Anonymous wrote:I'm the op of this thread, lots of good ideas:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1171972.page

Thanks!

When our family converges at Christmas we sit down to plan out the non-Christmas day meals. Everybody takes a day or takes a dish for dinner and we all pitch in on grocery costs.

Breakfast is usually quick breads, a breakfast casserole or breakfast burritos. Someone usually springs for donuts one day.

Lunch is soup/sandwiches or leftovers to be made or assembled on your own.

Dinners, as I said, are split up between families. We are blessed with some great cooks so if they’re willing to make one of their signature dishes the rest of us do sides and pay for the ingredients. These dinners tend to be a hearty soup/stew (potato, bean, posole’ etc), enchiladas, something Italian, a “snack” style buffet with lots of options to kind of pick at- think heavy charcuterie, dips, crackers etc. The holiday dinner is very traditional and we plan for having leftovers to help feed folks later in the week.

Anonymous wrote:Food is expected, OP, when a host invites you over. It can be very simple, affordable meals.
If they're polite guests, they should invite you out for at least one meal, or offer to cook a meal, or buy groceries. In other words, acknowledge your burden and offer to lighten it in a token way.

Next time do not invite that many for so long if you do not wish to pay for such an expense!

To be fair, they weren't invited, but said they were coming for christmas.

Anonymous wrote:Breakfast and lunch can be cheap - cereal, toast, sandwiches. That means you only need 5 dinners:

- lasagna and salad
- ham, potatoes and green beans
- takeout kabobs
- chili and cornbread muffins (from the box)
- taco bar

Agree with this. Plan dinners (or reservations to eat out) but everyone can feed themselves breakfast and lunch if you have the frig and pantry stocked

Food is expected, OP, when a host invites you over. It can be very simple, affordable meals.
If they're polite guests, they should invite you out for at least one meal, or offer to cook a meal, or buy groceries. In other words, acknowledge your burden and offer to lighten it in a token way.

Next time do not invite that many for so long if you do not wish to pay for such an expense!

Breakfast and lunch can be cheap - cereal, toast, sandwiches. That means you only need 5 dinners:

- lasagna and salad
- ham, potatoes and green beans
- takeout kabobs
- chili and cornbread muffins (from the box)
- taco bar

Crockpot chili night would be cheap if you cook beans from dried. Then you would just need onions, canned tomatoes and spices.

Get a couple boxes of jiffy cornbread.

Have sour cream, shredded cheese, chopped onions, chives.

You could even have some baked potatoes and people can top their potatoes with chili if they want or just cheese.

I'm the op of this thread, lots of good ideas:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1171972.page

Yes, you do need to be prepared to feed them, even though I would expect that they would offer to treat you to at least one meal.

With the possible exception of Christmas, breakfast / brunch should be simple: croissants and jam, toast, or boxed cereal, and maybe fruit or juice. You can always do more, or offer to scramble eggs and cook sausages, but leave it minimal. Lunch could be salads or sandwiches that people assemble themselves, or pizza and salad. I’d hope that if you’re out doing activities, your guests would offer to treat you to lunch a few times. Dinners need to be planned, and I think your ideas are good ones. Manggiano’s offers family style takeout, as well as catering. Chinese takeout. Tacos. Fried or Peruvian style chicken. Honey Baked Ham is a great idea — since you can also use it for sandwiches and omelettes. They also have turkey. Maybe think about buying the main courses and any desserts, and doing your own salads and sides.

Tacos

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you need to plan to feed three meals a day. Wtf?

Thanks, any suggestions?

As a guest I would expect to take you out once, help cook, etc. When my family comes they help buy groceries.

Also, not every meal needs to be a big to-do.

You need to be prepared to feed them the entire time. If you are lucky you might get out of one meal, but don't count on it.

Yes, you need to plan to feed three meals a day. Wtf?

Getting anxious about this especially since people said that soup is not a meal. I am not a great cook, but I also don't have $1000s to feed 10 people for 15 meals including christmas eve and christmas. Would you expect to feed everyone every meal or would you expect someone to treat for at least one dinner? We are usually a family who goes out to eat Friday/Saturday and does takeout Sunday, but finding a place to accommodate so many people in our area is going to be tough.

These are my ideas so far:

order a bunch of kabobs/rice one night
lasagna (maybe christmas eve?) with something else for the dairy free person
honey baked ham with green beans, salad and some sort of potato

What else is not terribly expensive but appeals to many?

I did filet of beef last year, and the meat alone was over $250, so I don't want to repeat that again.