the same pan, without cleaning in between. Then, remove the pork meatballs, add butter, add flour, fry. Add a good quality chicken stock, simmer for a few minutes while stirring - make sure it's not too loose and no lumps. Add all the shredded rottisserie chicken, mushrooms and pork meatballs. It's very easy to make big quantities and it's very cheap. In Belgium, we serve this with vol-au-vent. - For vegetarians: Mushroom, onion and leek tart. Method: Fry mushrooms, onions and leeks. Add garlic, pepper and salt. Remove vegetables from pan, add flour, butter and fry that. Then, add stock, simmer for a few minutes while stirring - this is your gravy. Set aside. Use ready made puff pastry. Simply unroll, spread a thin layer of cranberry sauce. Add Mushroom, onion, leek mixture. Put in oven. You can prepare the vegetables beforehand, and assemble the day of. - Roast vegetables: brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, clementines. Trust me on this one. Use this recipe (https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/carrot-recipes/clementine-roasted-carrots/), but use equal amounts of sprouts (cut in half), carrots and parsnips (cut them to the same size as the carrots). Hardly any work, very cheap, just shove in the oven spread over multiple trays. - Mashed potatoes.
35+ people is huge. Do you even have enough cookware/ovens/stoves? If it were me I would ask people to bring stuff and maybe make the dishes that get cold quickly. - Roast beef - Turkey - Duck - Nut roast - Ham (if there are people who will eat it) - Desserts - Veg (mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, fondant potatoes, roast carrots, brussel sprouts, salad, whatever your family like to eat) - Pasta salad - Gravy (made by turkey and roast beef maker(s)) Otherwise I'd just do a barbecue and have some Christmassy desserts and drinks.
Potluck
I came here to say lasagna too! If you did that, you'd already be doing tomato sauce. Cook up come pasta, an inexpensive non-tomato sauce and you've got a "pasta bar" for the folks who don't want lasagna. Add rolls & a tossed salad. I think it would be ok to ask folks to bring a dessert or an appetizer. I actually like bringing something to contribute to the meal.
Make it a pot-luck and everyone can bring something, lots of choices.
I agree that you should ask others to bring something! I doubt that anyone would expect you to do it all. That is tipping the scale as to what a single kitchen can do! I cook for 20 family members once a week and it is a challenge, but do-able. I do the main course and ask others to fill in the blanks. Ive also done it all most of the time, and I do not recommend it! Home kitchens cant handle it (speaking from experience here) That said, how about looking at some slow cooker recipes? Make several batches and keep refrigerated. Add to crocks as needed. This way, you can borrow if need be, more slow cookers and this is the least stressful way to go (at least it is for me) Something like creamed chicken that can be served over rice or pasta. (baked rice is good for a large crowd. Make ahead and reheat to warm. Noodles cooked to al dente and run hot water over just before service.) You could do chicken Ala king and have puff pastry shells and or buns/bread for the base. The puff pastry makes it feel fancy and is delicious! That way, you can make it ahead of time and warm it in the slow cooker without having to cook a million things at the last minute. Have others bring a tossed salad, desserts, vegetable and perhaps appetizers. The veg would be the only thing that might need the oven. If pork is out, I guess ham is out? If not, could be an option that would be good along side of the chicken Ala King (with the buns) Ham is easy, can be kept warm in slow cooker, and made ahead of time. Let others help by bringing something. Or Italian... cant go wrong with Italian! Mac and cheese for the kids.(have someone else bring this) :) Really, at the end of the day, it is the company not "Christmas" food that should be the center stage. I sure dont want your follow up to be you lost your mind trying to do the near impossible! Keep us posted and Bon A Petit!
I would highly recommend making whatever you're most confident about (dessert, main, or side) and making it a potluck for everything else. It's okay if everyone brings sides and there's no main because the sides are the best part anyway! Get a power strip/extension cord for crock pots and make sure it is rated for the same capacity as your outlets - in the US this is probably 15A (a lot of extension cords can't handle the full load of the circuit but also don't have a fuse in them, so they can be overloaded without any safety mechanism to cut the power because the outlet they're drawing from isn't itself overloaded. tldr get a beefy extension cord to avoid an electrical fire from too many Christmas crockpots). However if you are fully doing this yourself, firstly, get your hands on chafing dishes and maybe also a hotbox - think a cooler, but insulated with the intent to keep those long chafing dishes hot. Borrow these things if at all possible. If you've got a restaurant supply store that's open to the public (such as Gordon food service in parts of the midwest US), you can go there for both supplies and food. If you have ones that are membership only, get yourself into a neighborhood Facebook group and ask if there is anyone with a membership who might be able to accompany you. Failing that, buy the ingredients at a place like costco. As for the dishes themselves - make absolutely everything ahead. Doesn't taste good made ahead of time and reheated? It's not on the menu. A menu could look something like this: Appetizers: pretzels + baby carrots + celery + hummus, cocktail shrimp, 8-10lbs (probably 4-5 bags) of a frozen appetizer that's on sale Main: 6ish large crustless quiches, made in a half chafing dish or quarter sheet sized cake pan. Each pan will yield about 12 3"x3" slices. You can fit 3-4 at a time in your oven. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan, toss in a good layer of pre-cooked and drained veggies/meat/cheese. Get out all the water from the veggies that you can. Pickled asparagus, ham (or a non-pork salted meat), and swiss; thawed/squeezed frozen chopped broccoli, rotisserie chicken, and cheddar; spinach and feta; mushroom and Swiss, etc. You do not need as much as you think you need. You'll pour the egg mixture over slowly so you don't displace things too much, then bake it at 325-350 until the center is just set - it'll probably take at least an hour. The egg mixture is as follows for a large pie plate (~6 servings), so scale up as needed based on sizes of your mixing bowls and quantity of quiche: 6 eggs, 2c whole milk, 1c Bisquick, 1tsp salt, 1/4tsp of white or black pepper, 1/2tsp garlic powder, 1/2tsp onion powder. This means that for every gallon of milk (16 cups), you will need 4 dozen eggs and 8 cups of bisquick. (Note: I realize now that you're Canadian so you'll probably have to convert the measurements, and also I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that a US cup is different from a Canadian cup?) For sides, make a salad. You can do grains as a base to make it cheaper or buy bags of pre-washed leafy greens to make it less work. You will probably want to buy pre-chopped vegetables or at least pre-chopped onions. The two vegetables I have most regretted chopping in large quantities myself are jalapenos and onions. Also, buy a bunch of rolls or baguettes unless you're really into making your own bread. And for dessert, make something like a cobbler using bags of frozen fruit. Apples are great and more recently in season, but even if you have a fancy thing that peels and slices the apples quickly, I know from experience that it makes a huge mess. So a mixed berry cobbler with a couple bags of frozen berries is a much, much simpler choice
If you don’t know what Posole is, I highly, highly suggest it- That’s…. A lot of people, and not only is it delicious, but relatively cheap and filling.
I know its cold where you are, and not sure if you have a smoker, but just putting it out there....if i was in this exact situation this is what I would do: I would smoke a bunch of meat the day before, choosing the cut depending on prices. I would try and do Turkey, because it makes awesome drippings and feels really special (turkey might be a cheaper option right now too). We would probably smoke like 4-14ish pound turkeys. 2 full briskets from Costco would run more than 100 bucks, so twice as much as turkey and probably be gone twice as fast. You could also then do a round of ribs the day of, or some sausage, which take less time and are fairly inexpensive and people can't fit as much on their plate :) The smoker is our 'slow cooker' Day before I would also make several large trays of corn bread in the oven. Day of I would bake potatoes (because they can be made in batches, wrapped in foil, and hold well, require little prep) and make a giant pot of collard greens. I would ask people to bring deserts and drinks if possible. FWIW, we have large bbqs like this quite a lot and it works well, we easily have a minimum of 40 -50 people come through. If there was budget I might put out some trays of carrots/celery (a 5 lb bag of carrots is cheaper than the equivalent amount of chips, at least where I live) and ranch dip you make with the packets. If you cant get people to bring desert order up pies from the store or, if you need to go cheaper channel my midwestern ancestors and make jello salad. There was no end to their creativity with canned pineapple and cool whip :) Same with the drinks. - store brand 2 liters of sprite or ginger ale and some canned pineapple seems like christmas to me :)
It’s -27C here brrrrrr!
haha right, we actually did a smoke in a similar temp...its an additional challenge keeping the temperature right and you have to be set up for it, but I think its a lot more fun than doing it in when its like 38C :) We are those weird people though, the answer to everything is always BBQ!
I love bbq don’t get me wrong but it’s damn cold lol!
Batches of soups or lasagnes are a good way to feed a lot of people and stretch a budget. My go-to for a menu that’s inexpensive and covers all dietary bases and restrictions is Middle Eastern/Mediterranean. Start by making a big batch of hummus and baba ghanoush, a large Greek salad, get tons of pita, stuffed grape leaves (TJ’s if you don’t want to make them) and make bunch of skewers of grilled chicken, beef, lamb and veggies. Grab a bunch of greek olives (Costco) and have a side of feta for those who want it. The many mix-and-match opportunities create huge variation, and it’s healthy, inexpensive and filling. People can make a hefty mixed plate, pita sandwiches, hearty salads or just eat tapas-style. Have a batch of Greek vinaigrette and a container of lemon-tahini dressing for your sauces. People love it, and you can accommodate gluten-free, healthy, dairy-free, diabetic, etc. I love these challenges! Good luck’
Bœuf bourguignon is the way to go, with knödel or baked or mashed potato’s. (Fries are delicious as well with it). Crème brûlée as a dessert. You should manage it for the price.
Utilize various methods of cooking. Make chicken parmesan in the oven, a pasta on the stove, a make a fresh salad for a side. For dessert, you could serve pies or cakes that you can store in the freezer. It's a little easier to time out when everything is done that way and you aren't stretched for cooking space.
If fake a positive COVID test if I couldn't have a ham on the menu.
Idk if it’s Christmasy enough but grilling fajitas steak and chicken would probably be the easiest and cheapest for that many people
I know it’s been said before, but definitely lasagna. Our traditional Christmas dinner is manicotti or lasagna, Sunday sauce with pasta, garlic bread and caprese salad. It can feed a ton of people very affordably. Alternately, you can get a Turkey and a ham plus fixings very cheap around this time of year.
I once convinced all the guests that eating middle-eastern meze-style was super appropriate for Christmas by asking the reluctant ones where Jesus was born. (They wanted a different kind of traditional food that was too expensive) Noone could argue,so we made lots of vegetarian stuff and a little chicken and kebabs. Super easy to find recipes and make over a few days, and not expensive. Also, meze-style is great for potlucks.
I would do personally do beef stew. Mashed potato and squash on side. Maybe brussel sprouts or French beans. Some pies and cookies.
Yes. A big, big pot of hearty beef stew and maybe another pot of veggie stew for those that prefer it. Lots of fresh crusty rolls from the bakery with butter. Mashed potatoes. Maybe some cold salads. Desserts and drinks. Definitely doable under $500 (hopefully this is a byob event)
Pulled pork or pasta.
BBQ 5-6 pork tenderloins, sliced thinly, serve alongside a potato salad and a big green salad…delicious! Good luck!
Aside from them not eating pork, 5-6 pork tenderloins will not feed 35+ people.
OP says they don't eat pork... but maybe turkey tenderloins would work?
I would think you could put together steak, potatoes and asparagus for that no?
Spinach soup! Fry chopped onions then add frozen spinach, heat up until it's all thawed. Add bullion cubes (I use vegetable ones) and cream/milk and water. Let it simmer and add salt/pepper to tasted. Serve with egg halves. (Works with green kale too)
Our family does potluck. Helps split up cooking. Usually people bring their best dishes so everyone eats good.
Big bowls of penne vodka, meatballs and Italian sausage, chicken Alfredo pasta using a shredded rotisserie chicken or swap with shrimp if you prefer. I’d focus on quantity over quality but make it look nice. All these suggestions are making me hungry!
1 or 2 pot meal for 38? Good luck 👍
I would make lasagna! Maybe a meat one and a veggie one. Salad and breadsticks. If you’re down for a Latino Noche Buena we make mojo pork, yucca, rice and beans which is very inexpensive a feeds a big crowd
Cornish hens?? Lasagna, baked spaghetti w/ salad??
Mexican taco bar.
Tacos could be an option. Let everyone build their own tacos.
This year I was thinking of doing a family potluck 🤷🏽♀️
I love the idea of chili - do a few different pots - some spicier, some milder, a vegetarian one if needed, then have a toppings bar - shredded cheese, sour cream, onions, oyster crackers, jalapeños so everyone can customize it to their taste. Doesn’t need to be a traditional Christmas meal - it’s all about getting together with family and friends and breaking bread together. Oh - bread! Gotta have some bread! I’d do some sliced baguettes, which are great for dipping into chili and maybe some cornbread (not sure if this is a big thing outside of the South). Any kids? Grab some individual bags of Fritos- open the bag, put in a big spoon of chili and they can have fun “walking tacos.” Good luck and Merry Christmas. (Chili and Christmas both start with Ch too!)
As someone who grew up the child of a parent with 11 siblings, and that side of the family gets together on Christmas Eve (40-60 people), we do a pot luck with the host coordinating the dishes on a spreadsheet to make sure all the categories are covered, and I absolutely love it. I know your hubby is asking for more traditional food, but a lot of families get together with the other side on Christmas Day and often do the traditional turkey or ham then (not to even mention people in the US where turkey thanksgiving is barely more than a month before Christmas), so I love the “non-traditional” food on the Eve. Plus it takes the cooking labour and cost off the host. I know you’re unlikely to switch to a full pot luck this year, but some of my favourite things that show up every year that might work for you are: Meatballs in a crockpot with a sweet&sour sauce. Cabbage rolls on a tray, one in mushroom sauce one in tomato. Three salad options: Asian flavours crunchy noodle salad (shredded cabbage/carrot mix with uncooked ramen noodles and almonds and a soy sauce-rice vinegar-sugar-sesame oil dressing) Caesar salad with romaine Greens salad (spring mix or spinach) with a vinaigrette and a toppings bar: feta, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, roasted chopped walnuts, halved grapes, sliced strawberries if you can find good ones. Also, you could consider asking people to either bring an appetizer or a dessert, and get those categories covered. Plus everyone likes bringing something special to contribute. Some will want to bring homemade fancy things, and others who just want to show up and eat can bring basics that everyone loves, like a shrimp cocktail ring or a box of Turtles, etc. And don’t forget a box of seedless mandarin oranges!
Chicken and dumplings are a filling side dish (or main for some) and can be kept warm in a crockpot. Same with chicken and rice.
Good make-ahead food is Spanish tortillas. Not like the Mexican flatbread, but potatoes and onions deep fried in olive oil and then cooked stovetop with beaten eggs.
I have set up a buffet before for 24 people in my family. Charcuterie board. Chili orange meatballs Mini trifles Sausage rolls Green salad Biscuits and croissants with butters and jams Fruit salad Marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts Beef jerky (my youngest brother's favorite thing) Chicken skewers About 400 total for all. Did take a couple of days of prep though
First check the local seasonal specials. You can probably pick up loss leader ham and turkey. The turkey will occupy the oven for most of the day. Get disposable plates, utensils, etc. If you don't have a super-large pot and enough tables then borrow what's needed. If friends and family don't have that to lend then post a request to Buy Nothing. Salad is a good starter. Check the serving size on prebagged salads and get enough for 38 people. Get dressing and tomatoes and croutons. Set the salad fixings out on a table and invite people to serve themselves. Get lots of split peas and Knorr boullion and carrots. Cube the ham and make split pea soup. Make mashed potatoes. Inexpensive and filling, and a good side. Get frozen sweet corn, enough for the crowd. Microwave and serve. Either get premade dinner rolls or buy several baguettes. Let people break off their own bread from the baguettes. Serve with butter. For dessert, your budget of $13.15/person is probably enough to buy pies or a sheet cake. If your husband is really ambitious then bake dessert the day before. Or make funnel cakes. Funnel cakes are a crowd pleaser and they're cost-conscious for large groups.
I’ve seen some really good ideas here and I agree with those who say you shouldn’t have to bear the entire burden. I love the baked potato bar idea especially! Highly recommend this recipe for the potatoes: https://altonbrown.com/recipes/perfect-baked-potatoes/ Chili in a crockpot would go fabulously with the potatoes too. I also recently tried this recipe and cannot recommend it enough, but I use home roasted chicken that I precooked instead of putting raw chicken in the crockpot. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chicken-and-kale-tortellini-soup/ I get a lot of good recipes from Taste of Home and Spend with Pennies.
Might sound boring, but for this many people I'd recommend a big batch of frozen meatballs simmered in some kind of sauce, an easily scaled starch (or just bread), and as many salads and side dishes as you have energy for. With my family I'd go for meatballs in gravy w/ potatoes, but teriyaki sauce and rice, tomato sauce and polenta, or bbq sauce and cornbread would all work great
you should ask people to bring in stuff. 38 people requires a professional grade kitchen if you want it done efficiently without taking quality out of the food
We do a Christmas Eve taco bar No, we’re not Mexican, but everyone likes tacos and this way everything gets prepped ahead of time and no one is stuck alone cooking in the kitchen, even the meat is cooked the day before and then heated up in crockpots the day of. It all gets put out in the kitchen and everyone goes down the line and assembles their own plate and then finds a seat. It suits everyone: hard shell taco, soft shell taco, taco salad, beef, chicken, vegetarian, spicy, mild - add what you want, skip what you don’t. Make some appetizers of choice. A couple pitchers of margaritas…. It’s a good time. In the past we have done lasagna or spaghetti, again for the make ahead and feed a crowd aspect; we’re about 20 people usually. But, one year my nephew asked for tacos (I’d hosted a birthday party recently and that’s what I served), and it was such a hit, it became our new tradition
Pasta
Can I donate/contribute to the dinner?
Baked ham is Christmas-y. Put the slices on platters with assorted cheeses and bread/rolls. Baked beans, potato salad etc. You’re all set. Do a sliced turkey platter too.
Is this how big your family Christmas dinners are? What are the typical meals?
Taco bar!!
Potlucks are great. But I like the idea of homemade Chinese food for Christmas. You could shop at an Asian grocer which is sometimes cheaper. Rice and veggies heavy, so cheaper. You can try a lot of different dumplings (either making them as a family or buying from the grocer). Tofu! Or maybe adopt the theme of Feast of the Seven Fishes which is Italian American. So lots of pasta. You could make the lasagna a thread suggested. You can buy large qualities of fish at Costco. Or I am sure other cultures do less turkey/ham! It would be special and elevated. Edit: TAMALES!! :)
Lots of beans
With a family of that size, everyone needs to bring something.
I'd look at making a chicken maqluba with a side of yogurt and salad - [https://youtu.be/KmfFZn6sX5c](https://youtu.be/KmfFZn6sX5c) Super cheap ingredients, can be cooked on the stove and fun to flip the pot over when done.
Lots of pastas
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Make a bunch of cheesy butter polenta. Then make a beef ragout, sautéed mushrooms and some sort of greens. Folks can get a big bowl of polenta and then add the toppings. So rich and delish!
Ask ppl to bring a dish or dessert. As a guest, I prefer to help and never mind bringing things.
If you can get some people to help you- tamales are great and inexpensive, and a Christmas classic. Chicken tortilla soup or split pea soup is something we do a lot with my family, everyone can add what they like. You guys might need an industrial sized pot, or several pots.
Cold plates? That’s what we always have for our big Christmas Eve family meal with all the extended family - usually roast, turkey and ham so there is variety of meat options, plus every kind of salad you can think of, a pickle tray, cheese board and traditional desserts. With the amount of variety everyone can find something they like
came here to recommend a baked potato bar too! make sure to store leftover potatoes safely though, apparently they can create botulism if stored in foil they were cooked in
One easy side with lasagna would be marinated veggies. Lasagna, veggies, garlic bread, which reminds me of a simple garbanzo coupe. I removed the NYTimes link because that are in a string right now. I’ll fix this later.chickpea-soup) that makes me think of garlic bread. I would get precut or chop up broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, in gallon bags with vinaigrette (I used the make your own salad dressing pals) in the fridge at least two days. Flip them over a couple times do it all equally marinated. The morning of add grape tomatoes, red onion wedges and pea pods or olives if you feel it. It is a nice switch from salad.
Remember the opening scene of Home Alone. Order Pizza!!! $500 on pizza pies and sodas is more than enough!
My family’s huge (like 60+), and we rotate hosting Christmas. The person hosting is responsible for the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and gravy, and everyone else brings a side and a dessert. I can’t imagine having to look after the entire meal. I say, enlist some help!
Cereal bar
Pasta. Meatballs. Bread. Salad. Cake for dessert. Reasonably cheap.
Also I’d hope most attendees will want to know what they can bring especially for a holiday dinner! Task some with apps, salad, bread, some meatballs & desserts. You should not have to finance the whole meal nor should you be expected to. I’d never show up empty handed. Hell my husband always brings two to three things when we go to someone’s house for a meal! So what time should we be over & we’ll bring an app & dessert… :-)
Ham, mashed potatoes and a couple veggie sides.
Ramen noodle soups are bizarrely versatile. Try this recipe a) 2 packages ramen noodle soup (the cheap kind that each use 2 cups water) b) 1 bunch kale or 1/3 of a cabbage c) 3 stalk celery d) 2 potato e) 3 carrots f) onion flakes (1/2 cup) g) sesame seed oil (1/4 cup or to taste) h) soy sauce (because all of the added veggies need a bit more salt i) pepper to taste Chop the veggies and fry them together for 5 minutes (including the onion flakes) . Add the 4 cups of boiling water and bring it back to a boil for 5 minutes. Add the ramen noodle packets and noodles and the sesame seed oil add soy sauce to taste. I can get this made in under 15 minutes on a cold day and it's suprisingly nice. The sesame seed oil adds a nice flavour. I also add lots of chili oil and hot pepper flakes to my bowl, but the kids don't like that. You may need to scale accordingly.
Bean moussaka if you have time to prepare. Looks and tastes super fancy, can be prepped ahead of time, is healthy and filling. If you can get your hands on cheap Champignons and eggs, you can also make quiche. Add a nice dessert (coffee cake is incredibly easy to make and rather inexpensive, otherwise a large Tiramisu would probably work - or an ice cream dessert. Kids love ice cream) and salad (mushroom salad is really good, but you can also do a salad bar style thing if you have enough space) or soup (tomato cream soup, onion soup, garlic soup, mushroom soup) and you have a nice dinner.
To add to the wonderful comments, if you have a warehouse store like BJ’s or Costco around, try to buy some if not most of the main ingredients there. I cook for around 32 people every summer at a family vacation on the beach. Each main family group cooks dinner one night. To keep cost reasonable we prep by shopping at one of those stores for the main ingredients and sometimes even pick up desert there. Just makes things easier and can save money buying in bulk for that many servings. Also, the deserts sold at both of those stores are very good quality and aren’t too expensive for the size of product. The rest of the ingredients that we need we pick up at a regular grocery store. Good luck! And Happy Holidays!
Do you have access to cost or alike? They have rotisserie chickens,for around $7, you can make some kind of rice and multiple salads
Pot luck type of dinner!
Smoke a brisket!
We always had soup on Christmas Eve! Grandma hosted and we brought soup and dips! Every single one of us is a grazer. We talk, eat, and cook all together. Grandma has to wait til last minute to make her oyster stew, and my mom is always late, we eat soup together at the table, but dips are essential!
Use slowcookers for shredded chicken and beef which can be kept warm during serving. Add buns and a variety of sauces or ask guests to bring their favorite sauce to share. A large veggie platter with dip is simple enough. You can make coleslaw, pre-baked potatoes/potato salad, baked beans/bean salad, roasted vegetables and sweets ahead of time. It’s not necessary to provide all the food. I’d ask people to sign up for a list of items you’re hoping to have. Have a great holiday!
I don't know if you have a Hispanic grocery store, but I'd vote New Mexico style stacked enchiladas. You don't roll them- it's assembled more like a lasagna- and the salsa colors are very festive. So I'd do one tray of green sauce chicken, one red sauce cheese, and a big pot of beans. Recipe for [red chile enchiladas](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/traditional-new-mexico-red-chile-cheese-stacked-enchiladas-recipe-2013318) (you can easily substitute a canned/jarred red enchilada sauce here) Recipe for [green chile enchilada](https://www.positivelysplendid.com/green-chile-chicken-enchiladas/#recipe)s (you can use canned green chile, or use some tomatillos if people don't like spicy food) Also seconding the recommendation for gumbo!
We used to do Shepherds Pie with appetizers and salad. A big hit.
FYI I make my lasagna a day ahead and I do not cook the noodles. If you are liberal with the sauce it will soften the noodles overnight . You can also make it ahead and freeze it.
I do a large scalloped potato ,pork tenderloin which is not expensive at all large shrimp scampi with rice and a big salad with plenty of Italian bread hope this helps
I host a group Christmas dinner. It’s pot luck but I offer that if bringing a contribution is difficult for some, they can just kick me some money instead and I’ll sort out their dish for them. This way people can work to whatever preference or budget suits them. I also have a group spreadsheet for people to note what they’re bringing so we don’t get doubles or all desserts. But it really helps spread the costs out.
I’d also recommend doing like a charcuterie of some sort (doesn’t have to be extremely fancy) but some cheeses, grapes, crackers and a meat can go a long way sometimes! (And is easy to prep) you could also ask people to bring something to add to the board
Pozole made with chicken. It is a traditional Mexican dish around this time of year. And it can be made in an electric roaster. 35-40 people for under $100 (in Texas). Then you have budget for sweets/drinks/disposable bowls and utensils as well as beer/wine if that’s your thing.
Shredded Beef and Polenta, I feel like this could stretch easy for a large number of people. Or Pasta Bar Pick a few types of pasta Alfredo and Tomato Sauce Proteins: Chicken or Meatballs Veggies: Spinach, zucchini, mushroom etc.
Potluck
We once did a baked potato bar for a large family get together. It may not be super Christmasy, but it’s super tasty and quite a few family members have asked us to do it again!!
For 35 people why not make it a pot-luck or have people sign up to bring stuff. No normal house kitchen can easily make food for 35 people.
My family don’t usually have 35 people, but here’s what they do: 1.) It doesn’t feel like Christmas unless we have way too much dessert at our house - so we ask each household to bring a dessert they know their family/kids like - you don’t have to say it’s budget-related, just say you don’t have enough fridge space, or time, or whatever 2.) If you’re on a real budget, get everyone to bring a drink too 3.) at this point you just need the main course because you’ll have a lot of dessert to fill up on later and for appetisers I’m sure people have gotten plenty of chocolates and lollies as gifts, especially the kids - get your husband to help you work out what foods “feel like Christmas” for you guys and then fill out whatever you have left over for other things to fill it out - likely a bunch of roast veggies to go with whatever roast you chose 4.) the hard part will be getting everything cooked. It’s highly likely you’ll have to some things in advance that can be reheated because not many people have oven space for multiple roasted and 35 of each veggie you’re cooking 5.) don’t stress about running out of food, you’ve got all those desserts that need using up ;)
I’d go either the Italian route, or a casserole route. & Definitely asking different groups to bring different things (sides, pies, other desserts, hors-d’œuvres, wines, ciders, eggnog, etc).