How to feed 20 teens affordably—not pizza or homemade?

[Anonymous]

A sandwich tray from Subway or any grocery store deli.

[Anonymous]

BJs / Costco Tyson Pablo crusted chicken patties, buns, ketchup and pickles, tater tots, baby carrots, ranch dip

[Anonymous]

Do you have a Panda Express nearby? The family feast has 3 entrees and feeds 4-6. You can do different entrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're sure no one has a nut allergy, you could get pans of Vietnamese food at Eden Center (7 corners in VA). My husband is Vietnamese, and occasionally he goes there and brings back tons of food, but we have to be careful because one of our children is anaphylactically allergic to peanuts.

The meat-filled bread or rice buns from Cha Lua Ngoc Hung at Eden Center are incredibly caloric and filling, but delicious, and perfect for hungry teens!

PP - can you please tell me more about the pans of food your husband gets, and from which store? I love the Eden Center and love to do exactly this. And I just looked the menu at Cha Lua Ggoc Hung. Which is the meat filled bread that you would recommend? My son would love that.

Thank you!

He goes by himself, so I don't know the details, but I know we've tried all the buns from Cha Lua Ngoc Hung except their vegetarian one, and they're all good. The kids prefer the bread buns, which more closely hew to the American palate, and I prefer the sticky rice bun in a palm leaf, (the texture may not be pleasing to people who are unused to it).

As for the rest, he brought back a huge amount of my favorite Viet dish, Banh Cuon (very delicate rice flour crepes with mushroom and porc filling), I think it was from Thanh Long (there's another Banh Cuon place called Saigon). I can eat criminal amounts of that! But it's not a finger food, so perhaps not as suited for teen parties.

[Anonymous]

I’ve done this.
Hot dogs
Couple bags of frozen fries in oven.
Couple bags of large salad containers in one bowl.
Cookies.

[Anonymous]

A lot of restaurants have family meals that feed 6 people for around $60. 4 of those won’t go over $300. Silver Diner’s family lumberjack breakfast (available all day) would be a hit, and it’s closer to $50 for 6 people. Zoe’s Kitchen has family meals that include huge pans of baked pastas, Greek salads, hummus, and dessert. Bonefish Grill has a family meal that includes grilled salmon, a couple sides, bread and dessert.

[Anonymous]

Jimmy Johns. And they will deliver it. You could ask what kind of sandwich they want, easy route and order 4-5 different sandwiches and they get what they get. It will run around $250 for 20 kids for sandwich/chips/drinks.

Or you could do Potbelly sandwiches, a box of chips, and water/soda. Or Wegmans. Or Subway. And on and on.

[Anonymous]

Qdoba does family meals.
Chipotle will do a family box of burritos.
Potbelly does lunchboxes.

When all else fails, Safeway has catering platters of sandwiches.

Bummer on the no pizza though. That would have been my go-to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I signed up to feed my teenage kid’s activity group one night this week. Other parents have signed up to do pizza. Normally I’d do something homemade (and I still could!) but this is a work night and I’ll be in the office all day. And it’s 20 kids! Any thoughts on something I could order and drop off that wouldn’t cost over $300? Thanks!

Keep it simple. Do pizza.

[Anonymous]

Baked ziti, chili bar, taco bar, BBQ, spaghetti, lasagna

[Anonymous]

I just ordered sandwiches, chips, and salads from Panera for 25 people. $250

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don pollo. I would get the fiesta for 8. 4 whole chickens, 8 sides, tortillas, and sauce. I think it’s $60.

So at least 4 of those since its 20 teenage boys. Not bad for 240. get some drinks and cookies/cake/pies from costco plus tips <300

[Anonymous]

Do you have an Italian deli nearby that has oven-ready preprepared food?

If I were in this position I’d probably do that- a couple of big trays of baked pasta or lasagna etc, and I’d do the salad and bread myself (easy)

[Anonymous]

Taco bar. Cook a big tray of taco meat and/or beans and you can drop that off along with all the fixings. Include tortillas and salsa and a dessert.

[Anonymous]

Popeyes would also work. A few buckets of fried chicken and sides.

Subs, lasagna. A few rotisserie chicken and sides.