Dinner entree for 15....
How about cook a pound of hamburger...
Boil a pound of noodles
mix with a jar of Ragu sauce and a can of diced tomatoes, and stir in a 4 oz package of shredded cheese....place in a 9 by 12 dish bake until warm.
Quick, cheap, easy and pretty good too.
Linda C

Chili. Linda would know the amount needed, but have toppings by the side (cheddar cheese and tortilla chips, sour cream...) Throw in a couple of cornbreads (okay, here is my dirty secret: buy a couple of boxes of jiffy white cake mix and equal number of boxes of jiffy cornbread mix. Add all ingredients that each box calls for. Mix together and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes in whatever pans you have. Should be only one bowl of batter.
It tastes exactly like Boston Market's cornbread.

Jo

Tamale Pie...top with Jo's Jiffy mix combination. Basically it's hamburger, onions, garlic, corn, tomato sauce, seasonings topped with cornbread.

If interested, I'll type up a recipe for you.

Neat thing you're doing there...kuddos.

/tricia

What about just buying leg quarters or drumsticks and small/medium potatoes, and baking them both? Should be relatively cheap at any store and not too stressful for you. If you have the budget for it, you can serve sour cream or butter with the potatoes.

Here's a quick one that makes 25 one-cup servings.

BEEF NOODLE CASSEROLE

1 lb. medium noodles, cooked and drained
4 lbs. ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped celery
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 cans (1 lb. 12oz. each) tomatoes
2 cans (15 oz.) tomato sauce
1 can (6 oz. chopped mushrooms)
16 oz. grated sharp cheese (4 cups), divided
1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
1 tsp. dried basil, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

In Dutch oven, combine beef, onion, green pepper, garlic and celery until meat is lightly browned. Drain off any excess fat.

Stir in remaining ingredients (only 8 oz. of the cheese)and heat and stir until cheese melts.

Spread noodles in two 13X9X2 inch baking dishes. Pour tomato mixture over; stir into noodles. Cover loosely with foil; bake 30 minutes. Uncover, stir lightly; bake another 20 minutes or until warmed through. Sprinkle with the other 8 oz. of cheese. Bake 5-10 min or until melted.

Spaghetti. As hard or easy as you want to make it.
French bread and bagged green salad.

Deanna

Shepherds Pie is also easy.

I don't like a lot of vegetables in my shepherds pie. But you could add carrots, peas, corn, etc..

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Shepherds Pie
=============

This is how I make Shepherds Pie. Just a basic outline. It is all done to taste.

Lean ground beef
Onion
Garlic
Celery
Fresh thyme
Salt
Pepper
Worcestershire sauceflour

Saute meat until browned. Add the chopped onion, garlic and celery. Saute until vegetables are tender. Season with salt pepper, thyme. Sprinkle with flour. Cook for a minute or two and add beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer for 30 minutes or so. Pour into shallow casserole and top with mashed potatoes. Dot with butter and bake until golden.

You could also do cheater baked beans...
Get an institutional sized can of baked beans....I have seen them in Bush's and Van Camp....I prefer Bush's
dump the can into a baking pan or roaster, add an onion chopped, 2 T. prepared mustard 1 1/3 cups brown sugar and a cup of catsup....mix and bake uncovered until warm and bubbley.\

Of you could add 2 or 3 loaves of store bought French bread, split almost through buttered with garlic butter, wrapped in foil and heated through.
It will take 1/2 pound of butter and about 1 1/2 tsps garlic salt for every 2 loaves of bread.

Doesn't have to be a main dish you bring....just something else yummy to fill them up...
Hot spiced canned fruit...canned peaches, pears, apricots, and maybe some fresh grapes....dumped into a baking dish, sprinkled well with brown sugar and cinnamon dotted with a little butter and heated in the oven until bubbling.
Doesn't have to be "gourmet" just easy cheap nutritious food.
Linda C

I'd also go with spaghetti or some kind of pasta, it's easy to "stretch" to feed a lot of people cheaply. If you don't want to go the "red meat" route you could do tuna noodle casserole or a chicken and rice kind of thing.

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

2 cups cooked and diced chicken
2 cups cooked brown rice
15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
8 oz sour cream
1/2 cup salsa
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, divided
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients (save out 1/2 cup shredded cheese for the topping) and spread it into a casserole dish. sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup of cheese and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Serves 6, or 4 very generously

If you want something very meat based, meatloaf is easy enough too.

Good luck, it's a very nice thing you're doing, and I'm probably way too late to help.

Annie

Thank you all so much.

I ended up in such a flat out panic that I ran to the store without waiting for your replies and then over to the shelter to cook.

I ended up talking the butcher into giving me tomorrow's special on SBCB of BOGO today and I bought 4 packages so 16 breasts at under $1.40 per pound.

I made Marsala chicken which I left in the fridge and we can just reheat it in the oven.

It looks like the other facility will be closed for at least 2-3 weeks while they clean up so this is going to be a nightly extra thing.

Up next will be the beef noodle pie, shepards pie and hamburger noodles. I will also be making that cornbread soon. The Tamale pie sounds good if you don't mind sharing the recipe, Tricae. Thanks

Unfortunately although beans are nice and cheap and filling they create other problems that 80 men sleeping on cots in a church basement do not want to hear or smell so while I forgot to mention it, beans are ruled a no-no on our menus.

Please keep the suggestions coming...I will most certainly be needing them.

Beef or hamburger stroganoff might be an option. Paula Dean's recipe uses COM soup so it might be fast if salty.

"beans are a ruled a no-no..." LOL! They are a no-no in my house, too.

That's great what you do and that you make them good meals. Chicken Marsala sounds wonderful.

Hungry Man's Stew...We had this for dinner last night, have enough for another meal and I put another meal in the freezer. You can increase the number it will feed just by increasing the amount of potatoes. Basic recipe will easily feed 10 to 12 hungry people.

Hungry Man's Stew

Brown together 1 lb, ground chuck and 1/4 lb. pork sausage.
Add 2 large chopped onions
1/4 teas.cayenne pepper
1 teas, garlic salt (I subbed minced garlic)
Add 2 cups canned tomatoes (smushed)
2 C water
1 1/2 teas. worcestershire sauce.

Simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
Add 3 diced potatoes and 1 can cream style corn. Salt to taste. Cook 30 minutes more or until potatoes are tender.

*Note: For our family I add a pod of dried hot pepper because we like the heat. I wouldn't do this if I was serving others.

I baked a skillet of cornbread to go with it. Slaw would be good to accompany it but I was lazy. I have found most everyone likes this...children to grown men.

jude

Thanks jude

Do you take the sausage out the casing or just slice it up?

This is breakfast pork sausage, in a roll, and is not in a casing. I just cook it and crumble along with the ground chuck.

This really is a good recipe. as is, or stretched with more potatoes.

jude

Chicken marsala is hard to follow! Lucky guys!