Learn how to Plan Meals for Lady’s Camp
Final 12 months I used to be in control of all of the meals for a big lady’s camp for church. We fed 260-270 individuals for almost every week, and I made a deliberate effort to take tons and much and many notes alongside the best way as a way to share every thing with you!
For these in control of planning meals for youth camps and the like, there are numerous constraints and circumstances distinctive to every scenario, like:
- Finances
- Dimension of group
- Location and providers obtainable for cooking/serving (stoves, fridges, energy, and so on)
- Meals allergy symptoms to work round
- Size of the occasion
I gained’t be delving an excessive amount of into budgets and cooking on a funds as that issue will differ extensively between teams.
I additionally acknowledge that some individuals is perhaps cooking out of coolers and over a campfire for all of the meals whereas others have a gourmand kitchen and 5 fridges at their disposal. (VERY jealous of that final group ????)
The data I’m sharing on this publish is targeted on:
- prep suggestions
- portions
- recommended menus
- useful sources
- meals allergy workarounds
- and so on
My hope is that this Info shall be useful and relevant regardless of in the event you’re within the mountains at a church camp or on a seashore for a household reunion.
MY TOP THREE TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Tip #1: Get Your self a Committee That Will Go to the Ends of the Earth With You
A very good committee is every thing! I had six of probably the most wonderful ladies on the committee with me, and so they had been so extremely useful.
I couldn’t have carried out it with out them, and if I ever handle to get myself into this example once more, it will include the clear caveat that I might solely do it if I had the identical committee. (Additionally, if my funds could possibly be elevated by $2,000, that will be fantastico, okay’thanks.)
Executing meals for this measurement of group isn’t only a week-of sort of factor. We deliberate for months to make it occur. I feel formally we held two precise in-person conferences to plan. In any other case, we did most of our planning/strategizing through texts.
A number of on my committee labored full-time and/or had main life occasions happening main as much as camp, so their principal tasks had been brainstorming, grocery purchasing (extraordinarily useful! particularly the few days main as much as camp), and hands-on assist up at camp.
Others had extra time obtainable within the months main as much as camp and had been instrumental in serving to prep and freeze meals.
The week of, everybody that would make it was all palms on deck. Each day of camp, we had been up at 5:30 a.m. and on our toes till 9:30 p.m.
Every evening earlier than we hit the sack, we’d take a look at the subsequent day’s schedule collectively and determine who would sort out what. After all, all of us pitched in the place we noticed a necessity, however assigning the duties helped us be efficient with our time and permit everybody to have a fast break right here and there.
Actually, it couldn’t have run smoother for us up at camp. The truth that my committee was low-drama, high-working, and fun-loving was such an enormous blessing.
End up a committee you possibly can plan with, snicker with, work with, and nonetheless love one another after it’s all mentioned and carried out!
Tip #2: A Notice About Meals Allergy symptoms
Sure, this step comes earlier than any of the menu planning. As early as you possibly can, work with those that are attending to determine what meals allergy symptoms you will have to work round.
Figuring out the meals allergy symptoms in the beginning allowed us to plan most of the meals to be naturally gluten- and egg-free. We additionally had a number of women who had peanut/nut allergy symptoms, so we made a concerted effort to make all meals, snacks, and all the camp kitchen peanut- and nut-free.
For the meals or meals gadgets that weren’t gluten- or egg-free, we supplied a gluten- and egg-free model – planning the menu after figuring out meals allergy symptoms helped us to streamline what meals to make.
For many of the baked items, we additionally made a gluten-free model largely simply subbing in gluten-free flour 1:1 for the all-purpose flour.
The one exception was the selfmade brownies. I used this brownie mix aff. hyperlink as a result of it has such nice evaluations (and I can attest from snitching: DELICIOUS).
I additionally talked with dad and mom and did analysis on how to ensure we didn’t cross-contaminate whereas prepping and cooking at camp.
Most of our egg-free women might have gluten, so I made a number of batches of those egg-free cookies forward of time (common chocolate chip and double chocolate chip) for them.
For the few attendees that had been gluten- and egg-free, I made the boxed brownies above utilizing applesauce for the eggs and in addition had Heavenly Hunks aff. hyperlink obtainable for snacks/treats in addition to an EF/GF blondie bar.
Tip #3: Make Every little thing You Can Forward of Time and Freeze It
Making meals forward of time was our committee’s superpower when feeding 260 individuals for lady’s camp.
After we met as a committee and set a menu, I put collectively a calendar from March till the primary week of June, and I set a meals precedence for every week.
I texted my committee the week earlier than and mentioned “subsequent week is pulled pork week” (or cookie week, and so on). Anybody who might assist prepare dinner/bake for that week texted again and we divided and conquered.
I, or one in every of my committee members, would go to the shop on Monday after which farm out the elements to whoever might assist.
I tackled the entire gluten-free and egg-free desserts and meal variations and reserved particular days for that the place I wasn’t cooking or baking something that would cross-contaminate.
We principally prepped and cooked every thing forward of time that will freeze properly.
This meant that we needed to transport A LOT of frozen meals as much as camp (it was about two hours away). The great thing about that is that we didn’t want coolers for all of it.
As a result of most of it was frozen in freezer baggage, we piled them in layers in massive totes and so they stayed frozen on the best way as much as camp the place we put them within the fridge and so they thawed slowly there.
The opposite upside to prepping and freezing a lot of the meals was that it meant we weren’t dealing with or prepping or cooking any uncooked meat whereas we had been there.
(One of many principal causes we prepped a lot forward was as a result of our camp kitchen didn’t have a working oven till the week earlier than…and we knew it was a chance the oven wouldn’t be working in any respect. In the long run, it *form* of labored, however we had been glad to have cooked virtually every thing beforehand!)
We did have to search out a number of freezer area within the months main as much as camp.
We despatched out a message to a number of church congregations and located a pair individuals who had a number of area of their massive chest freezers, and it was loads to freeze every thing that we prepped.
PREP AHEAD TIPS
- All the meat was cooked forward of time in large electric roasting pans (and some slow cookers) aff. hyperlinks.
- These liners for electric roasting pans and these liners for slow cookers had been revolutionary – not just for the prep cooking but additionally up at camp for reheating. It saved HOURS on scrubbing out crusty roasting pans and crockpots aff. hyperlinks above.
- These 2-gallon freezer ziploc bags aff. hyperlink had been so useful with the huge amount of meals we had been freezing. They helped reduce the variety of baggage we had to make use of and keep in mind to move.
- Cookies had been all baked, cooled and frozen in gallon freezer ziplock baggage and these containers aff. hyperlink
- Even the Swig sugar cookies had been baked, frosted, sprinkled and frozen. They freeze and thaw nice even frozen (and had been the hit dessert at camp!).
THE MENU + PRINTABLES
Beneath was our menu for camp.
My purpose was to have one FRESH merchandise for dinner (in the long run, this was one of many highlights for the women, particularly the caesar salad, cucumbers and watermelon) and one FROM-SCRATCH merchandise for a house cooked really feel.
I saved the menu above as a excessive decision .pdf in photoshop and printed it as an engineering print at Staples (very cheap to get a big black and white print). We hung this up within the camp kitchen, in addition to the day-by-day schedules, which I’ll share under.
Beneath are particulars about every meal that we served up on the camp.
**For a printable/.pdf model of those particulars with bigger font, click on right here**
(Preserve scrolling as a result of there may be A LOT of more information under these menu charts.)
Hawaiian Haystacks Dinner (for 60)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Haystacks | Used this recipe however made all the batch gluten-free utilizing cornstarch as an alternative of flour. Made it the day earlier than, refrigerated it, and reheated up at camp. | 8X batch fed 60 individuals | ||
| Rice | Cooked the rice up at camp (baked it by combining 8 cups rinsed rice + 1 1/2 tablespoon salt in a big disposable roasting pan and pouring over 2 1/2 quarts boiling water, overlaying the pan tightly with aluminum foil and baking at 350 levels F. for 45 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes, then fluff) | 15 cups dry lengthy grain white rice for 60 individuals | ||
| Toppings | Served it with chow mein noodles, chopped tomatoes, chopped olives, canned and drained mandarin oranges and pineapple tidbits, shredded cheese, and some different random toppings. When the youth leaders had been serving to plan lady’s camp, this was their high requested meal. ???? | One #10 can of mandarin oranges and pineapple tidbits was loads. Deliberate about 16 cups every of most recent toppings and 18-20 cups of shredded cheese (1/4 cup cheese per particular person) |
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| Selfmade Rolls | Made and froze this recipe for French bread rolls forward of time. Allergy Pleasant Variation: used gluten-free biscuits (particulars beneath “Tuesday breakfast”). |
Deliberate for 2 rolls per particular person | ||
| Grapes | Served purple and inexperienced grapes; reduce the grapes into small bunches | 3 (4-lb) containers | ||
| Brownies + Ice Cream | Made this recipe forward of time – baked, cooled, reduce into squares and frozen (thawed earlier than serving). Allergy Pleasant Variation: made these delicious gluten-free boxed brownies aff. hyperlink; had GF/EF blondie bars. |
Made 5 batches and reduce every 9X13-inch pan into 12 servings. 7 quarts of vanilla ice cream |
Tater Tot Breakfast Bake (for 60)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In a single day Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole |
Made this recipe and froze (unbaked) forward of time. When prepping, we assembled double batches into massive disposable baking pans relatively than making seven 9X13-inch pans. Lesson discovered: it took rather a lot longer to thaw than anticipated which meant it wanted an extended baking time. Allergy Pleasant: this meal is of course gluten-free (double verify tater tots and sausage for gluten elements); we didn’t have any egg-free eaters on this group. |
7X batch fed 60 individuals | ||
| Biscuits Butter/Jam |
A church member donated biscuits from a neighborhood bakery for this morning – we reheated and served them with butter and jam. They had been a success. Allergy Pleasant Variation: I made a batch of gluten-free biscuits (this recipe with gluten-free flour) forward of time and we baked them that morning. |
Deliberate on two biscuits per particular person however might have deliberate for one biscuit per particular person and been positive | ||
| Orange Slices | Used one 20 pound field of oranges understanding we might have leftovers (we used the leftover orange slices for snack time within the afternoon). | 15-18 sliced oranges for 60 individuals | ||
| Milk Scorching Chocolate Apple Cider |
Scorching chocolate and apple cider had been the hit of lady’s camp (a lot in order that we needed to cease placing it out so early within the morning as a result of the women had been ingesting a number of cups of it after which not wanting breakfast). Each evening earlier than mattress, we boiled water on the range and poured it into 4 5-gallon insulated water coolers. It was loads sizzling the subsequent morning. Lesson discovered: nobody actually drank milk for breakfast. | Deliberate for one sizzling chocolate packet per particular person per morning and one apple cider packet for each 4 individuals per morning. |
Ham + Cheese Croissant Lunch (for 60)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat Ham + Cheese Croissants | Prepped these up at camp utilizing Costco croissants. Brushed this combination on either side of the croissant: 1/2 cup melted butter + 4 tablespoons Dijon mustard + 3 tablespoon honey + 1/4 teaspoon salt + pinch of pepper (14X’d this combination) adopted by thinly shaved deli ham and sliced cheddar cheese. Put the assembled croissants in lined electrical roasters and lined with foil + lid and heated at 200 levels for a pair hours till the cheese was melted (watch fastidiously as a result of the croissants tucked within the corners can burn). Allergy Pleasant Variation: made a model of this sandwich in a sanitized panini press with gluten-free bread. |
Deliberate for one croissant per particular person. We reduce them in half earlier than serving; about 1/3 of the group solely took half a sandwich so we had some leftover | ||
| Chips | Used lunch bag-sized chips from Costco in a range field. | Solely about 2/3 of the group took chips – served extras for an additional lunch and snack time | ||
| Veggies + Ranch |
Provided cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots and celery. The cucumbers and grape tomatoes had been by far the most important hit (hardly anybody opted for celery). Served the ranch in two massive bowls with small ladles. | 12-15 sliced English cucumbers; 3 (2-lb) containers grape tomatoes; 4 (2-lb) baggage child carrots; 2 (1-gallon) jugs of ranch lasted for 3 lunches |
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| Apple Slices | Cored and sliced the apples and served on massive trays. | 24 medium apples for 60 individuals | ||
| Cookies | One among my committee members made scrumptious chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (baked, frozen and thawed). Allergy Pleasant Variation: had many GF/EF cookie choices (see Tip #2 within the publish). |
Deliberate for one cookie per particular person |
Baked Ziti Dinner (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baked Ziti | Ended up simply being a lazy pasta bake utilizing this recipe. Initially we had deliberate to assemble and freeze this forward of time, however once we realized the astronomical quantity of freezer area we would wish for that many pans of pasta bake (and fridge area up at camp), one in every of my committee members recommended we sort out it between lunch and dinner, and though it was insanely busy (boiling pasta, simmering sauce, assembling and baking), it labored out. Allergy Pleasant Variation: in a separate pot, we boiled gluten-free/egg-free noodles and made a separate GF/EF batch. |
17X batch of the recipe fed 260 individuals | ||
| Breadsticks | A neighborhood bread outlet (Franz) gave us a reduction for many of our bread merchandise, together with Seattle Worldwide brown ‘n serve breadsticks. We brushed them with olive oil + Johnny’s garlic unfold seasoning and heated them on the griddles within the camp kitchen. Allergy Pleasant Variation: used Dealer Joe’s gluten-free toasted English muffins. |
Deliberate for 2 breadsticks per particular person; might have gotten by with one breadstick per particular person (some took two, others didn’t take any) | ||
| Caesar Salad |
Used the Caesar salad packets from Costco. HUGE hit. | Used about 22 baggage for 250-ish individuals. Every bag serves about 12 | ||
| Watermelon | Cut the watermelon into sticks and served in massive stainless serving bowls | 4-5 massive watermelon serves 260 individuals | ||
| Big Cookies |
Made these blended oatmeal chocolate chip cookies bakery-style (bigger than regular – two #40 scoops per cookie). Allergy Pleasant Variation: made a gluten-free batch (with gluten-free flour and gluten-free oats) and in addition provided heavenly hunks for GF/EF possibility. |
Deliberate for one cookie per particular person. Served any extras at snack instances | ||
| Root Beer Floats (Late Evening Snack) |
This was requested by the leaders in control of planning camp. One among my committee members made a run into the small city 45-minutes away for the ice cream as a result of we didn’t have freezer area. | 10 gallons vanilla ice cream; 16 liters of root beer (for 200 servings) |
French Toast Breakfast (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| French Toast | Used Texas Toast bread (donated/discounted from native Franz bakery outlet). Whisked collectively milk and eggs for dipping and cooked the French Toast on two massive griddles in camp kitchen and stored heat in massive roasting pans lined with foil within the oven. Allergy Pleasant Variations: used gluten-free bread (cooked in a separate sanitized skillet) and used a retailer purchased vegan egg substitute for egg-free women (cooked in a separate skillet additionally). |
400 slices of French Toast (about 25 loaves) for about 260 individuals. Used about 16 dozen eggs and 3-4 gallons milk | ||
| Scrambled Eggs |
Added scrambled eggs for a heartier breakfast. | Scrambled 28 dozen eggs for about 175 servings | ||
| Butter Syrup Jam |
Used tubs of spreadable butter. Syrup was way more fashionable than jam, however even nonetheless, we didn’t undergo almost as a lot syrup as we thought we would have liked. | Two massive tubs of spreadable butter; 1 1/2 (64-ounce) jugs of syrup |
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| Sausage Hyperlinks |
Heated these within the oven in disposable aluminum pans. Bought the turkey sausage hyperlinks from Costco. We deliberate for 2 sausage hyperlinks per particular person however had rather a lot leftover. Allergy-Pleasant Variations: purchased sausage that was egg- and gluten-free. |
1 – 1.5 sausage hyperlinks per particular person | ||
| Milk OJ Scorching Choc Apple Cider |
As talked about beneath “Tuesday Morning – Breakfast” only a few individuals drank milk or OJ for breakfast in favor of ingesting sizzling chocolate and apple cider. | Deliberate for one sizzling chocolate packet per particular person per morning and one apple cider packet for each 4 individuals per morning. |
Strolling Tacos Lunch (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strolling Tacos |
Used this recipe (intentionally as a result of the rice helped stretch the bottom beef and made it heartier). Allergy Pleasant Variation: this recipe is of course gluten-free. |
22X recipe for 260-270 servings | ||
| Corn Chips | Bought 2-ounce baggage of corn chips (discovered them on-line; tougher to search out than 1-ounce baggage). Some piled filling and toppings contained in the bag; others dumped bag of chips onto plate and loaded up that manner. | Deliberate for one bag of chips per particular person | ||
| Toppings | Offered lettuce, bitter cream, shredded cheese, salsa, olives, chopped tomatoes. | 7 Costco packs of romaine (with six romaine hearts in every bundle) 1 (64-ounce) jar of salsa; 5 (2.5-lb) baggage of Mexican shredded cheese; 2 #10 cans sliced olives; 4 (3-lb) tubs bitter cream; 30 cups chopped tomatoes (about 30 medium tomatoes) |
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| Cuties (Oranges) |
In hindsight, we didn’t want a fruit facet dish for this meal. Only a few individuals took a clementine cutie with their meal. | Deliberate for one cutie per particular person. Ended up serving them for snack since they didn’t get eaten at dinner | ||
| Veggies + Ranch |
Provided cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots and celery. The cucumbers and grape tomatoes had been by far the most important hit (hardly anybody opted for celery). Served the ranch in two massive bowls with small ladles. | 12-15 sliced English cucumbers; 3 (2-lb) containers grape tomatoes; 4 (2-lb) baggage child carrots; 2 (1-gallon) jugs of ranch lasted for 3 lunches |
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| Selfmade Caramels |
Used this recipe and made these two weeks prematurely and stored them saved in a tightly lined container at cool room temperature. Allergy Pleasant Variation: these caramels are naturally gluten- and egg-free. |
Deliberate about two caramels per particular person. Made 5 double batches (equates to 5 9X13-inch pans of caramels). |
Pulled Pork Sandwich Dinner (for 260 -270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulled Pork Sandwiches |
Made this pork recipe prematurely (cooking massive portions in electrical roasters), shredded, and froze it (with out BBQ sauce). Used the brioche buns from Costco – they’re fairly massive; smaller buns would have been simply positive. Allergy Pleasant Variations: used gluten-free hamburger buns from Dealer Joe’s. |
Cooked 80 kilos of boneless pork shoulder for 270 individuals (calculated 1/3 pound uncooked meat per particular person); one bun per particular person | ||
| BBQ Sauce | Served the BBQ sauce individually for individuals so as to add to their sandwich. | 5 gallons BBQ sauce | ||
| Potato Salad |
We purchased ready potato salad and scooped it out and served it in massive bowls. About half the group took a serving of potato salad (which is what we figured prematurely). | 8 (3-lb) tubs of potato salad for 130-140 servings | ||
| Watermelon | Cut the watermelon into sticks and served in massive stainless serving bowls | 4-5 massive watermelon serves 260 individuals | ||
| Corn | This was in all probability the favourite a part of this dinner (heard a number of rave evaluations). Blended quite a lot of white and yellow frozen corn in massive disposable aluminum pans with 1/4 cup sugar and a pair of tablespoons butter for each 5 kilos of corn; cowl with foil and warmth within the oven at 350 levels F simply till heated by way of (don’t need it to over prepare dinner or boil); stirred properly earlier than serving and gave it a superb sprinkle of salt. | 8 (5-lb) baggage frozen corn (number of white and yellow) | ||
| S’Mores Cookie Bars |
Used this recipe and made it into bar type by tripling the batch and dividing the triple batch between two half sheet pans (baked for about 25 minutes). Minimize into squares (24 servings from every sheet pan), froze in ziploc baggage and thawed earlier than serving. Allergy Pleasant Variation: served gluten-free cookies from Tuesday (nonetheless recent within the fridge) and these egg-free cookies. Had heavenly hunks obtainable for GF/EF possibility. |
Made 12 sheet pans of bars (4 triple batches) |
Bagel Cream Cheese + Yogurt Breakfast (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bagels | Served plain bagels and blueberry bagels (bought these at a big low cost from Franz native bakery outlet). Didn’t toast or warmth them up previous to serving. Allergy Pleasant Variation: served gluten-free bagels from Dealer Joe’s. |
30 (6-ct) baggage of bagels (most most popular plain bagels) | ||
| Cream Cheese |
Served quite a lot of plain and flavored WHIPPED cream cheeses (vital to serve the whipped cream cheese for straightforward spreading, particularly if consuming outdoor on a cold morning with the cream cheese chilly). Flavored cream cheese (strawberry and blueberry) was way more fashionable than plain cream cheese. | 20 cups whipped cream cheese | ||
| Yogurt | Served vanilla, strawberry and peach yogurt. If doing it once more, would solely serve vanilla, particularly with all of the toppings (the vanilla yogurt went first and ran out). | 1500 ounces yogurt | ||
| Granola + Toppings | Served honey oat granola (bought in bulk at US Meals) – the feel was very piecey (not clumpy) and was good for yogurt parfaits (and stretched additional than cluster granola). Served blueberries, bananas and chopped strawberries. Strawberries had been way more fashionable than blueberries (and bananas not fashionable in any respect). The most well-liked topping was mini chocolate chips! Allergy Pleasant Variation: had gluten-free granola obtainable. All granola was nut-free. |
10 kilos granola 40 kilos strawberries, chopped 5 kilos blueberries 15-18 cups mini chocolate chips |
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| OJ + Scorching Choc + Apple Cider |
As talked about beneath “Tuesday Morning – Breakfast” only a few individuals drank milk or OJ for breakfast in favor of ingesting sizzling chocolate and apple cider. | Deliberate for one sizzling chocolate packet per particular person per morning and one apple cider packet for each 4 individuals per morning. |
Meatball Subs Lunch (for 260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meatball Subs | Heated retailer purchased frozen meatballs in marinara sauce in massive electrical roasters. Served on sturdy hoagie buns (undoubtedly want a sturdy bun for these). Assembled by sprinkling mozzarella cheese on bun FIRST (so it will soften), adopted by 4 meatballs and sauce. This was probably the most fashionable meals! The women cherished it. Additionally, this was the ONLY meal we dished up for the women, which went quick (two traces) and was a very good thought in hindsight. Allergy Pleasant Variation: made batch of GF/EF meatballs and froze for camp; heated them in sauce separate from principal batch. Served on GF sizzling canine buns from Dealer Joe’s. |
6 (6-lb) baggage frozen meatballs 16 #10 cans marinara (Roseli model) 8 (2-lb) baggage of shredded mozzarella cheese |
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| Chips | Used lunch bag-sized chips from Costco in a range field. | Solely about 2/3 of the group took chips – served extras for snack time | ||
| Veggies + Ranch | Provided cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots and celery. The cucumbers and grape tomatoes had been by far the most important hit (hardly anybody opted for celery). Served the ranch in two massive bowls with small ladles. | 12-15 sliced English cucumbers; 3 (2-lb) containers grape tomatoes; 4 (2-lb) baggage child carrots; 2 (1-gallon) jugs of ranch lasted for 3 lunches |
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| Grapes | Served purple and inexperienced grapes; reduce the grapes into small bunches | 15 (3-lb) containers | ||
| Swig Sugar Cookies | Used this recipe (used baking powder instead of cream of tartar). These cookies freeze nice even frosted and sprinkled. Bake them, frost them, add sprinkles, then place in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze. Place frozen cookies in ziploc baggage (can double layer – add parchment or wax paper in between layers) and freeze. Allergy Pleasant Variation: made gluten-free batch utilizing gluten-free flour 1:1 in recipe. Provided egg-free cookies as properly. Had heavenly hunks obtainable for GF/EF possibility. |
Made 250 common cookies; 1 dozen GF cookies |
Cafe Rio Meal (for 325)
*had additional guests/leaders this evening*
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cafe Rio Pork | Made this pork recipe prematurely (cooking massive portions in electrical roasters), shredded, and froze it (with out the ending sauce and spice combination – introduced each these issues as much as camp and mixed with the pork to reheat in electrical roasters). Allergy Pleasant Variations: used gluten-free elements for the pork. |
Cooked 98-100 kilos of boneless pork shoulder for 325 individuals (calculated 1/3 pound uncooked meat per particular person) | ||
| Black Beans | Heated black beans with retailer purchased salsa in electrical roasters. | 5 #10 cans black beans, drained 2 (64-ounce) jugs salsa |
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| Cilantro Lime Rice | Cheated right here and acquired cilantro lime rice from Costa Vida with the financial savings from discounted/donated bread (somebody introduced the rice as much as us midweek); boiled the baggage of rice in water till sizzling and stored heat in electrical roasters to serve. | 50 kilos rice | ||
| Tortillas | Deliberate for 275 tortillas (for a gaggle of 325) which ended up about proper. Allergy Pleasant Variation: provided gluten-free tortillas. |
275 flour tortillas 12 GF tortillas |
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| Toppings | Offered lettuce, bitter cream, shredded cheese, salsa, olives, chopped tomatoes and guacamole. We used much less toppings this evening than we did when serving strolling tacos. | 5 Costco packs of romaine (with six romaine hearts in every bundle) 1 (64-ounce) jar of salsa; 4 (2.5-lb) baggage of Mexican shredded cheese; 2 #10 cans sliced olives; 3 (3-lb) tubs bitter cream; 20 cups chopped tomatoes 4 Costco packs guacamole |
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| Cilantro Lime Dressing | A committee member made all of the cilantro lime dressing utilizing this recipe and introduced it as much as camp the day of with different groceries. We served it in massive squeeze bottles. | 12X batch of cilantro lime dressing | ||
| Watermelon | Cut the watermelon into sticks and served in massive stainless serving bowls. We obtained by with much less watermelon this evening as a result of the meal was so hearty. | 4-5 massive watermelon served 300+ individuals |
Seize-and-Go Breakfast (260-270)
| Meal | *** | Recipe Used + Particulars | *** | Portions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leftovers from week | Initially we had been going to have somebody arising for Thursday evening’s dinner convey us 250 Costco muffins for the grab-and-go breakfast the subsequent morning (that is the morning everybody was packing up and leaving camp).
Nonetheless, we had so many leftovers to make use of: orange slices, bagels, bananas, snacks (granola bars, applesauce packets, and so on) that we solely ended up buying 100 costco muffins and reduce them in half. The women had PLENTY to place of their breakfast baggage and so they had been house by midday. |
270 paper baggage 100 Costco muffins – number of flavors, reduce in half |
Snacks (served 1X a day within the afternoon)
We had been tasked with offering a snack within the afternoon. In hindsight, I’m unsure the snack was obligatory. The women had a number of meals/snacks/junk at their very own campsites, and we additionally had a number of leftover cookies and gadgets from meals that we might put out and the women would snack on in the event that they had been hungry.
These had been the snacks we had available to supply, however in the long run, we used most of them for the grab-and-go breakfast on Friday morning.
- String cheese
- Granola bars
- Applesauce packets
- Cuties (oranges)
- Heavenly Hunks
- Leftovers
HOW TO FIGURE OUT QUANTITIES
I gave a number of suggestions within the above tables about portions, however here’s a fast overview of how I calculated the portions (and what I discovered from having leftovers in a number of areas!).
- Meat (for meat-centric meals): 1/3 pound meat (raw) per particular person for meat-centric meals (like sloppy joes, pulled pork sandwiches, and so on)
- Meat for less-meat meals: 1/4 pound meat (raw) per particular person for much less meat-centric meals (like spaghetti, Hawaiian Haystack gravy, and so on)
- French Toast: two slices French toast per particular person; for the egg/milk combination use 1 egg + 1/4 cup milk for each 2 slices bread.
- Watermelon: 50 servings for common to massive measurement watermelon
- Rice: 1/4 to 1/3 cup DRY rice per particular person
- Pasta: 2 ounces pasta per particular person (for this straightforward pasta bake, we ended up needing even lower than that – in all probability depending on our explicit group who had eaten rather a lot through the day so not ravenous at dinner, and we additionally had a number of facet dishes).
- Ice Cream: 18-20 servings per gallon of ice cream
- Root Beer (for root beer floats): 10-12 servings per liter of root beer
Let me know within the feedback if in case you have some other particular amount questions – or verify up above within the tables for every meal. I included a number of suggestions there!
ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
Right here is the gear we couldn’t have lived with out at lady’s camp.
- Electrical roasters: we had eight of these at camp (needed to scatter them round to completely different shops if we had been utilizing all of them), however they had been invaluable at heating and cooking meals each prepping for camp and up at camp.
- Electrical roaster liners: my whole committee agreed that these liners single-handedly saved us at camp. We used the electrical roasters for almost each meal. The truth that we didn’t need to a number of of them clear after every meal was a much-needed life (and again) saver.
- Helpful chopper: one in every of my committee members introduced this chopper to camp (I didn’t have one earlier than, however I used to be transformed after camp and promptly purchased one). Regardless that we simply had one, it was revolutionary for chopping strawberries and tomatoes, to call only a few issues. I feel the outline states it doesn’t work for tomatoes, nevertheless it labored properly for us utilizing agency cherry tomatoes (and a agency hand!).
- Knife sharpener: we did a number of different chopping too – cucumbers, lettuce, and so on. Our knives did additional time responsibility and a knife sharpener was important to maintain them doing their finest.
- Disposable aluminum pans: we used these full size pans for EVERYTHING. Heating, serving, prepping. We washed and re-used lots of them over the course of the week, however we had been all glad we had an enormous stack to begin with.
- Block ice: we used block ice to maintain water chilly through the day, and it lasted a lot longer than cubed ice (and was simpler to stack and retailer within the freezer).
DAY-BY-DAY CHARTS + SPREADSHEETS
My love for spreadsheets runs very deep. Some would say it’s a bit…er…extreme. However spreadsheets and charts saved me through the planning and executing of cooking (and purchasing!) for 270 individuals all week.
My precise spreadsheets gained’t be tremendous useful to anybody else as a result of they’ve such particular info for me and my committee, however I stored the next spreadsheets operating:
- prep calendar for what to make when within the weeks main as much as camp
- grasp meal planning spreadsheet with every meal merchandise listed and all of the elements wanted for every merchandise and sub-item
- grasp purchasing checklist separated by when to buy it (most of the pantry staples we shopped for a number of weeks forward of time vs the recent elements we would have liked to get the day earlier than or day of) and which committee member would sort out it
- funds spreadsheet that stored monitor of what we had been spending, once we had been spending it and what we had been spending it on (in the long run, we got here in only a bit beneath funds – yay!)
- day-by-day women camp plan spreadsheet – this was probably the most intense of all of the spreadsheets because it detailed hour-by-hour up at camp what we would have liked to do to prep for every meal, methods to serve meals and what to serve them in, and many different particulars.
I turned this into massive engineering prints (pictured under) that we held on the again of the camp kitchen door to maintain us all on monitor!
And sure, I obtained a number of good-natured grief from leaders/women who stopped into the kitchen and noticed my minute-by-minute outlines. ???? I’m positive some thought it was excessive, nevertheless it stored us on monitor, and my committee all agreed it was useful to see precisely what wanted to be carried out.
Here’s a .pdf model of my day-by-day plan for reference in case it’d assist to see the main points I included (with private figuring out particulars eliminated). Sadly a customizable format isn’t straightforward/obtainable to share because the information are huge and this system shouldn’t be user-friendly.
Ooof! AND THAT’S A WRAP! That is perhaps the longest publish I’ve ever written right here on this weblog!
I believed I used to be exhausted after lady’s camp – however, man, I’m much more exhausted now reviewing and typing up all this info. ????
Little question, it’s a ton of labor to plan for and make meals for a big church camp (or no matter massive group you might be planning for), however with good serving to palms, a lot of planning, and a scrumptious menu, it’s doable!
Use the remark part under to ask any questions and ESPECIALLY to remark with any expertise you may need (favourite meals to make, suggestions, classes discovered). We be taught probably the most once we share collectively!
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