DC Central Kitchen

For when your PTO needs bites in bulk—on a budget.

by Kerri Beauchesne

08/30/2024

When it comes to feeding a crowd, nothing tops the last time you had to singlehandedly feed 30 hangry little leaguers—unless, of course, you’re new to the PTO and you’ve just been tasked with feeding 300 families...on a budget. Next week.

Of course, this would all be unicorns and butterflies (and, let’s be honest, catered, too) if you didn’t need to worry about a budget. In reality, most of us have an actual (smallish) budget to work with, along with a limited number of crowdsourced slow cookers and volunteer sous chefs. No matter which way you slice it, serving up food for a crowd can seem like a daunting task. But with a little organization, some smart mega-meal planning, and—if you’re lucky—access to a warehouse store membership, it doesn’t have to be. To get you started, here are 22 meal ideas along with recipes for large groups—we've even included interactive calculators so you'll know how much food to buy!

Easy Meal Ideas for Large Groups

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Breakfasts

1. Make a big batch of breakfast sandwiches by baking eggs in muffin tins.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - eggs in muffin tin

 

2. Set up a waffle bar and let families pick their own toppings, like syrup, yogurt, ice cream, whipped cream, and fruit.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - waffle bar
Shou-Hui Wang/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

3. Feed 75 for less than $50 with a yogurt parfait bar.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - yogurt parfair bar
Mallory Yates LaFon

 

4. Feed an army with a fresh fruit bar you can prep the night before.

This fruit salad recipe serves 75.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - fresh fruit bar
Jason Lam/CC BY-SA 2.0


Lunches and Dinners

5. At $1 to $2 a person, dinner’s in the bag with a walking taco bar.

Here’s a great walking tacos recipe to try.

Walking Tacos Calculator

Enter the number of people you expect to serve at your event (in the box below) and we’ll tell you how much ground beef you need for walking tacos:

0 pounds ground beef

Easy meal ideas for large groups - tacos
Jodimichelle/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

6. Kick it old school with sloppy joes.

We found a sloppy joe recipe that feeds 50 people.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - sloppy joes
Whitney/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

7. Make toasted cheese for a crowd in the oven using sheet pans.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - toasted cheese in sheet pans

 

8. Turn loaves of Italian bread into supersize subs. Just slice and serve!

Easy meal ideas for large groups - italian bread sub sandwiches
Sarah Osborne Smith

 

9. Cook hot dogs in a slow cooker, then ask volunteers to “bun the dogs”! Kick things up a notch with a full-on hot dog bar and offer fun and funky toppings like salsa, pickle slices, and cheese.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - hot dogs in a slow cooker

 

10. Buy buns in bulk to make Hawaiian ham roll sliders or copycat White Castle cheeseburger sliders.

We’ll hook you up with recipes for both: Hawaiian ham rolls and cheeseburger sliders.

 

11. Crowdsource your slow cookers and host a self-serve soup bar.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - hot soup bar
Luke Lienau/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

12. Mac and cheese brings all the boys and girls to the yard! (Really, pasta of any sort is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.)

Macaroni and cheese for 100. Spaghetti, lasagna, chicken alfredo, and garlic bread for a crowd. Baked ziti that serves 24. You’re welcome.

Pasta Dinner Calculator

Enter the number of people you expect to serve at your event (in the box below) and we’ll tell you how much uncooked (dry) pasta you need:

0 pounds dry pasta

Easy meal ideas for large groups - mac and cheese
Karl Baron/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

13. Load up potatoes with all the fixings at a spud bar.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - baked potato bar
Hungry Dudes/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

14. Make a chili cook-off a new school tradition! Invite families to bring their own recipes and have everyone cast a vote for their favorite. Winner gets a prize (prime parking spot, anyone?).

Easy meal ideas for large groups - chili cook-off
Nathan Borror/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

15. Make everything you need for a nacho bar (ground beef, shredded chicken, and queso) in a slow cooker.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - nachos
SaraJane/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

16. Pizza always works in a pinch. Serious kudos to the folks who invented the original pizza calculator.

Pizza Calculator

Enter the number of people you expect to serve at your event (in the box below) and we’ll tell you how many large pizzas you need:

0 large pizza pies

Easy meal ideas for large groups - pizza
Anders Knudsen/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

17. Bring in the food trucks! Many donate a percentage back to the school—and you don’t even need to lift a finger (except to eat your taco).

Easy meal ideas for large groups - food trucks
Edsel Little/CC BY-SA 2.0

 

Sides, Snacks, and Desserts

18. One-up that walking taco with walking banana pudding or walking s’mores (perfect for those camping-theme reading or movie nights)!

For extra help, check out this walking banana pudding recipe and walking s’mores recipe.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - walking s'mores

 

19. Boil corn on the cob in a cooler.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - corn on the cob

 

20. Say “thanks for popping by” with a flavored popcorn bar. Just scoop, sprinkle, and shake.

Other options for families to style their own munchies include a trail mix bar, Chex mix bar, DIY candy apples, and s’mores bar.

Popcorn Bar Calculator

Enter the number of people you expect to serve at your event (in the box below) and we’ll tell you how much popped or unpopped popcorn you need:

0 gallons ready-to-eat popcorn

0 oz unpopped corn kernels

Easy meal ideas for large groups - popcorn bare
Jennifer Willett Saphara

 

21. Heat up chocolate milk in a slow cooker for an easy hot cocoa station.

Hot Cocoa Bar Calculator

Enter the number of people you expect to serve at your event (in the box below) and we’ll tell you how much hot cocoa you need:

0 gallons hot cocoa

Easy meal ideas for large groups - hot cocoa bar

 

22. Feel like a kid again with milk and cookies; keep costs down by making it a cookie potluck or asking local businesses to donate.

Get more ideas for a milk and cookies event at school.

Easy meal ideas for large groups - milk and cookies
Bianca Moraes/CC BY-SA 2.0

Photo credit: DC Central Kitchen/CC BY-SA 2.0

Originally posted in 2017 and updated regularly