Recipes needed for a fundraiser.
DECA in our school is doing a fundraiser, like every year, for the Herbie Fund, which gives life saving surgeries to children in third world countries. We sell food during lunch periods as part of the fund raiser. What recipes do you recommend for easy to prepare, delicious, relatively mess free foods that can appeal to a wide variety of teenagers? (over 2100).
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12 Comments:
Honestly, for that many teenagers, I'd skip the cooking altogether and order a huge quantity of a variety of Chipotle burritos and sell them. A couple student groups did that at my college, and it was extremely successful. I think you can order them whole or cut in half, so you can determine the prices from that.
If you want to actually cook, I'd suggest a classic bakesale. Brownies, cookies, cupcakes, cake, and a few more exotic items are always extremely popular and sell quickly.
ChristineB at 8:25PM on 02/27/08
How about shepherd's pie made with ground beef, vegetables and topped with mashed potatoes. There are a lot of teenagers who are or want to be vegetarians, so how about making a veggie version of the pie using vegetarian 'ground round', e.g., Yves brand is outstanding. One package of Yves is the equivalent of 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef. Offer some kind of vegetarian alternative(s).
Macaroni and cheese made from scratch is always popular. Consider making a custard version with eggs, milk and cheese. It's cheaper and still delicious if you used a genuine full flavoured Cheddar or cheese of your choice. You'll need less cheese if it's the real thing. Look in tried and true cookbooks like 'Joy of Cooking' for a suitable recipe.
How about some kind of Tex-Mex casserole? Teenagers (and older eaters) usually enjoy these. Keep the spices tame when you're feeding a crowd. (Hot sauce could be made available for those who will.) Of course, the Net and your library are obvious sources for good quantity recipes.
Just some brainstorming. I wish you every sucess with your Herbie Fundraising.
Raki5 at 8:38PM on 02/27/08
Agree on the bake sale idea - if you decide to do this (probably the most fuss free thing of all) I would highly recommend this recipe for Brownies: Nick Malgieri's Supernatural Brownies. (google it)
Really. When we had a bake sale recently, a man even came back to compliment us on them.
For other goods, I would suggest sticking with the classics like cupcakes, cookies, bar cookies etc...I think most teens (i.e. the kids at my school) aren't particularly adventurous when it comes to food. Either it looks familiar and yummy or no go...
jazzinx at 8:38PM on 02/27/08
In addition to baked goods, how about fruit salads and green veggie salad and maybe even a chef's salad? All can be prepared ahead and no worry about cooking. I'd keep the meat and cheese chilled and add near serving time. Most teens love pizza but that could be problematic. If you wanted hot food, you could fit a lot of hot dogs on a grill.
I'd first talk to the cafeteria staff and see what they think would work and sell.
PerkyMac at 8:57PM on 02/27/08
I just commented on a post about the world's easiest chili. It's a recipe I got from my sister-in-law. It's cheap to make and you can make huge quantities of it because it's a crock pot recipe. All you do is saute onions and garlic, add ground hamburger or turkey- whatever your preference and brown that. Dump that into a crock pot with canned kidney beans, canned tomatoes, cumin, chili powder and a couple of bay leaves. In a few hours you have some tasty, simple chili.
PumpkinBear at 10:38PM on 02/27/08
in high school i was in a lot of clubs, the items that do the best in bake sales are brownies and rice krispy treats, chocolate covered pretzels are also really big sellers, they are easy to make and you can have lots of different combinations use the pretzel rods rather than they are the easiest, you can cover them with sprinkles, different types of chips, like butterscotch etc etc
for actual food i would say pizza, its easy to make and serve quickly, portable, again different toppings, and if it gets a little cold it still tastes good - also homemade pizza is always better than the kind the cafeteria has.
homemade chicken nuggets and tofu nuggets for the vegetarians
fruit kebobs are also a fun idea - again you can dip some in chocolate if you want
and it would be good to find out what the cafeteria already serves so you can have something different
sustarz at 12:21AM on 02/28/08
I agree with the bake sale idea and having fruit and some kinds of salads available as well.
If you would like to get the staff involved, you can try an idea that they are currently doing at my husband's work.
They get volunteers to agree to make a dish: Casseroles, Desserts, Pot Luck favorites, etc. Then, a list is made with what the person is making and their names. It is then emailed out to everyone "Ebay style" and people bid on what they want to pay for it. You can even enter a "maxium bid" like they do on Ebay. On the ending day the winner pays and gets to enjoy the dish.
The one that's going on here has been going on for about a week and a half and ending on Friday. This way, you have a dish to enjoy for your weekend. Also, a few people are going in on one casserole to enjoy for their lunch that day.
This is just an idea. You can always put your spin on it to better suit your needs. :o)
Erinay77 at 2:05AM on 02/28/08
@Erinay77...........that is a brilliant fundraising idea, and also a fun event for any group. You'd need a lot of volunteers to make food for 2100 teens.
With further thought, I'd recommend single serving bake sale items, fruit kabobs and raw veggie kabobs. If you were hoping to sell the whole meal, then hot dogs. I just don't see how pizza would work, but boy would it sell.
PerkyMac at 11:21AM on 02/28/08
In addition to whatever food you prepare, you should bake a couple of dozen monster cookies - huge cookies using 4 oz. of dough each. Whatever else you sell, the cookies will always go and it's a quick 75 cents or a dollar each time you sell one.
I'd do PB, Choc PB, Chocolate Chip, and/or Molasses. You can't go wrong.
chiff0nade at 11:56AM on 02/28/08
That reminds me of my high school Home Ec teacher. She would sell breakfast biscuits (ham/bacon/sausasage/egg/cheese) and cinnamon rolls every morning for the annual fundraiser, by the end of the fund raising period she always raised the most money. The second highest was the Physics teacher who sold candy (Reese's, snickers, etc) all day long...just come by between classes.
If you can use the cafeteria's kitchen or set up a warming station, then all the above ideas sound very good.
If you will not have access to keeping foods hot or cold, then I would go with baked goods idea...Everyone needs dessert or would RATHER
wookie at 2:06PM on 02/28/08
I'd have to chime in with the bake sale idea too--there is a reason that it works! Cupcakes, in addition to cookies and brownies (and rice krispie treats/bar cookies) for breakfast are traditional but popular for a reason.
If you really want foodfood, you could ask a local restaurant to donate the food, given the worthiness of the cause.
Or, there is that local senior citizen's dinner staple of a spaghetti dinner, of which I ran quite a few when I was in high school, for NHS, Student Council, etc. You could sell pasta salads of various kinds.
A final idea is bagels, which are very cheap bought in bulk and sold at a slight mark-up.
HeartofGlass at 2:20PM on 02/28/08
We've been giving you ideas, but you asked for recipes. What type of recipes do you want? Cookies, cupcakes, brownies, candy, lasagna, salads, casseroles, BBQ?
We would need more info to be of help.
PerkyMac at 2:57PM on 02/28/08