Food Ideas for Feeding 40 Ppl

I see that someone else put taco in a bag and that would be my idea too. I thought it was fun and inexpensive.

How about tacos in a bag. You buy the small doritos bags, like the 25 cent ones for kids lunches and you put the taco meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes in each kids bag and they eat it with a fork, smash the bags first so the chips are in smaller pieces. My kids love this recipe!!!!

Hi,

I make subs. I buy ham, turkey, salami and provolone cheese on sale. I buy big long french rolls. When I make them I put mayo, meat, cheese and lettuce on the roll and then I have tomato, onion, peppers, black olives and other veggies and mustartd and people can put the fav's on it. Then all you have to have is chips and maybe a veggie tray.

Good luck!

M.

You could try doing a "bar" of some sort - a chili bar, taco bar or nacho bar. The individual ingredients would be fairly inexpensive & people could make their individual dishes to their tastes. With a crock pot or two, everything should keep warm without a lot of work!

Homemade pizzas might work too - you could make a boatload for not a lot of money.

Or you could forego the "meal" food altogether & make the jump to cake/treats only! :)

Good luck & Happy Birthday to your daughter!
J.
mom to Chase (4) & "Sunny" due 6.2.8

I put on a taco bar for my husband's surprise 40th two years ago, everyone loved it!

I think that a mexican buffet is always a hit! You can do meat in the croc pot or roaster. And then all the fixings. I also have added scalloped corn bake, and a rice / bean dish so that there are more options. But think big...sour cream, guc, onions, black olives. I usually have soft burritos, and chips for people to have on the side or make taco salad! I just did this a few weeks ago and it was a total hit!

I also have done a sub sandwich (the key is to get nice buns, or bread for people to cut to size) buffet and made it real fun with lots of choices. Tons of chips, snack stuff, jello squares for the kids.

I also have done a lasagna buffet. I just have the the back up lasagna in the oven on warm.

Let me know if I can be of any help I love this kind of stuff-
K.

Every kid I know loves macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. It's fast and easy to make in bulk, wither from the box or homemade. You can slice the hot dogs in circles or do mini octopus macaroni and cheese: http://kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/recipedetail.htm?recipe_...

how about shredded beef. It's along the same lines as sloppy joes, but a bit less messy. Just cook ahead of time, then keep it warm in crock during party. You could do BBQ Beef, or I have a great recipe for and italian beef...really good and less "spicy" if you are feeding young kids. Send me a message if you want the recipe.

It's the same genre as sloppy joes, but you can do shredded beef, pork or turkey in a crock pot. I had it at a couple of graduations this year. You can put out a variety of sauces so people can flavor it as they like. Hot dogs/italian sausages/brats?

I make build your own tacos or taco salads for parties. This way everyone can put what they want on and it goes pretty quickly. All the prep can be done ahead of time. Using paper plates makes it even better! My kids love tacos and it is always their request. Good luck!

I appreciate your delemma!! For my daughter's first birthday we ordered pizza for about 40 people. I have had the tacos in a bag and thought it was a really fun idea. Since you eat the taco out of the bag it's less messy. And clean up would be a snap. Good luck!!!

I like to make shredded roast beef sandwiches. It's a lot of work but everyone loves them. In fact, it's a tradition now and everyone looks forward to them. I didn't make them one year and boy did I hear over and over why didn't you make them? I also like to make a big batch of calico beans which are so easy.