For any kind of recipe you need for-a-crowd, just do a search (Google, Bing, etc.): cooking for a crowd - pinto bean salad (or bean salad) - and you will find lots of recipes to choose from. If you do a search on - cooking for a crowd - you will find lots of charts to help you with amounts. Check your local library. I know ours has several books about cooking for a crowd.

As another resource, check with the folks who cook the Meals-On-Wheels in your area (ours is located at the Senior Citizen Center, and they make the meals for the Center as well). They will be a wealth of information, ideas, amounts, and recipes. One lesson I learned from these great gals was what to call the dish. They had a particular entrée that people just didn't show up for at the Senior Center. They knew it wasn't the taste, so they added some parsley and gave it a new name, and now it's a favorite (LOL).

Don't forget to check the prices of #10 cans of the ingredients you need. They may be less expensive per serving than the small cans - even on sale. The can labels will tell you what a serving size is and how many to expect to get from one can, whether it's a 14-oz. can or a #10 can.

-Grainlady

I was going to mention the same about doing a search for your recipes 'for a crowd'.

Not sure of your location but you could search for donations from farms. Many have lots of crops that go un-sold. A mild fall here has plenty of winter squashes cheap.

I made my parents a harvest succotash in Sept and froze in qrt zip-locks, flat packed. Zucchini, corn, diced string beans, onions and chives, minced carrot, tomatoes, a diced sweet potato and a half a winter squash diced. 87 and 86yr old now. A dozen qrts and a qrt is 4 servings for them. (i'm thinking now i should have pulsed the corn in the cuisinart a few seconds). Ill take them a stack of 1/2 pint stocks so they can make quick soups out of a stock and some of the veg.

They no longer garden except for some herbs and some mixed salad greens.

All i'm getting at is if i saw a note or listing, i would no problem donate something similar. 12 qrts is 48 servings. A breakdown of the cost is about 5 dollars...6 ears farm-stand corn, one large sweet potato, zip-locks...the rest i grew in my garden.

If you need to stick to cans for budget reasons, i would figure 8oz per person. That considers all the liquid in the cans. 6oz per dish is very generous but i think well within the budget.

Small appetites at that age. Even a tray of graham cracker crust lemon bars cut small would be a nice treat and not expensive.

Sounds like a funeral lunch at the church...;-0

The estimate you get from a place like "Cooking for a crowd" will be waaaay too much. and the estimates you get from meals on wheels will also be too much, because that is also their evening meal....and perhaps breakfast too.
I would do a 3 bean salad instead of the pinto beans....unless there are a lot of ladies of Mexican heritage, they won't eat it. Figure 1/2 cup serving of each item and you will have more than enough. Make sure you use cider vinegar and some balsamic and a little extra sugar. Traditional 3 bean salad usually calls for 1 can green beans, 1 can wax beans, 2 cans kidney beans...a little onion and a dressing of1 /2 cup oil, 1/2 cup sugar and half cup of vinegar. make that vinegar cider vinegar and sub 2 tablespoons of that vinegar for 2 Tablespoons of balsamic.
My vinaigrette would do well on the salad....I know, I have done it many times.
it's 2 T Dijon mustard 3 T honey generous pinch of garlic powder 1/4 cup vinegar....make that either all balsamic or half balsamic and half cider....whisk together and then whisk in 1/2 cup good green olive oil. You will have some left over. The salad I make to put this on is half iceberg lettuce, and half de stemmed baby spinach a couple of carrots shredding in the food processor and some red cabbage also shredded. For 35 you will need 4 good heads or ice berg, a 10 oz and a 7 oz bag of baby spinach, 3 or 4 carrots and about 1/4 a small head of red cabbage.
I do the funeral lunches at my church....and serve a lot of old people.....but don't discount people in their 80's I know more than a few who toss down a couple of martinis before digging into a good steak!
Oh and my lunches are always less than $1.50 per person, mostly because we avoid cans and cook everything from scratch.

My shopping is limited to Smart & Final, and regular grocery stores, so all this helpful information is a good start!

Thanks, Grainlady for the info and resources to Google. I really appreciate the tip about *naming* the dish--I know the saying is that people eat with their eyes first, but I find that even before they eat with their eyes first, they eat with their brain as they read the item names!

BTW, Lindac is right--some of these women can really put on the feedbag!!! --and others are fussy (I don't like parsley flakes in my food, I don't eat lettuce, ewwww is that whole wheat bread?), and yet others are thrilled and happy to eat nicely prepared food.

Slevendog, thanks for the info and ideas as well. I know for a fact that anytime something is "homemade" (even if the dish has a base of canned beans) versus "open a jar of Costco bean salad", well, that "homemade" stuff goes first--we've even had some people asking what's homemade and they ignore the rest of the store-bought sides and store-bought cookies and stuff.

LIndac, you're right! It does sound like funeral food, and I know you have years of experience doing such! Thank you for including your vinaigrette recipe and all the things that go into it to make it special, as well as how much of what to get for the salad--those amounts are very helpful! I think if we were able to have Martini's, we wouldn't hear any of the fussiness about food dislikes! :O)

Many MANY thanks again for all your help!!!!

Smiles,

Sooz