# breakfast ideas for a big group (60-80)



## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I'm looking for ideas what to cook for breakfast for a group of 60-80 people that will come and stay with us (hopefully) for about 10-14 days sometime next year.

I have no problems with ideas for dinner, but breakfast?

So far I've thought of

- toasted sandwiches (gonna be a bit of a pain, but we can keep them warm in the oven)

- sausage rolls

- english breakfast (but with scrambled eggs instead of fried)

- quiches (served room temperature)

- pasta salad (more a lunch option)

- other salads (also more a   lunch option)

- wraps

Sandwiches would be a logical other option, but we can only get processed cheese here and the bread is also not the nicest bread around.

Some other points:

the closest place with decent supplies is a 3 hour drive away

the temperature here will be around 40 oC at the time these guys come (that's about 105 oF)

I decided not to place this in the professional section as a lot of our kitchen equipment will be in use for out "normal" clientele and I'm sure there are a lot of people out here that have cooked for large groups at one point or another 

Besides that our cooking equipment resembles more a home kitchen  than a big restaurant set up (OK, a bit of an understatement but you get the idea)......


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Forget salads unless its a brunch. Go fresh fruit, hot  cereals with toppings, sausage, bacon, some ham  bagels ,cream cheeses and other cheeses, granola, muffins, warm croussants  scrambled eggs with cheese etc things of this nature  an egg cheese onion quiche type dish en cassarole. . Things that can be kept hot without compromise, not sandwiches.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestions Ed 

I can't believe I didn't think of something simple like cereals, muesli, granola etc!

I forgot to say that these guys will be camping at our place and that it should be fairly low budget.


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## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

butzy, what about a couple of big pans of frittata loaded with goodies, some breads and fruits?

I make frittatas ahead and serve at room temp with cheeses and veg, that's inexpensive, right?


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

Bisquick egg pie make several varieties, ham, bacon, sausage, only cheese, change up the cheese used, add onion, green pepper, mushrooms.... recipe is here http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/impossibly-easy-bacon-pie/185bcc00-7a8f-4b20-a7b9-53dac850b96b


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## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Get those humble potatoes out. They can be transformed into beautiful dishes with minimal cost. ...and I mean NICE dishes.

Flour, rice, same thing.

Will post more later on.


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## chefwriter (Oct 31, 2012)

Not knowing how limited your food supply is makes this a bit more challenging but from your post I'll offer some ideas.

First I would start thinking about including whatever the local foods are. Too many places try to serve foods from the visitors place of origin. Fresh, local and foraged are the latest thing. Surprise your guests with food you managed to find right nearby.

Given that the weather will be hot.

Pickled eggs

Pickled vegetables.

Vegetable salad with local vegetables. Local starch instead of potatoes. 

bread pudding. Rice pudding.

Home made Relishes/sauces of different kinds to go with the anything else.

A bed of rice, scrambled eggs, sauce/salsa on top. A bed of vegetables, scrambled eggs, sauce on top. 

Potato salad made with local spices. 

You don't say how much staff you have but..

You have eggs and flour so you could make fresh egg pasta and simply cut the sheets into interesting shapes with a knife. 

You say the bread isn't that great. If you have flour, learn to make your own bread. Pretty easy once you grasp the basics and everyone will enjoy it more. 

potatoes Anna. 

You referred to camping but you have internet. So use that by making a list of ingredients you have available, think about different ways to use them (ground, whole, raw, preserved, baked, fried, boiled, shredded) and look up recipes on internet.


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

taking it south of the border a bit where large families are fed well and inexpensively,a few thoughts....

~ breakfast burritos which can be assembled the night before and reheated the next morning...serve with refried beans or whole pinto beans....salsa, sour cream...chorizo or sausage

   goes a loong way in these

~ migas or breakfast chilaquiles...very filling

~ green chile egg casserole which can be made the day before and reheated

~ breakfast chile.....might be weird if they are eating at 5 am before setting out hunting, but very stick to the ribs food......serve with cornbread as sopapillas are a pita.

~ serve some sort of potato with every breakfast...also, steel cut oats with sides of brown sugar, raisins, maple syrup and milk

a few other random thoughts;

~ a hash of some sort? corned beef....or just make up your own version.

~sliced ham with brown sugar maple glaze if ham isn't terribly expensive there?

~ baked french toast strata, which can be assembled and soaked the night before

~ making focaccia bread is easy,cheap, good and freezes well     (i can pm you a recipe for a full sheet pan size if you like) 

~ homemade granola is easy to make as well....(i have a 'production' sized recipe if you like)

~ anything you can get locally that will be/is in season and you can take advantage of price wise

hope this helps to get your juices flowing steady and not just working overtime

joey


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## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

Don't forget the asians!

Cold / room temp soba noodles with a few simple toppings and appropriate condiments. (very common breakfast)

Rice Congee with assorted goodies to top it off.  (one crock pot worth with side dishes)

Steamed Buns and Omletes

Steamed Chinese Sausages hold almost forever, even when cut finely.

Hard cooked eggs, sweet pickled eggs and pickles of every sort make great breakfast grub on warm noodles or rice.

Kimchee and saurkraut awaken the senses and palatte and are great for you.

Quick sauteed greens and lettuce are also great.

Anyway back on track...

Biltong with fruits / veggies puree

Bunny Chow - crusty buns filled with a dry stew 

Dry sausages sliced with different aged cheeses and pickled eggs and onions

Bush Tea (Raiboos.. spelling is wrong)

Dry Bisquits both sweet and savoury

Boer Sausages with crusty bread

Who are the clients and what are they expecting?   This would help a ton with more ideas.

Every culture has a different interpretation of 'breakfast'  it's the one last place of 'non-conformaty' that exsists.

MOAR_INFORMATZ!!!!  PLZ!


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

thanks michael...yeah i was going to ask just that.....how cheap is cheap butzy? are they a mixed group form all around the globe or are they all from the same place..like a local hunting club etc...what time is breakfast? early early? what will their routine be? will they be eating breakfast then hunting, coming back for lunch(or a packed sack) then more hunting? that sort of thing....for sure you don't want to be feeding 75 men food too spicy or gassy food if they will be far away from any 'creature comforts'.   for some reason the scene from 'Blazing Saddles' keeps popping up!    thanks

joey


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Thanks all for the responses. Some quite good ideas here!

My list with breakfast options is growing.

This group is from a university in Finland. I'm actually not sure what they are coming to do.

They are asking for an affordable set menu, and so far I've given them a number of options with the costs.

We basically specialise is fishing trips (tigerfish)and game viewing by boat.

The local food here is not very exciting, it is mealiepap with relish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For the people with a slightly higher budget it is very (old-fashioned) English. Full English breakfast, baked beans on toast (arrgg), soft white bread without crusts and jam etc.

I am using the local food for dinner and lunch options. It's a bit heavy for breakfast.

Local vegetables are also not very exciting: cabbage, tomatoes, rape, green peppers, baby egg plants, okrs and that's about it. I'm incorporating them fully where possible. The supply is a bit unreliable though.

Local fruits are paw paw and bananas and if we are lucky some pineapple. The mangoes and litchis won't be in season yet

It's just too hot where we are to have a wide variety grown near by, so most comes from other parts of the country where it is cooler (everything is relative) or is imported from Zimbabwe and South Africa. Basically we can get almost everything, but it has a price tag attached. Zambia isn't cheap.

I'll be having 2 cooks and myself availabe and more people for prep if necessary. The other 2 cooks will keep on running the restaurant.

We'll be able to use a big bbq (about 1 by 2 mtr), gas stand with 2 cooker plates (hope that that is understandable English) and maybe another one of those.

We can use part of the kitchen in the quieter period, esp the ovens. We got 2 ovens, just the normal household ones, nice to keep things warm, but not really suitable to bake fresh bread every day (for 80 people).

We are going to have to do a lot of work ahead.

I like that bisquick egg idea and am going to try that out. Maybe in a muffin pan, so we got easy portions. Muffins are on the trial list as well.

So are mini pizza's and/or foccacia

My list has now grown to:

- toasted sandwiches

- hungarian sausage rolls

- boerewors rolls

- english breakfast (but with scrambled eggs instead of fried)

- scrambled eggs on toast

- toast and jam

- baked beans on toast

- quiches (served room temperature)

- pasta salad (more a lunch option)

- other salads (also more a lunch option)

- wraps (flat bread and everyone can fill to their liking with minced beef, shredded cheese, sliced onion, tomato, cucumber, hummus)

- burrito (pretty similar, but with beans & salsa)

- fritatta

- spanish tortilla or potatoes anna (had to look that one up)

- bisquick egg pie

- cereals, milk & fruit salad

- mini pizza

- foccacia

- mini bakes or pies

- french toast casserole (french toast strata) http://www.mommyskitchen.net/2010/02/overnight-french-toast-casserole.html

- egg & spinach casserole

- hard boiled eggs and ????

I think I've answered most peoples questions above, there are just a couple remaining.

@ Everyone

Thanks for all your help, and sorry for the long post

@ Chefwriter

We do make our own lasagne sheets and lasagna is on the list with dinner options. Any idea on using them for breakfast?

I've been using the internet quite a bit but most options for big groups focus on dinner.

@ Michael:

I'm a bit worried going asian style. I prefer it to most european options but I seem the odd one out (at least around here),

Having said that, There is no harm in including it in my options list. The clients can choose it or leave it out

I like your bunny chow option. It is one of my favourite dishes. And is there live without biltong?

Boerewors rolls are on the list.

And yes, I should give them a taste of rooibos tea

@ Petals

Please come with those potatoes options 

@ Durangojo

Thanks for the Mexican twist.

Please send me those recipes (granola and foccacia). Thanks.

I'm looking at hash options

Ham would be a great one, but only available now (for Christmas) not during the rest of the year. I prepared one yesterday. I love ham.

Same story for Turkey. Which actually makes me think: I can do something with cold chicken, maybe for the wraps or burrito's

I like your green chile egg casserole, but might be a bit too much for Scandinavians. I changed it to a egg-spinach casserole


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## chefwriter (Oct 31, 2012)

Use a chef knife to cut the lasagna sheets into triangles, boil and toss with sautéed veggies and scrambled eggs and a sauce as a breakfast pasta dish.

Make a breakfast lasagna with scrambled eggs, veggies(spinach, tomato, eggplant perhaps) and cheese. maybe one with bacon or sausage. 

Use the sheets like a wonton wrapper. Cut in small squares and wrap a filling in them. Poach or deep fry.   

From your second post it sounds like you have quite a good selection of foods. don't be afraid to experiment with mixing and matching them in new ways. I don't know what mealiepap is but it sounds like something you could mix with eggs and bake like a custard or pie. I'll look it up. 

Hardboiled eggs can be served cold as a pickle (hardboiled then stored in a flavored pickle solution.) Also hot with a sauce on top as a breakfast or luncheon dish.

If you specialize in fishing trips, do you have regular access to fresh fish? You could serve fresh smoked fish with breakfast lunch or dinner.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Good ideas!

I wouldn't have thought of using lasagna sheets this way. I'm definitely broadening my horizons here.

Mealie meal is the standard starch here. It is mixed with water and boiled for about 30 minutes. Very filling and with the consistency of wallpaper glue (I think it is pretty obvious I'm not very fond of it). You make little balls of it with your fingers and dip in some relish or gravy.

I'm going to try to turn it into tortilla or pancakes instead

No access to fresh fish unfortunately. We  release what we catch to keep the population healthy.

Well, we do keep the odd catfish and the fish that are still plentiful, but most are small and terribly bony


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

The bisquick egg pie works well in muffin tins, grease well though or it will stick. I cooked it for a group of 200 at a BBQ on year. Cooked in my smoker to feed everyone coming out of the tents.


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## chefwriter (Oct 31, 2012)

I looked up mealie pap. Turns out it's corn based. that means there is most likely a lot you can do with it. Tortillas, pancakes, local version of cornbread. Any number of concoctions. I'd look into finding a producer to see if there is a less processed version of it. just for variety. And I'd be interested in finding out what kind of corn they use to make it to see what else could be done with it. 

I'd also give a second thought to the seafood. Several pictures of Zambian food showed small whole fried fish with the mealie pap. If that's what you have, then that's what you use, bony or not. Your visitors may not be as picky as you anticipate and may appreciate the opportunity to eat something a little challenging.  And check with the local fishermen. They may have access to lots of other stuff they overlook because of cultural issues not because of availability. No lobster, clams, shellfish of any kind? Seaweed, urchins, oysters, edible kelp? 

Keep experimenting.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Mealie meal is made from white maize.

There are 2 types, roller meal and breakfast meal. The breakfast version is enriched with vitamins etc.

The little fish are dried kapenta. Fresh kapenta are difficult to get but quite nice when (deep) fried. The dried version is very smelly when you are cooking it.

I do have several "local" options on the menu for them, but for dinner options.

We got a local fresh water cray fish (it's actually invading the waters around here, it escaped from some fish ponds), but the pricing makes it out of the league of this group.

Thanks for all your help!!!


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

butzy,

first off, happy new year....i haven't forgotten about sending you recipes for granola and focaccia for your group...sometimes(most times) work just gets in the way of things.....here is the granola recipe i use...it makes 5 gallons...you can halve or quarter it if you like....it is a basic granola recipe that can be added to as you like..i add dried fig pieces, chopped dates and dried raspberries or strawberries if i have them on hand......you can also make the basic batch, then add different dried fruits to it later

10 quarts oats

10 cups shredded coconut

10 cups raw, natural sliced almonds

3 1/2 cups brown sugar ( i use light brown)

2 1/2 cups blended or canola oil

3 1/2 cups maple syrup

10 cups craisins, cranberries,raisins or combo

mix first 4 ingredients(oats through sugar)

combine well maple syrup and oil separately, pour over oat mixture and mix well.

divide onto 5 sheet pans(i use parchment) and toast in 300 oven for an hour, turning every 15 minutes. when cooled run fingers through to uncluster and add craisins, raisins etc.  store airtight...i use a 20 quart cambro.

joey


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Thanks joey.
After some initial mails, I haven't heard from this group for some time. I blame it on the silly season and am keeping my fingers crossed


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## marylou028 (Jan 4, 2013)

Toasted sandwich are very good idea's with coffee and other breakfast meal like in that list sausage.I remember i always preparing different kind of breakfast for my family and parent where i use to bake some bread that will surely fit for coffee in that morning and it is because i find out the best baking equipment in http://www.bedika.fi/ and other stuff related on baking in part of Finland.


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