You just realized that the food you had in the crockpot isn’t quite enough for the crowd that is on its way to your house? No worries! If you can’t ask a guest to pick up an additional salad or bag of chips (something we frequently do), here are some simple ways you can stretch food to feed a crowd.
1. Keep pasta on hand.
A bag of shells or ditalini works to bulk up the chicken soup. Pasta with some seasonings and butter or olive oil and lemon makes a tasty and filling side dish. And if you have only a couple grilled chicken breasts, you can always slice them up and stir up a pantry sauce to make a great main dish. (Crushed tomatoes and spices if you want a red sauce, olive oil, garlic, and fresh lemon juice if you want something a bit lighter.)
2. Add rice and tomato sauce to taco meat.
If you’re making tacos and need your main filling to be bulked up, mix your rice directly into the taco meat, along with extra chili powder and tomato sauce. It will still taste delicious and the meat will stretch a lot further.
3. Add cabbage to stir fries.
A head of cabbage helps stretch a small stir fry a long way, especially if you serve over rice. Just make sure you season the whole stir fry with a generous hand!
4. Turn the main meat dish into a hot sandwich filler.
If you can see that your crockpot chicken or small beef roast isn’t going to be enough for the ten people you couldn’t resist inviting home with you, you can always use the cooked meat as sandwich meat instead of the stand-alone main dish. I have done this several times with great results!
5. Make biscuits and gravy as a side for eggs or a too-small roast.
Biscuits and gravy work for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! You can quickly mix up biscuits (here’s a favorite recipe of mine, or you can keep some of the refrigerated ones on hand), bake, and serve with gravy as an instant, delicious way to feed a crowd.
6. Slice up any fresh fruit or veggies in the fridge to serve as a side.
Carrot spears, apple slices, grapes…even if you just have a few of each, you can set out multiple small bowls or make a quick fruit or vegetable salad. You can also make an appetizer board full of slices of cheese, pieces of fresh and dried fruit, and crackers.
7. Keep easy sides in your pantry and refrigerator.
Rice and pasta are easy sides to keep in the pantry, but you can also keep summer sausages in the fridge for quite a while. Cans of black or pinto beans can become refried beans, help turn a small chicken soup into a large chicken tortilla soup, or can stand alone. Cans of chickpeas and a bit of tahini can be quickly blitzed into hummus. (Hummus is a filling appetizer; it also works as a sandwich filler for a vegetarian entree.)
8. Quickly fry super-thin slices of potatoes (or grate them to make hash-browns).
This won’t work for every meal, but if you slice potatoes very thinly they will cook quickly and you can keep adding them to the table as people finish their first helpings of food. Especially good with breakfast-themed meals.
9. If you don’t have anything ready at all, quickly make a breakfast-for-dinner.
Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and French toast are all easy ways to fill a large crowd of people quickly and inexpensively. And many people love breakfast food. If they aren’t feeling like eating a sweetened breakfast (pancakes/waffles/French toast), you can always make savory crepes.
10. Keep cookie dough balls in the freezer for a quick dessert.
Chocolate chip or peanut butter cookie dough both freeze very well. For more ideas for last-minute guests, read this article!
What do you do to help stretch food to feed a crowd? Let us know in the comments below!
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