Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Lunch for 8 - 10

One of our family goals this year is to express more appreciation through hospitality. That seemed so lofty until it came time to bring the first lunch to my husband's workplace.

Today, I needed to feed 8 to 10 people a portable lunch. The whole thing had to cost $20 or less and fit on a rolling cart.

A neighbor gave us some divine tomatoes, so I knew the menu must include tomato sandwiches made the Savannah way (on round slices of bread with seasoned mayonnaise). I also made a deli sandwich tray using marked-down specialty breads.

Another tray held a spinach dip to eat with pepper spears or tortilla chips. Space was so tight on my rolling cart, I had to pile the brownies and lemon squares in a basket with the chips. A cooler full of bottled waters fit on the cart's lower shelf.

I always check my menu against Walmart's "Deli Delights" booklet. Their sandwich trays are a good benchmark price for comparison when you are making a budget. Next week, lunch for 30...and I'll be using Walmart's fried chicken instead making my own meat.

11 comments:

Shannon said...

Meredith - This looks so yummy! I'm planning a ladies' lunch at church soon so I hope you don't mind if I "borrow" some ideas:) I get so much inspiration from reading what you're up to:)

Anonymous said...

Meredith, you have so many good ideas. You can make a simple lunch of sandwiches and fruit Martha Stewart elegent. I was wondering if you could share some ideas for kid friendly meals.
I have been in the child day care business since 1989. I am so tired of the meals I have offered the children. I really would like to do something different. I am part of the federally funded school lunch program, so the meals must follow the USDA good guide lines. I hope you can offer a few ideas. My kids in care are not too picky. Today's lunch was milk, broccoli with cheese, French fries, fish planks, (not fish sticks, but the wedges) and bread. I also gave the children jello with pears.
Thanks for your thoughts. Roxie

Anonymous said...

Mmmm!...I haven't had lunch yet, and you're making me hungry!! It looks and sounds wonderful!

Susan

Raquel said...

hi I have been a reader for a while, but I a deluring myself this week :) what a yummy lunch, you are truly amazing at saving money and making things look beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Yummy. Those tomatoes look especially wonderful! Do you mind if I ask you what you seasoned the mayo with?

Anonymous said...

Can you share what you do for the mayo on those Tomato Sandwiches?

Aubrey said...

Coming out of lurking here...and have a possibly silly question. You said 'seasoned mayonnaise' in reference to your tomatoe sandies...what is seasoned mayonnaise? What seasoning do you use?? Don't let me forget to say how much I have enjoyed your blog. I was extremely interested in the Live Well on Less series. Thanks!!

Meredith said...

My husband's family uses the ratio in Susan Mason's Silver Service cookbook (excellent book, BTW)--2 Tbsp. Lawry's seasoned salt to 2 cups Hellman's mayonnaise.

I think it's a bit too salty (plus I never make that many sandwiches at a time). I add about 1 heaping tsp. of Lawry's to one cup Hellman's. It gives the sandwich that zip that salt and pepper alone lack.

Meredith said...

Oh, make sure to coat the inside of each slice of bread very well. It doesn't have to be thickly coated, just every bit of the surface area.

That keeps the tomato from soaking into the bread.

Of course, you will want to peel your tomatoes the night before and drain them overnight on paper towels in the refrigerator.

Anonymous said...

Would you post your brownie and lemon square recipe? They look yummy:)

It's a Mom Thing said...

Awesome job, Meredith! And since I used to teach, I know how much your husband's coworkers appreciated your efforts. I had a tomato sandwich for lunch today...yummy!