Grilling for 150

[orange-explosion]

I'm throwing a "Senior Picnic" in the park on Monday, the day before graduation. Expecting approximately 150 kids. I have a Costco card and access to the fridge and freezers at school. Plan to use the crappy grills they have at the park.

I can spend $900.

What do I buy?

 

[GakFoo]

for that many people, ease of cooking is key. sausage, fajitas, and cut up chicken pieces. if you try to get too fancy, especially with gear that sucks or that you're not familiar with, you're in trouble. keep it simple and good luck -- tell us how it turns out.

 

[PipFunatUT]

bingo... keep it simple...

dont forget the one or two that will be veggie or vegan and piss all over your parade also. (so get them vegie burgers et all).. alot of the young hot girls who would of been formerly using the bathroom afterwards (IE

ing) have now decided that the cool thing to be and stay skinny is to be vegan.

 

[EDGAAA]

hot dogs and hamburgers are always a good time. and lots of tortillas and sausage

 

[12thStudStan]

Burgers would be pretty easy even with crappy grills. You can get patties by the case at Costco along with all the other supplies you will need. I would start cooking the meat early and keep them warm in aluminum pans covered in foil and then placed in an ice chest. I would also use aluminum pans for serving onions, pickles & japs, because serving out of the large pickle and pepper jars is slower.

A 2 sided simple serving line where they make their own burgers should work fine for 150 (bring lots of tongs), but you could set up 2 separate serving lines fairly easy. I would put the drinks (Tea, Lemonade?) in a separate area so the line doesn't get bogged down.

Good point raised on the vegans. I would ask for a vegan head count and get some veggie burger patties for them.

 

[PipFunatUT]

also you might want to cook the veggie burgers first, i know some crazy ones who will not eat them if they were cooked after meat... (this girl i know is lucky she is hot...)

 

[orange-explosion]

Thanks everyone. Keep it coming.

Definitely doing the pre-made burgers by the case and hotdogs. The burger-warmer idea seems like a good one.

Should I do chicken? If I buy the frozen thighs or whatever from Costco, do I need to thaw them first?

I should mention I'm in the Bronx, so anything tortilla/fajita related isn't going to happen. I could do sausage, but it would have to be italian or polish or brats or something. Also, I'm not worried about vegetarians.

How much charcoal do I need?

Any other must have items I'm not thinking of?

 

[Traffic]

If you're going to be using charcol, you should get a charcoal chimney to expedite the lighting process.

 

[GakFoo]

ah, if you're in ny then fajitas and sausage wraps won't work. get some polish and italian sausages and hoagie rolls, all of which should be available in bulk at costco. slice and cook up some onions at home before hand and reheat them on the grill when you get there in a cast iron skillet or whatever you have. make a stop and get a couple jars of each of these babies and you are set:

i've done that for large tailgate parties with great sucess. very filling and very good. that and burgers and dogs and everyone should be happy, with low effort (for 150, at least).

if you do chicken, yes, make sure they are thawed before you put them on the grill. i'd do all drumsticks because they are easiest to cook and eat (they have their own handles) and just about everyone likes them, especially kids. if you do make chicken, sure you keep it totally spearate from all the other foods and don't use the same utensils handling raw chicken that you use to handle anything else.

 

[orange-explosion]

Success! I bought 160 burgers, 150 hotdogs, 90 pieces of chicken (drums and thighs), 60 brats, and some kielbasa. Also tons of buns, condiments, chips, potato salad, and 4 cakes. Paper plate and aluminum catering trays + foil for keeping the meat. Coke, Sprite, water, gatorade. 1 giant cooler, 1 regular one, about 30 bags of ice. Two 20 pound bags of charcoal were plenty.

Everything was super simple. The only prep I did was with the chicken--1 batch in BBQ sauce, 1 batch with a teriyaki sauce, 1 batch with adobo and garlic.

Everybody ate. Nobody got sick. I hit a triple in softball and held my own on the basketball court. I have 20 burgers and the kielbasa left over.

We ran out of drinks at the end, but no big deal. The only drawback was having to brave the crowds at Costco twice on the wknd, getting in a verbal altercation with a guy who jumped me in line on the 2nd trip, and Costco selling me/me not noticing that the giant cooler I bought had the drainage valve cap busted off, meaning I had to stuff it up with aluminum foil, and that I have to go back to Costco to exchange it.

I forgot my camera, but will post pics if I can get my kids to send them to me.

 

[orange-explosion]

Oh yeah, my coworker had a nice half-barrel grill. We used that + one of the crappy park grills. It worked out just fine.

This being NYC, nobody had a truck, so we had a **** up a nice lady's brand new Sienna transporting the thing. Oh well.