'budget' shabbos lunch: chollent and....?

chocmom

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 5:26 am

Hey -
Backround to this question is that our finances are pretty tight at the moment, but we have certain guest obligations which we have to meet - ie. single brothers living here, guys that my husband teaches in yeshiva etc. So we're not in a position to cut down on the guests per se, but I need to find a way of hosting more cheaply.

So...
for shabbos lunch this week we're having a bunch of guys.
I'm making
challa
grilled chicken wraps
chollent
Schnitzel/deli roll/cran apple bake (ie. 2/3 of these things)
potato kugel
sweet potato pie
salad
ice cream and brownies

so my ques is this - protein wise - its cheaper for me to do chollent and deli roll, as opposed to chollent and schnitzel but does that count as serving meat (for GUYS)?? Any other ideas that have worked for you? Either way I need another protein cos my kids wont eat chollent.
Please help - I want it to be nice but dont want to break the bank!
Thanks!

catonmylap

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 5:42 am

Can you cut both the deli roll and the snitzel since you have the chicken wraps?

if you are looking to save money, you don't need both sweet potato pie and cranberry apple (cut one of them)

ice cream- if it's store bought, that's expensive (if not, it depends on the ingredients)

TzipG

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 5:56 am

You can def get away with chulent and deli roll. Use cheap salami, no one can tell. Shnitzel is expensive and is not necessary.

Not sure if you're in Israel or not - isnt cranberry sauce expensive - I just make the crisp w/o it and it tastes great as well.

And aren't wraps also expensive? Maybe try a diff starter - taco salad? salad w/ crumbled ground beef (I only use about a cup) and tortilla chips - that is much cheaper, and I find it goes over well with guys as well.

And whenever I need an extra filler, I make a sweet noodle kugel, or a mock yerushalmi kugel. One bag of noodles makes a big kugel, and the guys like those as well.

KAlex

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 7:10 am

What about the additionals you aren't mentioning? What do you do for drinks? Could you cut down there? (Eg not have so many types?) Do you use disposables when perhaps your B/ILs might feel 'at home' by washing up for you after Shabbos?

These might be completely unusable suggestions, but it isn't always the food that's the main expense.

mandksima

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 7:13 am

shabri wrote:

agree with everyone else.

I also started making this cholent kugel from the Spice & Spirit cookbook. Its basically onions, flour and spices and cookes in the cholent. Huge hit with yeshiva guys

Yes, my dh raves about this kishke when it is easy to make and cheap.

I have made a toasted orzo (or any pasta) salad with roasted vegetables (sweet potato, onions, zucchini, cherry tomato halves, eggplant, carrot slices) and tiny pieces of sauteed chicken schnitzel (1/2- 1 for the whole thing.) That has starch, vege and protein and can be served room temp.

If it is boys who are not watching their weight, I'd fill up on starchy salads (deli style macaroni or potato) and rice pilafs or even plain white rice.

Another cheap protein is hot dogs wrapped in dough and baked. Kids and adults go for it and you don't have to use so much dough.

chocmom

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 12:08 pm

thanks for all your feedback!
catonmylap - I dont think I can cut deli roll and schnitzel as I put such a miniscule amt of chicken in the wraps as it is. the ice cream is homemade, and the cran apple - my kids just love it and I find it makes tons for relatively cheap (and I have loads of apples!)
tzipg - ya I use the cheap salami... wraps are expensive but what I fill them with ends up pretty cheap so I feel like it works out in the end, when I have a lot of ppl. I am in israel but got cran jelly on a good sale! sweet noodle kugel is a good idea for the future, thanks!
shabri and mandksima - thanks for the ideas.... next week Smile

kalex - I dont use disposables usually unless its yom tov and we have tons of ppl. drinks are expensive - I try to buy them at a cheap place, and put lots of water on the table too, but I cant think of a way of cutting down much more. any ideas?
thanks all! I guess there will be no schnitzel this week - yay one less thing to fry, when latkas are coming up!|

greenfire

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 8:58 pm

I don't see anything budget about this lunch at all ...

if you wanna budget ... make a large cholent with the works, potatoes, kishke, meat, barley (beans) ... along with salad & challa with dips ...

you really don't need much else

make something for the kids that they will eat and only serve it to them ...

ra_mom

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 9:05 pm

How about serving lots of delicious inexpensive home made dips and salads with the Challah?
Make your own lemonade instead of buying drinks. It tastes delicious.
Would you make an egg course, instead of all that chicken? You can serve it with mock liver made from eggplant.
And for the main course I think chulent with kugel sounds splendid.
As long as you have a lot of everything, everyone will be happy and full.
I think deli rolls is an extra. And the dough has to be expensive too.

Last edited by ra_mom on Tue, Dec 08 2009, 9:08 pm; edited 1 time in total

red sea

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 9:06 pm

Quote:

grilled chicken wraps
chollent
Schnitzel/deli roll

that does not sound budget at all, that sounds like ODing on the proteins. More, inexpensive sides and cholent + one more protein at most.

Motheroftwins

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 10:06 pm

Make taco salad without the ground beef...just salad with tortilla chips and the dressing is mayo and salsa. also serve chopped eggs n onions - u can even put out some crackers. pickles and cole slaw or cucmber salad. chumus and tchina or a couple of dips add to the 1st course.

then do the main course - cholent and kishka. some type of shnitzel OR deli roll - not both!
potato kugel or yerushalmi kugel, rice or orzo, carrot muffins are great at room temp!
you can put out a platter of deli instead of making the deli roll, its cheaper cuz u dont need the dough.

for dessert u can serve cake or brownies. cookies. or blondies are so easy and always a crown pleaser! if there is melon in season serve that too. this time of yr I serve grapes and clemintines.

jelibean

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 10:38 pm

We spent Shabbos with a family recently and I loved how the DW prepared the meals.

For starters, she had 2 kinds of gefilte fish -- regularly boiled and fried. She served 5 salads with each meal -- all homemade -- like romaine caesar with croutons, babaganouch, Israeli salad, spinach and strawberry salad, romaine with Terra chips and a French dressing, and corn/pickle salad. No egg salad, no hummus -- just fresh, healthy and delicious (well, minus the corn/pickle salad -- the kids made that one).

Then she served cholent made with ground beef, beans, onions and potatoes. Much more economical than beef chunks. It was delicious and the kids loved it too! She said she simply dumped the ingredients into her crockpot with some ketchup, garlic powder, salt and pepper and water. That's it. Sooo good.

She did also serve shnitzel, deli roll and 'pigs in blankets', but I think she could have done just fine with one of those options (she has yeshiva bochurs over for each meal).

And dessert was courtesy of her guests Wink

and Tofutti cuties. I'd personally rather have delicious salads than a fancy dessert.

lamplighter

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 10:42 pm

jellibean, that does not sound like a budget meal....

In some places vegetables are very expensive.
I think deli roll is your best bet, and u can even make your own dough, it wont be puff pastry but more like a knish dough.
Carbs are cheaper, focus on those.

ABC

Wed, Dec 09 2009, 1:42 am

depends where you live as to what is or isn't expensive.
but I think 2 things that aren't expensive anywhere are eggs and noodles.

so I think it's totally fine to make up a big batch of egg mayonnaise for starters. serve it prettily on a plate in a ball maybe with a bit of lettuce and half a cherry tomato, and it looks really smart. with yummy homemade challa and maybe 1 fresh green salad, I think that's plenty for a starter.

main I would do a big cholent - you can make a good one with chicken if that's less expensive than beef where you are (in israel it certainly is).
you can make plain noodles interesting by sauteeing a small piece of garlic in some oil and sauteeing thin strips of carrot and red pepper in the oil, then pour all this over cooked noodles (while still warm so they absorb the flavor). this looks very attractive, is filling, and cheap.
then with that some kind of kugel, potato is probably the cheapest, plus another fresh salad, and voila, that's main.
if you really want another protein besides cholent, I often do plain or bbq chicken portions - my kids end up eating these with the noodles for their lunch as they dont like cholent.

dessert - ask a guest to bring if they offer!

mommalah

Wed, Dec 09 2009, 1:59 am

ra_mom wrote:

Hi! Do you have a recipe for making mock liver using eggplant?

MiamiMommy

Wed, Dec 09 2009, 10:43 am

Chamin is less expensive than chulent, as it's just rice and chicken. You can also put eggs in, which the guys just love. Kugels and pasta salads are also inexpensive to make. Here'. Egg salad is also cheap.