funcupl

I'm for soup this time of year also. Our guild group just had a potato soup supper...went over BIG because of the cooler weather. Soup and some sort of hot french bread slices are always good together. Easy to make and easy on the budget. Good luck!

Claudia

Slow2Sew

This is a little embarassing to admit, but when I've had many unexpected extra people at meal times I've made potato salad out of a large box of instant potatoes. Cut back on the liquid, stir in mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, pickle relish, salt & pepper. A dash of onion powder and a few Bacos is also good. Serve hot. The last time I went to the trouble of cooking 'homemade' potato salad my family admitted they liked the other as well or better.

docideau

Here is my recipe for vegetable beef soup:

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 can green beans, drained
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can cream corn
1 can lima beans, drained
1-2 potatoes, diced and cooked separately in water until just tender
1 tall can tomato juice

Brown ground beef and onion until done; drain. Add other ingredients, including cooked potatoes which have been drained. Heat until hot. You can add just about any canned vegetable you have on hand (carrots,peas, etc.). It is delicious! Serve with cornbread or saltine crackers.

Also: chicken and dumplings in the crock pot

I only buy boneless chicken breasts, but chicken pieces will work just as well. Remove skin first. For the equivalent of 4 chicken breasts:

Place chicken in crockpot; add 1 onion, diced; 1 can cream of chicken soup; 1 T butter. Add enough water to cover. Cook 2-5 hours or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken and shred, removing skin and bones if necessary. Place chicken back in crockpot. Add frozen dumplings, broken in halves, or 1 can refrigerated biscuits, broken into pieces. Cook another 30-40 mins. or until dumplings are done.

craftybear

Thanks everyone for all of your recipes!

Quilt-Till-U-Wilt

So did you decide what you're going to make?

d.rickman

See the website "Growlies" has lots of recipes for groups of 50....or larger groups

d.rickman

See the website "Growlies" has lots of recipes for groups of 50....or larger groups

donnaluigi

How about chicken pot pie. Very hearty. with salad

Jo Belmont

Chicken and Biscuits is always a winner. Not only cheap, but nutritious and easy. Put all those chickens in a pot and boil/stew with some onion, celery and seasonings in a pot until the meat falls off the bones. Put chunks in a tray in the oven to keep warm.

Remove any stuff from the chicken stock with a slotted spoon and thicken into gravy. Add chicken to gravy to spoon over opened biscuits.

Make up a slew of biscuits figuring at least two per person. Serve with mashed potatoes and seasoned green beans.

Chocolate sheet cake with chocolate frosting, beverages, and you're done!

Made myself hungry. I think that's what I'll make for dinner tomorrow.

RedGarnet222

I love the soup and salad ideas and a crusty bread and you will have a nice hot meal.

I noticed that chili wasn't mentioned. It is also a economcal meal to serve in this same way as above.

Our church sometimes serves a dish called haystacks. Basicly, it is a taco salad vegetarian style. It is tortilla or corn chips crushed onto the plate, spoon over this, cooked pinto beans with some of the juice, cooked white rice, shredded mild cheddar or longhorn cheese, heated canned chopped tomatoes (with some of the juice) and shredded lettuce for the top. You also offer a taco sauce to pour onto the top of the haystack.

It is a serve yourself style meal that you stack up as little or as much of everything onto the plate. It is a wonderful meal and you can't stop eating it. LOL!

This is a complete protien meal and very nutrious even though it doesn't have any meat. (Any legume, starch, and green together forms a perfect protien and is more digestable than meat.)

I hope you try it, I know everyone would love it.

I was wondering why your church doesn't have a pantry you could pull from donated by other members that wanted to help feed these people but couldn't participate in the actual act of making it. It really helps to put a call out for ingredients that you could have on hand for these meals. You might be surprised the responce you can get of the bags of groceries.