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Home > Taste of Home Community > Community Forums > Hints and Tips > How much food do I need to feed 200 people

How much food do I need to feed 200 people

Last post Aug 21, 2005 3:03 PM by 1mocook . 17 replies.


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    • Not Ranked
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    Posted: Jul 30, 2005 6:21 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 1
    How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    Help, My daughter is getting married and my money is tight. I was told I would save allot to fix the food myself. I need to make cole slaw, spaghetti salad, cheesy potatoes and baked beans. Please help me if you can. Also if you have other dishes you think would be good to fix I would appreciate hearing from you. It is overwhelming and I want my daughter to be proud of her reception.....
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    Reply Posted: Jul 30, 2005 8:18 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 2
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    I have no idea how much food you'll need! Will you have enough refrigerator room for all of it? Why not keep the reception simple with just cake and punch? Even less expensive that way.

    Regardless, I'll tell you that I'm glad I'm not cooking for that many!!

    vammie
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    Reply Posted: Jul 31, 2005 2:51 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 3
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    there is a post somewhere on here about feeding a large number of people. I did this and it is hard to do. Could you ask family and & friends to help with this as their wedding gift? I made ham & turkey sandwiches the day before bought potatoe salad [ not enough] chips relish trays and had meatballs & baked beans but it could have been better with more help. Don't spread yourself to thin.
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    Reply Posted: Jul 31, 2005 4:18 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 4
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    Lots and lots of work at a time when you should be enjoying yourself. That said it would be nice to have lots and lots of money so you could just do that.
    Here are a couple web-site that might be helpful to you.

    On the first click on the links to the right saying quantity cooking

    http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/


    http://www.angelfire.com/bc/incredible/indexhundred.html
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    Reply Posted: Aug 02, 2005 3:05 AM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 5
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    YOU DIDN'T MENTION WHAT TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT THIS WEDDING WOULD TAKE PLACE OR IF YOU WERE DOING FOOD FOR THE WHOLE RECEPTION OR JUST THE BRIDES PART. MY MOM AND I JUST DID MY BROTHERS WHOLE RECEPTION AND IT WAS A LOT OF WORK. WE HAD THE BRIDE'S CAKE, CASHEWS (HER FAVORITE),CHOCOLATE AND WHITE CHOCOLATE CANDY MINTS, PUNCH AND A PITCHER OF WATER (DIABETIC'S IN THE FAMILY), THE GROOM'S CAKE, BOUGHT JUNIOR MINTS, CHOCOLATE MALT BALLS, MIXED NUTS, AND CHOCOLATE PUNCH. ON THE FOOD TABLE WE HAD A FRUIT ARRANGEMENT WITH A WATERMELON BOAT AND FRUIT DIP, A CHEESEBALL WITH CRACKERS, A BOWL OF ATOMIC FIREBALLS, AND A BOWL OF SOUR FRUIT BALLS ( BOTH THE GROOM'S FAVORITE. WE KEPT IT SIMPLE BUT IT WAS STILL EXPENSIVE AND EXHAUSTING BECAUSE WE HAD TO DECORATE, AND TRAVEL A GOOD DISTANCE. IT'S ALL THE PREPARATION, STORING, LOADING UP BEFORE THE RECEPTION, CLEANING UP, DISHES, UNLOADING AND RE-LOADING AFTER IT'S OVER. ENLIST SOME HELP SO YOU CAN ENJOY THIS MUCH AWAITED DAY FOR YOUR DAUGHTER. IT'S ALOT MORE TO IT THAN JUST FOOD. I WOULDN'T EVEN THINK OF PREPARING A MEAL, THAT PUTS YOU INTO ANOTHER WHOLE ASPECT OF KEEPING THINGS WARM AND COLD, SERVING DISHES AND UTENSILS ETC. GOOD LUCK!
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    Reply Posted: Aug 03, 2005 12:40 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 6
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    a 12 quart plastic storage container of an item will serve about 75 people a little over a half cup serving. I just used that equivalnt in serving my daughters wedding this past weekend.
    we served a fruit salad that was simple and elegant-
    cut up various melons-berries-kiwi-apples-papaya....
    cover with a lime poppyseed dressing-
    combine-
    1 cup honey
    1 defrosted limeade container
    2 Tbl poppyseeds
    pour over fruit.....very nice
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    Reply Posted: Aug 03, 2005 12:47 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 7
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    p.s another thing we served was a marinated veggie salad- looks pretty served in a glass punchbowl, and you can make the day ahead. the below should serve over 100

    it goes something like this

    5-6 green zuchinni
    5-6 yellow Zuchinni
    2-3 baskets cherry tomatoes
    1 red onion- diced
    3 cans black olives-sliced
    5-6 cucmbers- peeled
    2-red peppers
    2 yellow peppers
    3-4 bottles of a italian or ceasar dressing
    dice all of the veggies the same size- like 1/4 inch cubes-cover with dressing- and chill overnight. Leftovers will keep up to one week.

    good luck with the wedding- I also served danish meatballs, lemon chicken with alfredo and tarragon sauce, roasted garlic red potatoes, danish sliced cucmbers, marinated mushrooms (also easy) and rolls with homemade jams. - Kallee
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    Reply Posted: Aug 03, 2005 9:42 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 8
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    Dear oeg1kallee
    Thank you so much. Everything sounds good. My first stop tomorrow will be to get a 12 quart container. The reception will be outdoors and your fruit salad and vegetable salad will be perfect for that. Thank you very much for all your help and especially for helping me feel like I can do this.
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    Reply Posted: Aug 04, 2005 3:16 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 9
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    Since it's that many people and outdoors, why kill yourself trying to make spagetti? How would you keep it hot in such a large quantity? Most large grocery stores have meat slicers, if you let them know in advance I'm sure they would be happy to slice several fully cooked hams for you. You could set out trays of sliced ham, with cheese and crackers or bread and the salads you mentioned. Most people just eat finger food anyway if it's not dinner time.
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    Reply Posted: Aug 04, 2005 9:37 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 10
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    HI
    It's spaghetti salad. We are having pulled pork and chicken for the meat. I won't have a problem keeping things cold . My problem is knowing how much to buy. My sisters are helping me but I don't know how much spaghetti to tell my sister to fix for the salad or beans for my other sister to fix for the baked beans. I'm buying the cole slaw and just putting the dressing on before serving.
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    Reply Posted: Aug 05, 2005 3:02 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 11
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    Spaghetti Salad??? What is that?
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    Reply Posted: Aug 05, 2005 9:56 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 12
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    Hi Kanasoup
    Spaghetti salad is really good. It is made with Italian Seasonings and diced up tomato and cucumbers and green peppers. The dressing is Italian dressing.
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    Reply Posted: Aug 14, 2005 10:55 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 13
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    Here is a web site to check out about cooking for large groups.

    http://members.tripod.com/%7elotsofinfo/index.html
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    Reply Posted: Aug 18, 2005 3:56 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 14
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    Are you talking about pasta salad? I assume it's the same thing. I would think that another pasta (rather than spaghetti) would be much easier for folks to handle, especially since many will probably even stand with a plate. I know the whole front of my outfit would probably be dribbling oil from the pasta salad if it was actually spaghetti noodles. I'd say penne or bowties would be easier, and the tri-color are really special for parties. How wonderful to get to do your daughter's wedding. Ours was catered, but we did 12,000 cookies and it seemed like a million.
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    Reply Posted: Aug 18, 2005 8:36 PM in Hints and Tips
    Post # 15
    RE: How much food do I need to feed 200 people
    I really hope someone is going to help you. I did this for both my daughters and it is really hard. We had evening weddings, so I knew people would have had their supper. We served sandwiches,fancy breads, fancy cakes and cookies. I had cheese and pickle trays, tea, coffee. On each table were peanuts and pretzels to munch on. I really can't help with the amounts. I know I had 4 different kinds of breads(4 banana,4lemon,4cherry and 4 date and nut) all kinds of squares and little cakes, cookies(shortbread). Sandwiches were cheese and cherry, salmon, egg salad, chicken salad,ham salad. I was seeing sandwiches in my sleep.
    Good Luck! When it is all over and done you won't remember whether you had a cup of tea at the reception or not(or maybe something a little stronger).
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