Delicious, Economical... Portable

August 5, 2016 10:39 AM

I am in charge of providing lunch for ~50 volunteers over a weekend. I need some fresh new ideas.

The scene will be a booth without AC, water, or prep area so I want to provide things that are easy to eat, ready to go out of the cooler, and durable. Also not too expensive as I'm the one footing the bill. The sides are easy enough - grapes, veggie sticks, hummus, maybe some bags of chips. But what to serve as the main?

Initially I had thought something along the lines of a shooter's sandwich or other pressed sandwich, but a lot of the recipes I found would be too expensive for me to scale up. At the same time, I don't want to just hand out PB&J. (Unless it's a fancy PB&J?) What am I missing or not thinking of here? Any stellar sandwich ideas/combos that can be made ahead and portioned out before reaching the site? I've got to cover roughly 25 people per day over a weekend. Don't worry about food allergies - nobody has mentioned any yet.

posted by daikaisho to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

Subway sandwich catering platters.
posted by cecic at 10:59 AM on August 5, 2016

I got raves at a work potluck over BBQ chicken sandwiches made with crock pot BBQ/pulled chicken (like this though I actually prefer boneless/skinless dark meat instead of breasts) on the long *soft* Italian loafs you can get at your grocery store bakery. (Don't do actual crusty baguettes, those of us with tender mouths or difficult teeth struggle to gnaw through them.) Just put the chicken in the sandwich, no condiments except a good drizzle of BBQ sauce, and wrap it in clingfilm to soak all morning, then put out and cut into portions at lunch.

Offer cole slaw and/or potato salad on the side, plus a container of raw thin-sliced onions and pickle slices for adding to the sandwich, plus chips.

Or you can, for storage purposes, just put the chicken filling in the cooler and offer hamburger or hot dog buns, kaiser or brioche or french rolls, white bread, hoagie rolls, croissants, for a self-assembly station (or have a couple volunteers assemble just before lunchtime).
posted by Lyn Never at 11:08 AM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Part of economy is avoiding waste, so you don't want large sandwiches, you want small ones that people can take 1-3 of, depending on appetite. For a crowd, it can be great to do a platter of sliced wraps. So, for example, a large flatbread (square is great, round tortilla ok too but more awkward to slice), a basic ham and cheddar from the supermarket deli sliced thin and stacked up in layers, a smear of mayo and mustard, and a layer of fluffy lettuce (nothing with hard ribs that will tear your wraps, maybe shred it). Roll it up tightly, skewer through with a toothpick every 1.5inches to hold the spiral in place, and cut into slices like a sushi roll.

I'd steer away from including tomatoes which make everything soggy, or tuna which makes everything smell like fish, but if you want to upscale it you can go nuts with relishes, slaw, pickles, olives, avocado, mushroom pate, horseradish sauce, etc.

Chicken salad, homemade with a fine dice (chunky would rip the bread), can make it fancy by doing a theme, like a moroccan curry chicken (dried apricots, turmeric, cumin, chili, etc), or a "thanksgiving" chicken (sage and dried cranberry), or olive/feta, or whatever suits.

Vegetarian humus and olives never hurt to have handy, can have nice tasty greens in there too, shredded carrots, whatever inspires you.

Do a crockpot of chicken-salsa shred squeeze excess liquid out, wrap with avocado and pepper jack, serve with squeeze bottles of sour cream and hot sauce.

Deli roast-beef, with horseradish, a mix of shredded mozzarella and blue cheese dressing, and baby spinach greens.

Banh-mi style ingredients would totally work, prep spiced pork in advance, slice thin, wrap with slaw and greens.
posted by aimedwander at 11:29 AM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Do a big crock pot of pork shoulder cooked until you have a mess of pulled pork. Bring a large container of pulled pork dressed in BBQ sauce and let folks fill their own buns. Side: Cole slaw.
posted by slateyness at 2:21 PM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Pulled pork and nothing else will make vegetarians cry. Will there be any vegetarians...? If yes, maybe grilled halloumi? With (to avoid tomato sog) lettuce, avocado, maybe sprouts, maybe a scattering of black olives, cucumber, thinly sliced red onions? With baba ghanoush as a spread?

I'd also have a look at menus of places known for to-go sandwiches -- Marks and Spencer"sells 1 in every 5 sandwiches sold today" (presumably in the UK...) and has some not very expensive but interesting ones on the list -- brie and grape, cheese and pickle, egg and watercress, and a "three bean wrap" which is "Three bean and tomato salsa, roasted sweet potato, cheese, soured cream and chive dressing on a soft tomato and chilli flour tortilla." Huh! That sounds tasty, filling, and pretty cheap for the amount of tasty, filling, and classier-than-PB&J you'd get out of a combo like that.

Here's the menu for one of the better-regarded sandwich joints in my city; farming the list for ideas I find "Turkey, Giardiniera, Lettuce, Mayo," which sounds fancier than "turkey sandwich," and now I wonder why I'm not putting giardiniera in all my sandwiches, as it's cheap and delicious and would be excellent in a sandwich.
posted by kmennie at 3:22 PM on August 5, 2016

Response by poster: As a clarification, I also will need to take this in early in the morning, and there is no electricity or way to keep things warm - so pulled pork and the like isn't really feasible.

Some good ideas though, I am digging 'em.
posted by daikaisho at 5:55 PM on August 5, 2016

You might want to use "dinner on the grounds" as a search term. Cheap, filling, no electricity lunch is not a new problem - e.g. you can keep pulled pork / beans pretty hot if they are piping when they leave your home, wrapped in newspaper, wrapped in towels -- basically, keep insulating until it doesn't feel warm to the touch on the outside.

Of course, if the health inspector is coming, then these 19th century tips are moot.
posted by batter_my_heart at 11:14 PM on August 5, 2016

Best answer: Let go of the idea of sandwich and sides. Serve as a buffet or in lunch boxes: hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, sliced salami, mini carrots, sliced cucumbers, hummus, olives, crackers, nuts, and fresh or dried fruit.
posted by ottereroticist at 11:23 PM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: How about pies instead of sandwiches? Like samosas that can be both veggie and with meat. Or pirozhkis - again with a choice between vegetarian and meat and maybe fish, too. Or sausage rolls.
I find them easier to make than sandwiches, tastier, and better keeping and transporting. Most pies are delicious cold or room temperature.
posted by mumimor at 9:10 AM on August 6, 2016

I like the samosas idea.

When I used to be in charge of catering for a group, the biggest hit ever was the 4 foot burrito. Tortillas filled with whatever filling you wanted - we did half just bean (because vegans) and half bean/chicken. On the side was more beans, rice, chips, salsa, guacamole, etc.

I ordered it from a local restaurant, but think it could be made DIY as long as you can transport it (a big piece of cardboard??).

ETA: If you do this, also provide corn tortillas so gluten-free people can make their own from the rice/bean/meat sides available.
posted by ainsley at 9:23 AM on August 6, 2016

Economical is carbs. I would do a huge chicken noodle salad and a huge pasta salad. Serve on a big platter with small bowls or plates.

Try shredded rotisserie chicken in something like Nigella's sesame peanut noodle.

For pasta salad I like shredded salami or little meatballs, feta, olives, diced capsicum.

Alternatively, do a meat + salad thing. Eg A big pile of cold chicken wings/drumsticks or glaze & slice a ham, serve with something vegetarian like one of the salads above without meat. Your meat can be cooked & chilled ahead of time & transported directly in a spotless cooler.

Good luck. Have a fun day.
posted by stellathon at 3:43 PM on August 6, 2016

I went to a conference recently where there were boxed lunches containing:
a sandwich labeled on the box with the meat or veg / cheese / bread (such as hummus / cheddar / white OR roast beef / swiss / rye) some were gluten-free, some were vegetarian
fruit - apple
snack bag of potato chips
single-serving piece of chocolate
cookie

Bottles of water on the side in coolers with ice.

A store like Costco or similar would allow putting this together in no time. Boxes could be had from a local catering or paper goods store or online. Big coolers with a bit of ice would keep this edible and safe until lunch.

This has a lot of advantages - easy, fairly inexpensive, the work is done ahead of time, easy to eat and chat. No leftovers as everyone takes their own box.
posted by RoadScholar at 5:44 PM on August 6, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks, all! Getting away from sandwiches is exactly what I need to do in this case and I think I can muddle my way forward from here. :)
posted by daikaisho at 5:45 AM on August 9, 2016