Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

H! My sister is coming here with a team of nine.

3 white, slightly picky "All-American" eaters
2 Chinese exchange students
4 Mexican-Americans

I am going to Sam's Club on Friday to buy the food for her team.

Her plan for now

bagels and cream cheese
cereal and milk

PB and J
or Ham and Cheese

Dinners
Tacos
Spaghetti
Lasagna

....................

I'm not excited about her lunches or her breakfasts. :shifty Other ideas that are easy?

I'm planning on doing any meal prep for her that I can (browning meat, chopping veggies)

I'd be willing to make breakfast egg burritos or other make-ahead foods if I can.

Other simple, easy, not too expensive ideas for dinner?
At least one crock pot meal would be awesome.

---------- Post added at 07:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:55 PM ----------

Here's what I came up with after looking through five cook books.

Ideas

Tacos
Spaghetti with Sam's Club Meatballs (slow cooker all day except for noodles)
Pizza Night

Crock Pot (recipes in my book comes with prep directions, which I can do :) )
White Chicken Chili
Stroganoff
Slow Beef Fajitas (strips)
Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas (tastes WAY different than previous meal.....LOVE IT)
Sloppy Joes
Chili
Mexican Pie (seasoned meat bakes in oven with other things....I put into burritos to take to new mom just last week)
Green Chili Casserole
Herbed Chicken
Stew or Pot Roast with Meat, Carrots, and Potatoes


Variety in Lunch
Ham or Turkey and Cheese
PB and J
Salad
Tuna or Chicken or Egg Salad (buy one pack of Tuna and canned chicken....donate if nobody eats....I just dump onto my salads for protein)
Quesadillas
Chips and Salsa
BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (easy for me to bake and shred chicken in my stand mixer...just add bbq sauce and put in slow cooker)


Variety in Breakfast
Bagels and Cream Cheese
Cereal and Milk
Yogurt
Breakfast Burritos (I can make ahead)
Oatmeal (I can make ahead...just preheat with boiling water) or can buy individual packets
Hard Boiled Eggs
Muffins

Other
Cookies
Brownie Bites


Other other
Fresh fruit
canned fruit
apple sauce

canned veggies
fresh veggies

Other other other lol
hot chocolate
apple cider
marshmallows
herbal tea (I can raid my own huge stash to share)

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

I think your ideas look great! Tacos can be tricky. If the Mexican-American students are used to real Mexican food, they may not be big fans of American tacos. Dh has never actually had them, but I'm quite sure he wouldn't like them. :giggle It would be like nothing he's ever eaten. But of course it's such an easy thing to serve to a crowd!

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

:)

My sister HATES cooking and claims none of the 8 college-age adults she's bringing with her *can cook*. :jawdrop:hunh

Thanks for your input! I hope the learn to like fake tacos. lol

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

Looks like you have a great plan! The team will be blessed with some great meals. :heart

Are you looking for more/other ideas or is this the final plan?

Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

What about like a shredded chicken beef or pork meal you can put on sandwich rolls or taco?

We love Southwestern Pulled Chicken with cilantro like slaw. I think that's what it's called.

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

A big fritatta for breakfast you can make ahead? sams has those giant packs of muffins too carrot/blueberrry etc fresh fruit available like you mentioned. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/13933/b...corn-salad-ii/ This is easy to make and can make lots and have big bag of tortilla chips to eat with. Layered taco salad instead of tacos one night? https://www.thrillist.com/recipe/nat...es-for-a-crowd You can always do good old burgers. Can get patties from Sams and some nicer rolls and bags of lettuce and then ust put out the condiments and any other toppings like sliced onion

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

Nut butter muffins hold up really well in the freezer.

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

Yes, I was looking for other ideas. Seems like something good to tuck away for future use.

My sister is the pickiest eater in the group (her words). lol She picked the final meals. And, I had added a shredded chicken recipe.

I'm going to be making as much of it as possible for her today and tomorrow and Fri and Sat. And making extras for my mom who is having her hip replaced. :)

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

They LOVED my food.

I still can't believe I made all those meals for 9 people. I got the best TY note.

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

That's awesome. :rockon

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

What did you end up with? Any tips for such a mega undertaking?

Re: Cooking for 9 for mission trip? Meal ideas?
 

This is what I ended up making:



Baked Spaghetti (I had my cookbook with me when I picked up a prescription, and the pharmacist gave me the recipe for this one. :lol) It was from the front cover of a cooking magazine.

White Chicken Chili

Slow Beef Fajitas (strips)

Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas (tastes WAY different than previous meal.....LOVE IT)

Mexican Pie (seasoned meat bakes in oven with other things....I put into burritos to take to new mom just last week)

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (easy for me to bake and shred chicken in my stand mixer...just add bbq sauce and put in slow cooker)

Despite a lot of Tex Mex, they really do taste different! And they are the ones my sister picked!

Baked Spaghetti and Mexican Pie
Brown the meat
Cook the pasta (two boxes for three aluminum foil pans of baked spaghetti)
Giant bowl for making the lasagna type part of the baked spaghetti (I might not make lasagna again....!!!)
Mix all the browned meat with the pasta sauce into one aluminum foil pan
Follow directions to make 3 pans of baked spaghetti

Next add spices for Mexican Pie (It's topped with cornbread and baked for half hour....they LOVED this meal. But they did laugh about the name!)
Assemble those into aluminum foil pans (I bought the ones at Sam's that have lids for easy covered baking)

Put 3 lbs chicken thighs in Instant Pot for half hour or so (I think that was how long I cooked them) Used broth instead of water as I had made a huge batch that week
Shred in stand mixer
Add to Ziplock bags
Add BBQ sauce when serving

Slow Beef Fajitas
I bought tri tip steak at butcher's recommendation

Chop veggies
Add spices
Put meat in own gallon ziplock
Thaw 24 hours prior
Throw in crock pot day of!

White Chicken Chili
Have homemade broth ready prior to cooking day
Cook chicken breasts in Instant Pot
Put rest of ingredients in gallon ziplock bags
add chicken
freeze, thaw, reheat, serve

Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas (tastes WAY different than previous meal.....LOVE IT)

This one has to marinade. Throw all ingredients into gallon baggie. Add raw chicken.
Cook on stove top when ready to eat

I spent 1-2 hours meal planning/making shopping list.
I spent 3 hours shopping.
I spent 6 hours prepping and cooking, I'd guess. It was over 3 days though.
I drove 2 hours round trip to deliver food.