Home Recipe Roundup How to plan food for Girls Camp, Youth Conference, Family Reunions or other Large Groups

How to plan food for Girls Camp, Youth Conference, Family Reunions or other Large Groups

by Jamie

Hello there, friends! This time of year I always receive a ton of emails with questions about feeding large groups. Must be the coming summer season and its grand number of Girls Camps, Youth Conferences and Family Reunions. I put a post together to share with you all today, with some tips, sample menus, recipes and information about planning and cooking food for large groups. I hope many of you find it useful! Feel free to pass this post along to anyone you know who has been entrusted with a project of this nature.

Enjoy!


1. First and foremost, get enough help.

Make sure, if you’ve been asked to organize food for the masses that you have proper help! In my experience, for camps with only 20-30 youth and leaders, 2-3 people to oversee the food should be enough. However, if you are trying to feed hundreds of youth (or family members), for several days a food committee of 6-8 people is certainly needed. Just managing that quantity of food, and the set up and clean up alone requires more than one lonely gal.

2. Organize your menu.

First, take into account where you will be serving the food and what kind of accommodations you will have there. For instance, it might not be a good idea to plan on serving Baked Chicken Extraordinaire if there are no ovens at the site. However, if you know there are many electrical outlets Crock Pot Cooking is going to be your jam. 🙂 Get an idea of what you have to work with and build your menu from there.

Second, consider the dear souls who will be attending the event. 300 hungry teenage boys? Don’t serve salad as a main course meal. 150 teenage girls? Don’t serve boiled hot dogs for lunch or dinner or breakfast.  Consider the folks coming, and go from there.

Third, get a budget approved so you know what you have to work with.

Fourth, remind yourself that all kinds of people do not love all kinds of foods. There will certainly be a variety of taste buds invited to enjoy your food. It helps to use menu items that allow people to “build their own” plate of food. For example, serving a Taco Bar with couple kinds of protein (ie…shredded Mexican chicken, and ground beef taco meat) and tons of different toppings will appease many. People can choose what they like and leave what they don’t, which will award you a higher quantity of smiles. This also helps provide variety for people with food allergies.

Fifth, don’t feel like you have to make absolutely everything from scratch or even with your own two hands. Buying big platters of cookies, brownies and other baked goods is totally cool. Seriously. 🙂 I helped on a food committee once for Pioneer Trek and we ordered most of the food pre-made from Sysco. (Beef Stew, Chicken and Rice, Uncrustable Sandwiches…etc). We were feeding over 400 people for 4 days, literally in the middle of no-where and it was a life saver to have meals that were already prepared. We heated the meals in dutch ovens over a camp chefs, which was a great choice.

I’ve put together some sample menu’s for you all, complete with many links! Also, at the bottom of this post are links to many, many recipes that double and triple (or quadruple) well.

Menu Day #1:
Breakfast: Hungry Man Breakfast Burritos, Fresh Fruit, Orange Juice  and Chocolate Milk
Lunch: Deli Sandwiches, Pepperoni Pasta Salad, Chips, Watermelon Slices, Cookies
Dinner: Taco/Nacho Bar, Tropical Party Punch,  S’more Bar

MENU DAY #2:
Breakfast: Pancakes with Buttercream syrup, Scrambled Eggs, Sausage or Bacon, Orange Juice
Lunch: Chef Salad Bar (with several protien options), Breadsticks, Frozen Go-Gurts, 
Dinner: Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Cheesy Potatoes (Dutch Oven), Veggies and Dip, Frosted Brownies 

MENU DAY #3:
Breakfast: Breakfast Casserole with Potatoes Ham and Cheese, Fresh Fruit, Muffins
Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwich Wraps, Chips, Apples with Creamy Toffee Fruit Dip
Dinner: Pasta Bar with Hearty Meat Sauce, Alfredo Sauce, Olive Garden Salad, Garlic Bread, Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars

MENU DAY #4:
Breakfast: Make Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches , Bacon or Sausage, Fruit
Lunch: Grilled Hot Dogs, Berry Almond Salad, Chips, Veggies and Dip
Dinner: BBQ Chicken, Baked Potato BarFluffy Orange Jello Salad , Samoa Texas Sheet Cake 

4. Allergies to consider.

This is a tricky and sensitive matter. There are so many different allergies to consider that can be ultimately life threatening. That’s scary stuff. Make sure you are aware of any and all people with allergies that will be attending your event. It helps if one person on the food committee is responsible to oversee food allergies, making contact with those individuals (and their parents) to let them know what the menu is and to make arrangements for them to either bring food from home, or to see if it’s reasonable for the food committee to adapt some of the recipes. This is another reason adding menu items that are “build your own” is helpful. Those allergic to dairy can pass on the cheese, gluten-free folks can skip the bread, etc.

5. Quantity, how much should you buy?

This is by far the hardest part for me. I’m not great at calculating how much of each thing to buy! It’s an overwhelming part for sure.

Spread sheet example from my cute friend Angela Howells (food committee chair extraordinaire)

It’s helpful to make a spread sheet, listing each meal, and all of the ingredients and equipment needed to make it, with the quantity of each ingredient needed. I would suggest buying a little more than you think you need. Running out of food is just the worst. Better to have a little extra.

I found the following chart for purchasing meat at Kraft.com, which seems to be spot on.

Meat Math Chart

Meat Per Person 4 People 12 People 40 People
Lean or Extra Lean Ground Meat 1/4 lb. 1 lb. 3 lb. 10 lb.
Spareribs 1 lb. 4 lb. 12 lb. 40 lb.
Steak – boneless
tenderloin, rib-eye, sirloin
1/4 lb. 1 to 1-1/2 lb. 3 lb. 10 lb.
Steak – T-bone 6 oz. 1-1/2 lb. 4-1/2 lb. 15 lb.
Chicken – boneless 4 oz. 1 lb. 3 lb. 10 lb.
Chicken – bone-in 1 to 2
pieces
1/2 lb.
2 lb. 6 lb. 20 lb.

 

6. Shopping and storing the food.

Purchase as many things as you can, far, far in advance. Stock up on paper products, meats, canned goods, condiments and freezer items several weeks before the event. Plan to only purchase fresh produce, dairy and baked goods a day or two before so things stay nice and fresh.

Make sure you have enough freezer and fridge (or cooler) space needed to store perishable items throughout the event. Notice that big refrigerated trailer in the photo up there? We used that bad boy for a girls camp where we served 250 people, 3 meals a day for 4 days in a row. It was a life saver. If you are in the Salt Lake area and need one, take note of the number on the back of the trailer.

7. Preparing the food.

Plan to cook and freeze as much of the food as you can before your event. For example if you are planning to serve pulled pork sandwiches, slow cook and freeze all of the meat. Brownies, Bars and muffins also freeze super well. Having most of the food already cooked will save you oodles of time once at your event.

I hope these tips have been helpful to you! Read on to see many recipes that work well for a crowd.

 

Recipes that double (or triple or quadruple) well…

Main Course

Pulled Pork Sandwiches  (Crock Pot)

Sweet Cafe Rio Pork  (Crock Pot)

Taco Meat 

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (Crock Pot)

Cilantro Lime Chicken (Crock Pot)

Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce

BREAKFAST

Hearty Breakfast Burritos

 Breakfast Casserole with Potatoes Ham Cheese and Eggs 

Make Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches

Butter Cream Syrup
I
f you want your guests to love you forever, make this syrup. It is seriously a crowd pleaser like you wouldn’t believe!

SIDE DISH RECIPES

Dutch Oven Cheesy Potatoes

 Fluffy Orange Jello Salad

Cream Cheese and Toffee Fruit Dip

IMG_7298_edited-1

Pepperoni Pasta Salad

Berry Almond Salad with Creamy Berry Dressing

Olive Garden Salad with Homemade Dressing

 

AMAZING 5 Gallon Party Punch

DESSERT!

Large Batch Cookie Bars 

Large Batch Frosted Brownies 

Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars

Hot Fudge Brownies for a Crowd 

Almond Butter Sheet Cake 

Samoa Sheet Cake 

 

Good luck to you! Hope your event goes super well. 🙂

 

Leave a Comment

28 comments

Jan April 6, 2017 - 8:47 am

LOVE this post! Super helpful! Figuring out the amounts is the hardest part for me! I always buy way to much food! I figure better safe than sorry!

Reply
Erin R. April 6, 2017 - 2:47 pm

YES on the equipment. Never assume the place you’re going will have things available like a can opener, dish sponge, birthday candles, a half decent knife, salt and pepper, etc. Always plan for the worst and bring absolutely everything you think you might need.

Reply
Dorothy HarwellSmith April 6, 2017 - 4:53 pm

Thank you for posting the camp menu/food recipes,we can sure use them here in Vancouver, Washington. They will surely please the girls.

Reply
Jamie April 7, 2017 - 2:59 pm

Dorothy,
You are most welcome! It makes me happy to know you will be making some of these recipes for your girls. 🙂
Best of luck to you!
~Jamie

Reply
Claudia Mortensen May 20, 2017 - 5:08 pm

what ideas are you doing for girls camp?

Reply
Haley April 19, 2017 - 1:49 pm

This is so helpful!! Thank you so much!

Reply
Kathy McIntyre April 26, 2017 - 9:24 pm

Jamie!!
This post is fabulous! I was just asked to be the head cook for our stake Laurels camp in June.
This will allow me to put things together pretty darn efficiently. We will be using many of your awesome recipes!
Thank you for such a great place to try new recipes and become a better cook!
Kathy

Reply
Jamie May 1, 2017 - 8:51 am

Kathy,
So happy to hear you will be making good use of this post. Best of luck to you!
~Jamie

Reply
Claudia Mortensen May 20, 2017 - 5:09 pm

share any other ideas you might have for girls camp. I also have a couple of gluten free to cook for. What would you suggest?

Reply
Terri June 12, 2017 - 12:44 pm

I’m also curious about modifications for gluten-free girls. At this point I think all of them will meet up at mealtime to cook together. Just want to be sure that I give them yummy options.

Reply
How to Plan Food for a Large Group | Deals to Meals June 6, 2017 - 3:46 pm

[…] of my most common questions I get is our readers wanting to know how to plan food for large groups. Anyone who knows me, knows I love to throw parties. I love to make food for large groups and if I […]

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Laura October 23, 2017 - 9:09 pm

I’m a cook for Boy Scouts and this site is wonderful. I just have to increase some of the portions by 2…

Reply
Marisa Brown January 27, 2018 - 8:02 am

I was just curious what your budget per person was for camp. Trying to plan for our camp of about 80 people and we have always been to camps where they cook for us, so this is a new learning experience for all and I want to be sure I give our food person enough money.

Reply
Neesha February 6, 2018 - 10:50 am

Thank you! This is great!!

Reply
Jackie February 27, 2018 - 10:56 am

Wonderful post! Thanks so much for all your hard work on this. Here’s another site I’ve found to be helpful as well: http://www.alohadreams.com
Lots of easy cooking for a crowd recipes…

Reply
Jamie March 2, 2018 - 6:26 am

Jackie,
Thanks for leaving this link for us all.
Best to you,
~Jamie

Reply
Miriam May 8, 2018 - 5:25 am

Your website was incredibly helpful to me. I organize meals all the time for illness, our Elders, pregnant people etc. I also have to plan and organize funeral meals. How you paired meals and sides together was lifesaver for me. I would LOVE to see you do more of that. I especially need funeral meal ideas since I get tired of doing the same things over and over. From this sight I did the pulled pork, Olive Garden salad and dressing and the tropical punch. All were a huge hit and got lots of praise. Please, please please give us more recipes, pairings of B, L and S ideas etc. I have gone back to this post over and over.

Reply
Amy P June 29, 2018 - 4:08 pm

I just stumbled upon your site and realized I know you!! So fun! Amy Despain Packer, here. You don’t age!

Reply
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Gina Sipos March 8, 2019 - 9:07 pm

How did you get foods from Sysco?

Reply
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[…] Click on the picture above or see that post HERE. […]

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Christianne Duarte July 23, 2019 - 9:31 pm

Wow! Amazing! How do I get the spreadsheet that helps you calculate how much food to buy?

Reply
Jane E Hale August 15, 2019 - 7:30 am

I wish I had found this sit 2 years ago! That’s when I first started cooking for 200 band kids on contest days. Even as a vet, though, I’m picking up ideas and plan to keep pouring through new recipe ideas. The problem I found in the beginning is when I searched “feeding large groups” I got someone feeding 40. Thank you for being there to give tips to the REALLY large group.

Reply
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[…] Click on the picture above or see that post HERE. […]

Reply
Miriam June 28, 2021 - 6:36 pm

I absolutely love some of these recipes. I also love that you compiled menus for the whole day. It’s helped me with church events. Do you have a whole other group of menu ideas? I’d love to see them

Reply
Amy C May 31, 2023 - 11:14 am

I can’t find anywhere on the internet that tells how much syrup per person for French Toast. Any idea about that? TIA!

Reply
Jamie June 5, 2023 - 10:48 am

Amy,
This is a great question and one I wish I knew the answer to. It seems impossible to gauge, considering everyone has their own idea of how much syrup is a good thing. 😉 My best suggestion is to look at the serving size on the back of the syrup you are purchasing and maybe add a little more to be sure. Good luck to you!
~Jamie

Reply
MrsTMac September 18, 2023 - 1:29 pm

These are A-MAZING! Thank you so much for creating this. We have a college age group we cook for weekly and these ideas will help tremendously!

Reply

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