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Large Meals At Low Cost: The Handbook
By B.J. Ullom With assistance from Adam Nichols, Tom Jones, Matt Dobill, Stephen Ullom, and Aderian McPherren
-1Introduction: This handbook is intended for use by people who are doing service. The primary purpose is to make the process of arranging a large scale meal easier. It can be tremendously challenging to pull off a hand-cooked meal for 50, but success is very rewarding. Please read this handbook all the way through, and be sure to enjoy yourself when making the meal. Special Tips: Pay close attention to your budget. Plan out who will do what, when, and for how long. Be sure to include time for chopping vegetables, boiling water, etc.
Table of Contents: Set-Up_________________________________________________________________2 Planning the Meal and Buying Food _________________________________________3 Preparing the Meal_______________________________________________________4 Being Safe______________________________________________________________5 Serving the Meal_________________________________________________________6 Cleaning Up and Dismissal_________________________________________________7 Kitchen Safety___________________________________________________________8 by Matt Dobill 12 Sample Meals_________________________________________________________9 APPENDIX: Recipes
A special thanks goes to Tom Jones, Adam Nichols, Matt Dobill, Stephen Ullom and Aderian McPherren for their help gathering recipes and for their help with the content of this book.
-2Set-Up: Find and call a food shelter. (Safe Harbor: (309) 829-7399 Home Sweet Home: (309) 828-7356) Do not schedule a meal for a date when the troop has something else planned. Be mindful of upcoming school activities (prom, homecoming, “the big game”) and do not schedule a meal for these days. Make sure two adults are available and willing to help on the date you plan (for supervision and safety). Call the shelter well in advance because other groups may try to serve a meal the same day you want to do so. When speaking with a shelter representative, ask questions such as: What dates are available? How many people should I expect to cook for? What time is dinner served? When can I arrive to start cooking my meal? When is the meal likely to be over? What utensils should I bring and what is provided? Are any condiments provided (salad dressing, ketchup, etc.)? Are there any special rules or guidelines I should be aware of? Find scouts and adults who want to help you and confirm their commitments. Send out a reminder about the meal (time, date, place, directions) a week prior to its date over email or make an announcement. Get at least one adult with a thorough grasp of cooking – you may have to broil, double boil, or perform some other strange task you did not plan to do.
-3Planning the Meal and Buying Food: Plan a recipe: Search cookbooks, the back of this handbook, magazines, and ask people you know for an appropriate recipe. It should be relatively easy and inexpensive. If the recipe you want to use only serves 6 people and you need to serve 60 people, multiply each of the measurements by 10; if your recipe serves 5 and you must serve 25, multiply by 5, etc. You should plan for one entrée (which must have meat), one vegetable (broccoli, cooked carrots, salad), one side (mashed potatoes), one dessert, and one drink (two large containers of Kool-Aid mix). Make sure it is balanced and nutritional. Incorporate a variety of foods and flavors into your meal – for example, do not have tomatoes in every dish. If you were given special restrictions (i.e. no dairy, no meat) be sure to follow them. If you know you can get a good deal on a particular food item, try to incorporate it into your recipe. Run your proposed meal plan by an adult who has experience cooking to ensure you have accounted for everything. Buy food: Buy generic brands to save money. Buy in bulk when practical. You may be able to use a scout non-profit tax ID to save money on taxes – talk to your scout leader about it. Do not forget to buy cooking oil and spices if you will need them. Buy your food about one week early if it is non-perishable and store it in a safe place. In the case of perishables like meat and milk, you should buy this food roughly 4 days early. It should be stored carefully in a refrigerator, which could take up a lot of room. If you do not have enough storage, talk to other people and find out who does or call the shelter and see if you may store the food there. Check and re-check that you have bought everything that you need for your recipe. Be careful about buying from Sam‟s Club! While their prices are good for buying in bulk, it is very easy to buy too much. You are probably on a tight budget, so this extra food is just wasted cash, unless you donate it to the shelter. If you are buying food which can be made from a powder (Kool-Aid, pudding), you should check to see whether the powdered form is cheaper. Buy whichever costs less. If you plan on serving a salad, come up with however much salad you would need for 6080 people, then cut that number in half. Also, check if the food shelter has dressing already – you may not have to buy any. When shopping, be very mindful of your budget. Anything you spend over your budget is money you don‟t have. NOTE: If you are trying to raise money to do this meal, try asking stores, your family members, neighbors, or place of worship, if you have one.
-4Preparing the Meal: Before you arrive at the shelter to cook the recipes, write an outline of who will do what, when they will do it, and how long it should take. Allow time for mistakes, preparing the ingredients and pots and pans to be used (probably 5 minutes for the preparation of utensils, 10-15 minutes for cutting vegetables and meat). Also, keep in mind whether a dish needs to cool off or be chilled in the fridge. Remember that each step of a recipe takes time. That may seem obvious, but it is easy to forget about the time it takes to transfer a dish into a serving plan, boil water, cut vegetables, and divide a dish into 60 different portions. If you have increased any portion sizes in a recipe, increase any baking time, too. You do not have to memorize your plan, but you certainly should bring it and copies of your recipe for your helpers. Know your recipes. Many people are counting on you – the people who will eat your meal, the representative of the shelter, and your fellow scouts. Do not try to just show up and wing it. Prepare. Double check your ingredients and recipes the night before. Everything should run very smoothly with a little forethought. Show up 2 or 3 hours early. Remember, you have a lot of cooking to do. Bring your recipes and plan! Follow your recipes: These are your guides – be very thorough and exact in following them, except when you need to adjust cooking times or pot sizes to fit your larger proportions. Introduce all your helpers to each other if they do not know each other. If you have male and female helpers, be mindful that each gender can be very distracting to the other. Get your needed utensils before you start to cook the meal (sometimes knives are at the front desk). Have at least two adults. They are extremely helpful in cooking and overcoming unforeseen obstacles, and they can help organize everyone. It is good to have someone who can straighten out any goof-offs in your group. Double check to make sure that the adults you asked to come and help can make it. If you are cooking anything in a large pot on a stove, be aware that you may have trouble getting the heat to spread evenly (such as to the top of the pot – you are dealing with two foot tall pots here). It could be helpful to transfer such dishes into a shorter, wider pan and put them in the oven. Make sure everyone gets involved. Work will be easier, the group more focused, and the meal more rewarding.
-5Being Safe: Wash your hands. Wash the food. Have adult supervision. Do not leave young scouts alone. Do not leave knives out. Handles of pans should not stick out over the edge of the stove – tilt them away, towards the counter. Keep hot food hot and cold food cold. Do not crowd the stove. Know the location of the fire extinguisher and sprinkler switch over the stove.. Use pot holders for hot dishes. Keep scouts in the kitchen or preparation area – if anyone must go anywhere, use the buddy system. Do not use knives and cutting boards for raw meat and vegetables. This could cause food poisoning (it is called cross-contamination), so just have a set of knives for veggies and another for meat. Cook multiple dishes at once, but do not forget about any dishes and accidentally cook something for 20 minutes too long. Plan it so that everything finishes around the same time. Assign people who know what they are doing to each task. Someone who has never used an oven should not be baking without supervision.
-6Serving the Meal: Smile. Talk to the patrons. Wear gloves. Take requests (i.e. if someone does not want peas, do not give them any). Give an appropriate serving size. Go out and look to see how many people are going to eat. You need to be mindful of the amount of food you can give each person – you DO NOT want to run out. If someone asks for a little extra, do not give it to them. They can come back for seconds, but you need to make sure everyone gets served. Tell them something like “I‟m sorry, we can‟t serve more right now because we need to make sure everyone gets a first serving. Please stick around for any leftovers, though.” Have one person serving each dish. Designate a person to run and get a second dish of food if one of your dishes runs out. They should watch the food levels to make sure you never run too low. The empty dish should be placed in the kitchen. Ask to see if you should save food for people who must work late. Just put the food on a plate. cover it with tin foil, and put it in the fridge.
-7Cleaning Up and Dismissal: Check whether you have to clean up dishes. Sometimes shelters do not require you to do so. Actually, sometimes they have residents do it as part of the shelter‟s program. If you do clean dishes, it is just like on campouts. Use the 3 sink method: have one sink with hot water and soap (for washing), one sink with hot water (for rinsing), and one sink with cold water and a capful of bleach (for sterilizing). Put the dishes back where you found them, especially if the dishes came from special area, such as an office. Clean off countertops. Ask a representative of the shelter what you should do with leftover food. The people you served a meal to make stick around the shelter. If they thank you, say “You‟re welcome.” If you have any negative comments, keep them to yourself. Stay behind to make sure all of your helpers have a ride home and to ensure their ride comes. Leave with the last person.
-8Kitchen Safety by Matt Dobill When cooking or merely being in a kitchen, there are many safety factors you must consider. This section of the manual will list some common safety precautions you should take when cooking a meal. -When dealing with hot objects, make sure you use caution. If unsure about an object‟s temperature move the back of your hand close to the object and, WITHOUT TOUCHING THE OBJECT, feel the heat radiating from the object. If heat is felt, use hot pads or oven mitts to handle the item. Otherwise, you may pick up the item with your hands. -Caution must be used when handling knives at any time. Scouts must have Totin‟ Chits to handle knives at any function. If Scouts are not orchestrating the meal, general precautions must be taken. -Always slice away from yourself and down. -Use the appropriate knife for the appropriate job. Do not peel potatoes or carrots with a steak knife -When cleaning knives, take extra care not to cut yourself. You should never submerge knives completely in water where you might not be able to see them through the suds. Wash knives individually. -Sanitation is very important when preparing a meal and cross-contamination of foods is always a hazard. Make sure to NEVER use the same cutting board for meats and vegetables, and when using more than one variety of meat, separate cutting boards for each meat. For the same reason, never use the same knife on vegetables and meat. -Open flames can be a potential safety hazard, and caution must be taken when lighting stove burners. -If using matches to light a stove burner, turn on the gas, and light the match on the box, striking away from your body. Then, with caution, put the match to the edge of the burner. -If using a lighter stick or other such object to light the burner, turn on the gas, and then, with caution, turn on the object you are lighting the stove with while it is near the edge of the burner. -If any foreign substance should get in your eye, flush with water for 15 minutes. -If while preparing the meal you should cut yourself, stop the task that you are doing. Wash the wound in warm, soapy water, apply an antiseptic, and put on a bandage. Throw away any food that may have been contaminated by blood. -If you happen to receive a burn while preparing a meal, care must be taken promptly to aid the wound. If the skin from the burn is not broken, run the burn under cool, not cold water. If the skin is broken, apply no substance to the burn, wrap in gauze, and seek medical attention as soon as possible.
-912 Sample Meals Entree January Colorful Kielbasa* Salad Vegetable or Fruit Green Beans Corn Dessert Chocolate Truffles Strawberry Cobbler Drink Lemonade
February
March
April
May June
July
Romaine Lettuce and Cucumbers* Ham and Pasta Iceberg Bake Lettuce with a vegetable of choice* Romaine Potato Pepperoni Dish Lettuce and Cucumbers* Hamburger Fry Cherry Pan Supper Tomato Salad* Mandarin Upside Down Salad* Meat Pie Cheeseburger Fruitful Casserole Cabbage Salad* Easy Chicken Mandarin Pot Pie Salad* Chili Spaghetti Iceberg Lettuce with Shredded Carrots* Cherry Tomato Salad*
Kool-Aid
Christmas Rice Baked Beans Corn Baked Beans Peas
Pecan Cream Cheese Squares Pound Cake S‟Mores Pudding Pies Strawberry Cobbler Vanilla and Chocolate Pudding Pudding Pies
Lemonade
Kool-Aid
Kool-Aid Lemonade
Kool-Aid
August
Red Potato Wedges
Lemonade
September Slow-Cooked Mac „n‟ Cheese with an added meat of your choice Baked Rice October with Sausage
Christmas Rice
Strawberry Banana Dessert
Kool-Aid
Iceberg Red Potato Pound Cake Lettuce with Wedges S‟Mores a vegetable of choice* Iceberg Fruit Salad Vanilla and November Barley Burger Stew* Lettuce with Chocolate a vegetable Pudding of choice* Fruitful Green December Speedy Ham Chocolate and Macaroni Cabbage Beans Truffles Salad* *All meals should include slices of bread to eat separately.
Lemonade
Kool-Aid
Lemonade
- 10 NOTES on the recipes: The bolded recipes are highly recommended. All underlined things are not recipes; they are what they sound like. All recipes appear in the appendix.
*Colorful Kielbasa: Kielbasa is expensive and sometimes this dish is a little too meaty. As such, you should cut back on the Kielbasa a little and add more rice. *Barley Burger Stew: This takes a really long time. Check the recipe and be careful. *All Salads: Do not over buy lettuce.