Side Dishes for 175
Gail
06/12/11 		My church is serving a dinner for 175. It will be buffet, but we will be serving the portions. The meat is BBQ chicken. I have to do the planning. We are using canned green beans (6 lb 5 oz cans/24 servings per can. I panned for 20 servings per can, so 9 cans should be plenty--right? We will bake mac-n-cheese in full size steamer aluminum pans. I figured 18 lbs macaroni about 8 servings per lb. I also figured 4 1/2 gallons of cheese sauce with extra shredded cheese for the top. Does this sound right? How many pans should we make and how long do we bake each pan? Also we are making cole slaw. You say 20 lbs cabbage per 100 servings, so would 35 lbs be enough. It will be hot and we are serving ice tea, we figured 16 oz per person, which is about 20 gallon (15 gal sweet and 5 gal unsweet) Will five ladies in the kitchen be enough to prepare these dishes? I have to do all the planning and shopping, so your help would be great. The meal is Saturday, so a quick reply would be great. Thanks
ellen
06/13/11 		If you have big ovens to do the chicken, then 5 cooks is fine, but you need some people to help set up, serve, and clean up.Everything else looks about right. I would make a pan full of veggie patties (boca burgers, morningstar) for the folks who don't eat meat/ chicken.
Gail
06/13/11 		The menu was set for us. Someone else is doing the chicken and that is the only meat. So you aagree with the quantities I have calculated? I am really stressing about the quantities! How many of the big pans of macaroni should we prepare? How long do we bake the macaroni if we have multiple pans in the oven at the same time. Thank you so much. It really helps to have someone who knows check my calculations and to answer questions!
gail
06/13/11 		Ellen,
We don't have to do anything except prepare the food and serve it. Someone else is setting up. We plan to take the food from the church to the dinner site in large coolers. If we preheat the coolers, will it stay HOT for up to an hour or hour & a half?
ellen
06/13/11 		If the mac and sauce are hot when combined, about an hour to 75 minutes in preheated ovens. If prepped ahead and cooked from the fridge, up to 2 1/2 hours. Use a quick read thermometer- the mac needs to get to 165-180 in the middle.

This is enough mac. Also enough slaw. You are doing fine.

Pre-heat the coolers. Make sure the pans will fit in them. An hour and a half is OK. if everything is hot, not warm, when you start.

ellen
06/13/11 		If the mac and sauce are hot when combined, about an hour to 75 minutes in preheated ovens. If prepped ahead and cooked from the fridge, up to 2 1/2 hours. Use a quick read thermometer- the mac needs to get to 165-180 in the middle.

This is enough mac. Also enough slaw. You are doing fine.

Pre-heat the coolers. Make sure the pans will fit in them. An hour and a half is OK. if everything is hot, not warm, when you start.

GAIL
06/14/11 		How many of the large steamer pans will I need for the mac & cheese? Also if we can purchase the cabbage already shredded, how many lbs should I purchase for 175 people?

THANKS!!

ellen
06/14/11 		The large steamer pans come in the depth of 2, 4,6 and 8 inches. One pound pasta makes about 2 quarts casserole. Use water to measure your pan volume.

Cabbage, about 25 pounds already shredded per 100, so you need 35 to about 40 pounds, it really smashes down with the dressing.

Gail
06/15/11 		The steamer pans I'm using are 11.5 x 19 x 3.5.
So how many pans of mac & cheese should we fix for 18 lbs pasta and for 175 servings?
I was so glad I was able to get the shredded slaw mix from SAMS and got 36 pounds.

You have been so helpful. I will definitely be using this site in the future for other church events. Thank you.

ellen
06/15/11 		This pan holds about 10 quarts, so each one will hold about 4 pounds dry pasta plus sauce. If you do 5, they will heat faster, if you do 4 they will take less space in the ovens.