Five Key Steps in Cooking for a Crowd

Cooking for a crowd can be intimidating. There’s a lot to consider in terms of all the ingredients needed, there are a lot of things to consider as far as time is concerned, and you will feel stressed. There is no doubt about the fact that cooking for a crowd is going to give you anxiety that you might not even realize you are capable of. Cooking for a crowd is not for everyone, and even professional chefs sometimes become a bit overwhelmed at the idea of cooking for more than just a few people at a time. It happens; and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, there is no reason you should have to cook for multiple people at a time without any help at all when we just so happen to know a few great tips and tricks that will make cooking for multiple people so much simpler. Leave the stress at the door and learn to enjoy cooking for more than just your family with these key tips.

Make a Menu Ahead of Time

It might sound silly, but making your menu ahead of time is really going to make it possible for you to cook a simpler meal. You’ll be able to see it all written down instead of jumbled in your head, and it will ensure you have the most adequate shopping list possible so you forget nothing when you’re out.

Consider Times

One of the biggest tips for cooking for a crowd is considering the times it takes to make things. If everything takes one hour to make, you will need to consider whether or not you have enough oven space to cook 8 or 9 dishes at a time for one hour. If not, you might have to tweak recipes so that you can cook at once.

Prep Time

Does one dish take an hour to prep and another take a minute to prep? Do you have dishes that all take a lot of time to prep? If so, you might want to consider how this will affect your starting time when you cook. You might need 5 or 6 hours just to prep your food, and that’s a bit much. See if there is anything you can buy already made, anyway to tweak recipes so they take as little time as possible, and consider changing your menu.

Clean Out Your Fridge

You’re going to need to keep things in the fridge, especially if you’re prepping in advance. You might be able to chop veggies in the morning so that prepping dishes in the evening is faster, but you’ll need room for them in the fridge. Clean this out and rearrange for maximum space ahead of time to save yourself a little stress.

Ask for Help

Sometimes we can get a little unrealistic and think we can do anything and everything ourselves when we really just cannot. Ask for help. It’s going to cut your prep time in half, and your stress and anxiety levels way down. Just do it.

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