soup kitchen volunteers! can you lend me your recipes, menus, & advice?

For raising dignity levels, ask local florists to donate their seconds for table decor. The local community meal does this here and the psychological impact is huge.

My go-to web sites for when my church hosts large-scale dinners: * http://www.crossroadsofmichigan.org/pdf-files/soupkitchen-recipes.pdf, MI has some info on scaling and a few recipes. * Ditto for http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&ved=0CE8QFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.operationhopect.org%2Ffile_download%2F34%2FOH%2BMeal%2BPrep%2BManual.doc&ei=KBSFUoLFPIK8yAGErIHoDw&usg=AFQjCNGR7CJhbA5rorGcZtd2VexLpsiAFA&bvm=bv.56343320,d.aWc from Operation Hope in Connecticut. * Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen provides https://www.holyapostlessoupkitchen.org/Service/food-program.html. * The http://www.ellenskitchen.com/bigpots/ not only has recipes, but has articles on things like planning for buffet tables and lines, and shopping lists for a large turkey dinner. * RecipeLink.com has http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_9/2012/JUN/7462.html and http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_4/2005/AUG/1021.html for cooking for a crowd. * There's http://recipesforacrowd.com/, of course * AllRecipes.com has http://allrecipes.com/howto/cooking-for-a-crowd/. * I found http://www.saicenterofaustin.org/pdf/Soup_Kitchen_Cook_Book.pdf from the Sai Center of Austin, TX. They run a weekly breakfast and lunch soup kitchen. * For recipes more specific to soup kitchen cooking, check out these threads: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf87843867.tip.html, http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/762867, http://www.catholiccharities-md.org/our-daily-bread/odb-food-service/favorite-casserole-recipes.html, and http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mass-Production-Cooking-765/2011/1/Cooking-Homeless.htm at AllExpert.com Things I've learned or been told over the years: * Do the volunteers go through any kind of training? Not just "how to cook" but things like "don't leave knives on counters" or "basic food safety" or "All volunteers must wash hands after using the bathroom before returning to work"? This can save on headaches. * In a similar vein, the PDF "http://publications.usa.gov/USAPubs.php?PubID=5700" from the USDA is your friend. * In a similar continuing vein, take a look at pages 38-39 of the PDF http://www.startasoupkitchen.org/pdf/mission-possible.pdf from StartASoupKitchen.org. I don't know if their http://www.startasoupkitchen.org/resources.htm is helpful to you, but it's worth a shot. * Whatever you can do in advance, do in advance! Wash/peel/chop vegetables and fruits, sautee meat and freeze it until you get the facility, whatever it takes. If you can, adapt http://organizedhome.com/freezer-cooking/guide-once-month-cooking to leverage getting things together beforehand. * Poor people have food allergies, too! Label your pots with the ingredients, in case someone trying to avoid garlic or nuts or whatever asks! * Do you or anyone in your network know any caterers? You might find a sympathetic caterer who would share recipes or techniques. Failing that, what about a local vocational school or cooking school? Or even another organization that runs a soup kitchen? Churches, especially, have a lot of experience in this sort of thing. * Laurie Colwin used to cook for a women's shelter, and her account of the experience is included in the book http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307474410/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/, along with her recipe for baked spaghetti. It's well worth reading, *Best deals for bulk food purchasing tends to come from either CostCo or http://www.gfs.com/en, in my experience, but YMMV. Again, a local vocational or cooking school, or even a caterer or church, would be an awesome resource for that. * Someone mentioned salad. That's great, but sometimes in low-income areas many people don't have good teeth, and can't handle hard things like nuts, certain tough vegetables or fruits (apples, carrots unless grated, and so forth), or hard baked items, so keep that in mind. Maybe try something like this http://www.hungercoalition.org/recipes? * They also may not have the best taste buds, so if you can get supplies of Louisiana Hot Sauce or Rooster Sauce, it would probably be appreciated. * In order to up the nutrition quota of meals for the poor, one of my aunties used her food processor to whiz down veggies and sneak it into the suppers. She told me she would mix celery, carrots, garlic, onion, sometimes bell peppers if she had them, maybe spinach or cabbage, and grated unpeeled apples. The resulting sludge would then be sauteed in canola oil, then added whatever meat she was cooking to bulk it out. So a pound of ground beef ended up being more like two pounds of meat loaf or taco meat or what-have-you. She would also add it to every chili, spaghetti sauce, gravy, etc. If you get fresh produce, make Aunt Charlotte's Veggie Sludge and freeze it until needed, then go to town with it. * "To Go" packages at a soup kitchen are always appreciated. Something that can travel well, like certain desserts (brownies, cookies), fruits (oranges, peaches), a sandwich, etc. Put out a bowl of fruit leftovers and a bowl of mini toiletries, then hang a sign that says "Help Yourself". The general dignity thing? TALK TO PEOPLE. So many poor folks get talked to by others like they'rer moochers, or total idiots ('cause if they were smart, they wouldn't be poor). Talk to them like real human beings. Spend some time with them if you can. Don't make them feel rushed--let them relax and enjoy their meal. And yes, tablecloths and a clean, warm (or cool, depending on locale), nice atmosphere really help. Good luck!

Oh, and this was me asking a similar http://ask.metafilter.com/199924/Helping-feed-the-homeless-with-just-a-little-bit-of-time-and-cash-and-creativity when I first started doing this…. One interesting thing…. I am a regular at my library and told one of the librarians about this. Not only does she and some other librarians now help out, but she has gotten approval from the library system to give us STACKS of donated library books that they can't use to give away when we do the feeds. I can't tell you how loved this is - people start screaming with joy when they see me pull up and bring out paperbacks and magazines. I'm now the "book lady."

Do you have a Restaurant Depot near you? Great place for large quantities, though stick to the simple things, name brand is not always cheaper. The key to collaborative food prep is to read and understand the recipes ahead of time and assign clear roles to make sure it all gets done in the correct order. Food processors are a timesaver for quickly chopping onions and other vegetables. Cooking at home is against food safety regulations, though I would be less worried for baked goods like cookies. Some other recipes that might work - pasta casserole (if nothing else, mac & cheese), tomato soup and grilled cheese, pasta with meat sauce... You might like this database of http://www.combatindex.com/recipes/recipes_home.html which are in large quantities.

I'm seeing jambo, and chili, and wondering if this is a good idea for people who aren't getting meals on a regular basis. Might it (the spiciness) not mess with your innards? I Googled "running a soup kitchen" and seems to be a lot of hits (15 million). I'm thinking that instead of inexpensive food, how about FREE food? Community food banks will probably help you out; grocery stores. Bakeries will usually give you their day-old, end-of-the-business-day stuff. The government is probably sitting on equipment that you could use. Ask for it. Best of luck!

http://allrecipes.com/cook/18657132/blogentry.aspx?postid=216275 Our group brings in casseroles once a month to feed 10 people. I developed this recipe list because I wanted to do both home cooking and healthy, and get away from mac & cheese. Another group heated the casseroles and served them. The feedback was as above: familiar, comfort foods were preferred. If your group could prepare casseroles at home and then bake or reheat them at the church, that would buy you some time.

I do this once a month with a local group at a transitional center where people live as well as eat. We serve 60 people, mainly older men. We serve cafeteria-style, but we always introduce ourselves and say grace before the meal and then sit and eat with the residents after we have served everyone. Some of the residents have volunteer jobs either before or after the meal to set up or clean up. They seem to look forward to working with us and helping us out. I don't know if you have any small, pre-meal volunteer jobs that you could delegate? Some people appreciate being asked to help out. We always check beforehand to see what meals they have had that week so we don't duplicate. We have had good luck with sandwiches, BBQ sandwiches using Costco heat and serve BBQ, Brunswick stew, soft tacos with corn tortillas, baked chicken with an herb/spice blend, frozen vegetables cooked with seasoning, canned baked beans, and coleslaw (shredded cabbage + dressing). Some other volunteer groups make casserole-type dishes and bring them in instead of cooking at the center. We find that if you're going to cook one item that's more involved, it helps if the rest of the meal is easier heat and serve stuff. When we sit and eat with the residents, I sometimes ask what their favorite foods are, or what they'd like to eat that they haven't had in a while. Some of the suggestions I have gotten but we haven't figured out how to implement are ribs and chicken and dumplings. We may try chicken stew with biscuits soon.

Cafeteria style is going to work best for most people, so they can choose what and how much food, but it would be nice to provide volunteers who can go through the line for anyone with mobility issues. Do you have a greeter at the door? It's both nice to welcome people as they come in (and give the greeter a chance to know everyone and learn names) but also so that you see if anyone is too drunk to behave well, or to offer a chair to the side to anyone who would have trouble with the line, before they've had to wait in it. And please talk with the church about the leftover ban -- leftovers can mean a second meal for someone the next morning or lunch and it's really nice to be able to provide that. (And if you don't give out leftovers, more people will have to try and bring their own containers to put their seconds and thirds into. It's nice to be able to give out containers too or plastic bags for baked goods.) Is it possible to negotiate more time in the kitchen too? Is there a reason you aren't asking stores to set aside food they can't sell for you? (I can't tell if you are part of a group serving daily or if it's more occasional.) The soup kitchen I was part of went out with a van to six or seven stores who all set aside food -- milk right before it's sell by date, slightly bruised apples, and so on. It all cooked up just fine and you're serving the milk that night to people, so it's okay if it expires soon. We rarely used recipes, just making hearty soups or casseroles out of whatever vegetables we had the most of that went together well, toasted all the bread on large sheets in the oven with some butter, made large salads (green and fruit), though it sounds like the latter won't go over well with your crowd. If you do have a cheap/free source of apples, consider making a vat of applesauce. You might experiment without recipes at home, just using your sense of what tastes good together and how long things are cooked, before trying it out on the whole crowd. Tablecloths are great for making a space nicer as long as someone is up for taking them home to wash each night. One way we had more camaraderie was eating with our guests, once our kitchen jobs were done. This gave everyone a chance to get to know the people visiting. I had a group of regulars that I sat with, some people moved around getting to know everyone. (I also spent some time at the door.) I think it feels better when you can greet more people by name and they you. (It also makes it easier for people to be all "hey, is that cornbread full of preservatives?" and you can tell them you made it yourself and what went into it (I agree that an ingredient list would be helpful, but I'm not sure if it's feasible in your time span).

The place we volunteer at has cafeteria-style service, but it also has a volunteer very sweetly busing the tables. This is nice both because it's restaurant-y, and because it means people don't have to get up to clear the tables, so there's a bit more of a "relax, sit and talk for a bit" vibe to it. The social aspect is a draw for a lot of people.