Hive cooks: Please help me plan breakfast for 80

[iamonlyone]

Our junior class wants to provide a light, pick-up breakfast that seniors and their parents can grab and eat between periods of setting up display tables, rehearsal, and graduation ceremony. Can you give me suggestions for quantities to buy to feed 80?

 

I am planning:

 

homemade yogurt—one gallon?

2-3 jars of preserves and one bottle of honey (to flavor yogurt)

Cutie-type tangerines (unpeeled)

bananas (unpeeled but cut in halves)

bagels (maybe blueberry, plain, and wheat, or would all plain be easier/better? cut in halves)

whipped cream cheese (plain only—I figure they can top with preserves or honey, if desired)

orange juice or should we just have bottled water?

 

We will provide bowls, spoons, knives and napkins—and cups if we have orange juice.

 

Do you think this menu sounds OK? How much do you think I should buy?

 

 

[Guest]

It sounds carby. What is the budget?

how about Kiss and allot a half fruit serving and a egg wrap per person with coffee iced and reg on the side?

[SparklyUnicorn]

What's the occasion?  I agree on carby.  If you are expecting this to give people energy for some all day group activity...crash and burn.  If it's just some nice thing following an event or followed by a quick event, that should work.

 

 

[clementine]

You could also do muffins instead of bagels - bran, blueberry, apple oatmeal muffins?

 

Something neat that we do for showers/birthdays/etc is get shishkabob skewers & fill with watermelon cubes, 1/2 strawberry, canteloupe, cheese cube, honeydew, pineapple cube......whatever works.   Make ahead of time & it's a great option.  

[Rebel Yell]

I can't say about quantities since I always overdo, and rarely have to feed more than 8 people..,

 

I agree that it sounds very carby. How about some breakfast sausage links? They keep warm better than bacon.

 

Will people be serving themselves? Portion control is key. Not just for saving money, but to avoid waste. Most people will fill a bowl with yogurt, no matter how much they really will eat, so with 8oz bowls you'll be lucky to get much more than a dozen servings out of a gallon of yogurt. Tiny bowls, tiny serving spoon, LOL! Same with plates... people will fill the plate and waste almost half.

 

Smallish cups for juice, too. And get a few cases of bottled water.

 

Fruit kebab skewers are a great way to rein in the serving size, and also eliminates the need for separate bowls to avoid sloshy fruit juice.

 

How about mini quiche? I bet the price and convenience of getting them somewhere like Sams, Costco, or a restaurant supply would outweigh the need to make them. http://www.nancys.com/products/petite-quiche-72-ct-costco.aspx#.WNQ4OHT3af0

[iamonlyone]

Thanks for the great ideas! It has to be cold food, and it needs to be no/minimal prep as there won't be many helping with this. As far as budget, probably around $100–$150.

 

I was depending on the yogurt and cream cheese for protein. I know yogurt is low carb, and it looks like cream cheese has .8 grams per two tablespoons, so that doesn't seem too bad to me, but I don't count carbs, so I am pretty uninformed.

 

Lunch would be way easier, but they decided to have a morning graduation.

[SparklyUnicorn]

what a dunce I am.  You DID say what the event was.

 

It sounds fine.  I think I would probably make a bit more yogurt than that though.  A gallon for that number of people is not much.

 

 

[Ellie]

The only thing I could eat would be the fruit. :-(

 

Could you hard-cook and peel some eggs?

[Ausmumof3]

Maybe a bit of muesli or some nuts to sprinkle on the fruit and yoghurt? It's sounds fine for a continental style breakfast.

[displace]

Coffee

[iamonlyone]

Thank you everyone! You have given me some good things to think about (like carbs!) that were totally off my radar. I'll talk to the other moms about maybe making or having things for small yogurt parfaits to help with portion size (hadn't thought that one through either). I like the granola idea! Maybe I'll have some rice cakes and almond butter in case people want more options. And I will make a couple gallons of yogurt...or maybe three.

[iamonlyone]

Oh, and one of the senior's moms said they will have lots of coffee made for the entire morning, so that will be a good addition.

[KatieJ]

The only thing I could eat would be the fruit. :-(

 

Could you hard-cook and peel some eggs?

Yeah, me too!

 

You can buy eggs already cooked and peeled at most grocery stores these days.

[Rebel Yell]

Agreeing with the brilliant idea of hard-cooked eggs. Please make a salt shaker available.

 

As far as carbs, I don't count them, but I do know that I need more "plain" protein, meaning not a smear of cream cheese in a bagel or what's in yogurt, esp if the yogurt isnt sweetened (and I can't eat it if it isn't, YUCK! ;) ) A breakfast of fruit, bagels, and yogurt would be delicious, but have me feeling sick in about 90minutes.

 

And don't worry about the hard boiled eggs bein perfectly peeled or looking pretty... mine always look like I peeled them with a lawnmower. Just put them in a pretty bowl with tongs and you're good. :D

[Happy]

You can buy bags of cubed cheese at Walmart or Costco. A platter with some cheese would boost the protein available.

 

A breakfast casserole or three would go a long way, too. Since people are making yogurt servings to suit their tastes, adding a scoop of a cheesy, eggy, bacony casserole to their plate would work. Small plates. Small serving utensils.

 

 

[happi duck]

A place that supplies restaurants should sell peeled hard-boiled eggs in large amounts.

[Lori D.]

I like your bananas idea. What with other food available, I would guess 30-36 bananas, sliced in half, should be plenty, as not everyone will want banana.

 

While the cuties would look sweet, peeling and eating them is sticky (at least for me ;) ) and then you have peels everywhere, so I'd probably avoid that. What about pre-cutting apple slices earlier in the morning? About 30 apples cut in advance with one of those slicers that does 8 slices at once yields 240 slices, so about 3 slices (about 1/3 of an apple) per person.

 

You can limit the amount of yogurt that people serve themselves (and thereby limit waste) by providing smaller-sized disposable cups (maybe something like a 5-oz Dixie cup) rather than bowls. AND, on the morning of the event, pre-dish up 3 dozen cups with spoons in them and set those in front of the yogurt on the serving table so people SEE how much they are "supposed" to take. (Plus, that speeds up moving through the line when much of the food is pre-apportioned.) Also, a smaller-sized serving spoon helps reduce the volume people can take with each scoop, and people usually feel too intimidated by a line to take more than 2-3 scoops, knowing people are waiting behind them.  ;) If you do cups that hold 3-4 oz. yogurt AND still has room to sprinkle topping,  then 2 gallons of yogurt would serve 80 people each with one 3-oz. serving, and 3 gallons of yogurt would serve 80 people each one 4-oz serving and half the people could come back for seconds.

 

I like the granola or mueseli and diced berries idea for topping the yogurt, rather than sticky-messy honey (although, honey in a squeeze bottle is probably do-able).

 

As another person who can't do carbs, I love the idea of hard-boiled eggs (with several salt and pepper shakers available). :) A lot of people don't like eggs, though, so I would guess you could go with 6-7 dozen (72-84) boiled eggs very likely have left-overs.

 

Another cold protein option to go with cheese cubes would be shaved slices of deli meat (turkey and ham), with each shave-slice rolled and a toothpick in it. That would also keep your serving sizes "pre-dished-up" so that you don't have to buy as much overall. For planning purposes, there are typically 8 slices of lunchmeat in a 6-oz. package, so overall you could get 3.5 to 4 pounds each of turkey and ham, and everyone would get 1 slice of each. Maybe toothpick a roll each of turkey and ham together?

 

Maybe have a bowl of MINI-bagels with a knife and tub of cream cheese for those who can do carbs, but also a squeeze bottle of mustard and mayo for those who want to turn their deli meat into a mini-breakfast sandwich (if you go with deli meat).

 

Or, for those who can eat carbs and don't like eggs, how about MINI-muffins from Sam's Club or Costco? They usually come in 30-40 count amounts. So, 3-4 trays of mini muffins should be good.

 

For beverages, WATER would be greatly appreciated by me. Coffee and juice would be nice for those who enjoy those beverages. Similar to the yogurt, if you get smaller cups for the juice you don't have so much waste, and don't have to buy as much. Probably a total of 3 gallons each of orange juice, apple juice, and/or other would be plenty.

 

 

What a super act of service! BEST of luck in settling on an affordable menu that meets everyone's needs! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Lori D.

[umsami]

You could add a big jar of peanut (or other) nut butter to put on bagels for another protein push.

 

Hard boiled eggs are a great idea.  

 

I don't think 1 gallon of yogurt would be enough for that many people.  I love the idea of yogurt/fruit parfaits.  Maybe have some dixie cups and yogurt, dethawed frozen berries (easier then prepping some).... and granola lined up?   Or maybe have a blender or two and make up some big batches of simple oj, berries, frozen banana, yogurt smoothies?

 

I would assume 1-2 oz cream cheese per person for a bagel.

[lewber]

We're getting picky now:) but I don't understand serving bagels that aren't toasted? Are you able to toast them before putting on the cream cheese? It's just a personal preference but it's why I usually go with mini muffins instead.

I am not a big breakfast eater though, so take my advice for what it's worth. Ha! I do like cheese cubes though.