7 Smart Tips for Feeding a Crowd, According to a Wedding Caterer
If it seems like you have a revolving door now that the holidays are upon us, you’re probably right. ‘Tis the season to feed a lot of people! And whether you’ve hosted a crowd before, or it’s your first attempt at finessing a big feast, we’ve got you covered.
We reached out to Kate Homes, the CEO of Carried Away Chefs, a personal chef and catering company, for her best tips on feeding a crowd. Here are seven of her best bits of big-batch entertaining wisdom.
1. Do the math.
“The most intimidating question for feeding a crowd is How much do I have to prep? There is no easy answer other than to determine how much one guest might eat throughout the event and multiply. Here’s a tip, though: If you have a plethora of dishes, you won’t necessarily need large amounts of each. On a buffet, a plate will pretty much get filled. If you’re only serving three to four dishes, you’ll have to make bigger quantities of each than if you were serving seven to eight dishes.”
2. Shop smart.
“Make a list and stick to it. After you choose your recipes, carefully plan out what and how much you will need to buy. When I’m headed to the grocery store, I make my list with three columns: produce, meat, and dry goods. That way, I can knock out the list in an organized way according to the layout of the store and avoid zig-zagging and back tracking.”
3. Don’t procrastinate.
“If you plan far in advance, you’ll be surprised by how little work needs to be done during the actual event. This means cooking, prepping, and setting up ahead of time so you can enjoy yourself and visit with your guests. The only things you should be doing when it’s ‘game time’ are heating, assembling, garnishing, and seasoning — finishing touches.”
4. Set up “food stations.”
“Ask yourself whether your guests will be arriving all at once or if there will be a steady flow. Whatever the case may be, strategically place drink and appetizer stations so that traffic won’t get stopped up in one spot right out of the gates.”
5. Minimize messiness.
“When we develop recipes for passed apps, we think through the entire guest eating experience. This often means asking Will this spill on someone’s nice outfit? This summer when we were asked to incorporate chicken Parm onto a wedding menu, we created a passed chicken Parm meatball with sauce inside to lower the risk of a mess. They were a hit.”
6. Make appetizers go the distance.
“If you want to make a particular recipe but don’t have a huge budget or a ton of ingredients, stretch it out. Instead of serving deviled egg halves, we slice the whites thinly, pipe filling on top, and serve it all on a crisp potato chip. Eating five whole deviled eggs isn’t practical, but eating five deviled egg potato chips is a no-brainer.”
7. Keep guests hydrated.
“It’s easy to spend a lot of time thinking about how much alcohol to buy, but so often people forget to serve their guests water. A self-serve carafe is a great way to set it and forget it. Make it fancy by adding cucumber slices and mint leaves.”
What’s your best tip for feeding a crowd?