Friendsgiving what to bring?

[Anonymous]

The hosts might have their heart in the right place, but they're idiots. They really need to tell people that a potluck is only going to be successful if everyone participates, OR be willing to pick up the slack themselves.

OP, in your shoes, I would bring something that just about everyone will eat, and won't be a huge hassle for you. I would put roasted vegetables and mac and cheese in that category. Costco mac and cheese is excellent, if you want to limit the amount of work you need to do. And yes to bread. If you can bake some yourself, that would be great. Ask others to supply good butter and cheese if you need to.

[Anonymous]

A potluck for 40 people, half of them children, requires planning and specific assignments. That is the host’s responsibility. No one person or family should be expected to feed the whole group, no matter what the assignment. Two or three families could be asked to bring a side dish, for example; another two or three could bring some kind of dessert; another two or three could be asked to bring appetizers - or paper products, or drinks, or whatever. Otherwise - as you’ve seen - it becomes a disaster. If I was invited to something like this, I would ask the host what do you need and for how many people, recognizing that the host may have no clue.

[Anonymous]

What is the point of this Friendsgiving? Sounds like it has devolved into the same drama and mess of a family Thanksgiving. Maybe the tradition just needs to die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope they are making two large turkeys.

Right?
One 16 pound turkey is about the right amount for 12 people. More than half the weight of the turkey ends up being the skin, bones, juices, so you are left with about 7 pounds of meat to actually eat with a 16 pound turkey. So you would need three 16 pound turkeys to feed 36.

I am an experienced turkey cooker. The back story on that is that I used to have a really old cat who was losing weight. He loved turkey, so every few months I would cook an entire turkey just for him. I pureed the cooked meat in the food processor and then froze it in little plastic containers in my deep freezer. Pulled out containers of pureed turkey from the freezer for him as needed.
While doing all that over and over again, I realized how little of the weight of the turkey actually ended up being edible.

Aww, your cat was so loved

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple large Chick-fil-A nugget trays.

Is it normal to bring something that costs $200 when others are bringing some simple homemade dish?

I read it thinking the opposite, it is normal to think to bring fast food hate chicken to a potluck celebrating home cooking?

I think it would be embraced - no one cares about your home cooking if the kids are starving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:pizza

Are you my husband? Lol. He legit orders the pizza after every Thanksgiving meal because he hates the food.

Kudos to your husband for getting his needs met while not killing the vibe for people who love Thanksgiving food.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A potluck for 40 people, half of them children, requires planning and specific assignments. That is the host’s responsibility. No one person or family should be expected to feed the whole group, no matter what the assignment. Two or three families could be asked to bring a side dish, for example; another two or three could bring some kind of dessert; another two or three could be asked to bring appetizers - or paper products, or drinks, or whatever. Otherwise - as you’ve seen - it becomes a disaster. If I was invited to something like this, I would ask the host what do you need and for how many people, recognizing that the host may have no clue.

+1

Haven't read all the responses. Anything over 8 people requires tons of planning and options to suit all tastes. No way in hell would there not be enough food in my house. Was my MIL hosting? Way to ruin a Thanksgiving. Damn. There needs to be a sign up sheet, or something - anything!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple large Chick-fil-A nugget trays.

Is it normal to bring something that costs $200 when others are bringing some simple homemade dish?

I read it thinking the opposite, it is normal to think to bring fast food hate chicken to a potluck celebrating home cooking?

I think it would be embraced - no one cares about your home cooking if the kids are starving.

x10000

WTAF? Who does this??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh man, that is a fail on the hosts part last year. Kind of surprised they aren't doing it differently! I hear the comment about the spending $200 when other people bring nothing but I would also want my kids to eat so I would probably bring a kid entree, fruit, and wine.

Hosting about 20 people can cost much (!!) more than $200. Holy crap. Host or don't, but do it right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only things people have signed up for are desserts, asparagus, cranberries, and sweet potatoes. Hosts will cover Turkey. 40 people. What would you bring? Last year there was only enough food for adults. Probably 20 kids will be in attendance.

Who hosts a holiday meal without adequate food?

My MIL does - saves food for SIL's family but not ours. Yes, I know. Then they all feign oblivious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the designated person who always brings mashed potatoes for Friendsgiving. We generally have 16 adults, no kids in attendance. I buy a 10 pound bag of potatoes, peel them, boil them, mash them. Then I put in gobs of already melted butter (like 2 pounds) and stir in. Then add gobs of sour cream and stir in. Then salt and pepper and a bit of garlic powder. Then I put it all in my 7 quart crockpot, which just about fills it up. I finish it all up 2 -3 hours before we leave to go to the home of the hosts. I keep the crockpot on low for the two hours at our house before we leave. Stir and check occasionally. Bring it over there and plug it in until time to eat. I also bring 3 jars of chicken gravy.

10 pounds of potatoes is just about the right amount for 16 adults. For 40 people you would need to make mashed potatoes with 30 pounds of potatoes.

I dug through pages of past posts to find this one. I just read this

https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/11/mashed-potatoes-recipe-best-butter-butter-butter.html

and I wanted to acknowledge the genius of this PP. According to this article, they have cracked the code. The article found that the bon appétit recipe that yielded the best mashed potatoes achieved a metric of 62 GFPPP (grams of fat per pound of potato), but PP has left Bon appétit in the dust with an astounding 77 GFPPP (assuming 376.82 g fat per one lb (454 g) potatoes). And actually, that is an underestimate due to the sour cream.

Apparently the best mashed potatoes are essentially a potato buttercream frosting with salt instead of sugar!

I won’t dare to go to 77 GFPPP, but I am upping the butter this year due to PP! And adding sour cream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the designated person who always brings mashed potatoes for Friendsgiving. We generally have 16 adults, no kids in attendance. I buy a 10 pound bag of potatoes, peel them, boil them, mash them. Then I put in gobs of already melted butter (like 2 pounds) and stir in. Then add gobs of sour cream and stir in. Then salt and pepper and a bit of garlic powder. Then I put it all in my 7 quart crockpot, which just about fills it up. I finish it all up 2 -3 hours before we leave to go to the home of the hosts. I keep the crockpot on low for the two hours at our house before we leave. Stir and check occasionally. Bring it over there and plug it in until time to eat. I also bring 3 jars of chicken gravy.

10 pounds of potatoes is just about the right amount for 16 adults. For 40 people you would need to make mashed potatoes with 30 pounds of potatoes.

I dug through pages of past posts to find this one. I just read this

https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/11/mashed-potatoes-recipe-best-butter-butter-butter.html

and I wanted to acknowledge the genius of this PP. According to this article, they have cracked the code. The article found that the bon appétit recipe that yielded the best mashed potatoes achieved a metric of 62 GFPPP (grams of fat per pound of potato), but PP has left Bon appétit in the dust with an astounding 77 GFPPP (assuming 376.82 g fat per one lb (454 g) potatoes). And actually, that is an underestimate due to the sour cream.

Apparently the best mashed potatoes are essentially a potato buttercream frosting with salt instead of sugar!

I won’t dare to go to 77 GFPPP, but I am upping the butter this year due to PP! And adding sour cream.

I am the person who is the designated bringer of mashed potatoes to Thanksgiving (and Christmas) dinners.
Anthony Bourdain has a recipe that uses even more butter than I use.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/recipe-anthony-bourdains-mashed-potatoes-kind-of-robuchon-style/

I saw a movie a few years ago called, "The last Holiday." In the movie, Queen Latifah learns cooking secrets from the best chef in the world. The chef said that the secret to really tasty food is butter. That's all. Butter.