I agree on mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, or glazed carrot or other vegetable.

I'll throw in corn bread or other rolls as another idea.

Agree with above. Hosts need to create a list of types of items. So many people are bringing filling sides. Also why i dont do potluck. If im hosting, its mortifying if there is not enough food.

It seems like the basics are still missing: mashed potatoes and stuffing. Personally, I would bring a few trays of stuffing because it is not hard to make a huge batch. Mashed potatoes require much more time to make and there is an option to simply buy a bunch of premade mashed potatoes if someone needs that option.

This situation could be helped if the host created a sign up genius that listed what was needed. If I was making the list certain things would be spelled out like stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls. But other things would be more open: 4 vegetable sides. I would also give some guidance on quantities. Many people are not good at thinking through the specifics of how much food is needed for 40 people. Having it spelled out simplifies that and makes it very clear that you need 3- 9x11 trays of stuffing or 75 rolls (not one bag of 12).

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.

I'd bring stuffing, and a lot of it.

Maybe mashed potatoes too. I like to have a lot of food.

How about Hash Brown Cheesy Potatoes? I would make a double batch.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/160132/simply-potatoes-cheesy-hash-browns/

Anonymous wrote:pizza

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

Anonymous wrote:OP were there kids last year and there wasn't enough food to serve the kids?

Roasted Brussels with cranberries, macaroni, and cheese, that would work for adults or kids, glazed carrots

Honeybaked ham or mashed potatoes (a simple/classic version with lots of butter and cream).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP were there kids last year and there wasn't enough food to serve the kids?

Yes no one brought food for kids and there wasn’t enough Turkey for them. For example, last year, same amount of people, but the person who brought stuffing brought one 9x13 tray. Each person got about a 1/4 cup.

I think bringing one tray is fine, but you need MANY sides so that everyone only needs a small portion of each. Or they can skip the ones they aren't super into.

We do something similar with friends. A crockpot full of meatballs is also popular with kids. Lots of rolls. A fruit platter. Almost none of them want the turkey. We've also done hotdogs just for the kids and so that there's more turkey for the adult who actually do like it.

pizza

Anonymous wrote:OP were there kids last year and there wasn't enough food to serve the kids?

Yes no one brought food for kids and there wasn’t enough Turkey for them. For example, last year, same amount of people, but the person who brought stuffing brought one 9x13 tray. Each person got about a 1/4 cup.

Huge tray of mac and cheese. Or huge tray of mashed potatoes.

OP were there kids last year and there wasn't enough food to serve the kids?

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.