Who says you can't entertain on a budget?

Anyone who says that you can't feed lots of people on a budget is just wrong! Actually, we don't follow a budget (we should but we don't!) - we just try to spend the least amount we can on whatever it is we buy. If you stock up and have things on hand that you got for free or dirt cheap, you can make a very nice meal for next to nothing.


Every Sunday after church Amanda's House Group (kids in our area) from the high school ministry at our church gather at one house (The Breen's who graciously allow all those teens in their house every Sunday!) and have lunch, discussions and then break into their small groups. Parents are asked to provide lunch one of the Sunday's of the year and the others, the leaders order pizza or something like that. There are somewhere between 30-35 that show up each week. The church will reimburse you for your costs if you turn in receipts but of course all of us are more than willing to provide lunch one Sunday a year!


Well, I just made 2 huge pans of pasta with chicken, 64 rolls & butter, 60 brownies, 72 cookies and enough soda and Crystal Light for everyone and it cost me just under $19.00!! This includes $7.50 for the soda and the foil pans for the pasta too! I used some chicken from the Fav 4 deal, the rolls I got free and they were in my freezer so I just had to defrost them and bake them, the butter was practically free too. I used the Bertolli Organic pasta sauce that I got for free (I did have to buy pasta - paid $1 a box too which I haven't done in over a year), the mozzarella cheese was free from the last Kraft deal, the brownies cost me $1.00 but the cookies were a MM so that washes out! :-) So all in all, the food cost me about $11.00, the drinks about $4.00 and the foil pans were just over $3.00! Anyone who knows me also knows that I am very generous when I feed people so there is plenty of chicken in the pasta too - no skimping when you are working with these prices! :-)


Have a great day and keep stocking up so that your wallet isn't hit big time when you entertain!