SC - Reducing feast fees and cleaning spice grinders

[CONNECT at aol.com]

Pardon me for jumping in, but I thought I'd share my experience at keeping
feast costs down.

I made a lot of phone calls, and explained to folks that I was in charge of a
fundraising dinner for a non-profit organization. 

I contacted the wholesale produce market close to me, and arranged to get the
fruits and veggies (including some edible flowers) all at wholesale rates. I
talked with the best bakery in the state and got to buy huge loaves of bread
at wholesale rates. I talked to a local quality butcher, and got a very good
price on chicken breasts. I got wine at wholesale rates from a local chain of
gourmet wine/beer store. Just for asking and filling out a form, I got a $25
certificate from a huge grocery store chain, which offset about 3/4s of the
cost of the individual serving pastry shells I could only get from them. I
talked to a local bulk food store, and got a really great price on the bulk
almonds and dried fruits I needed. All this work meant I brought a three
remove meal for 100 in under the budget of $500.

Anyone can duplicate my efforts, as we all use the same Tax ID number. It just
takes some forethought and a little time.

As for lemonade, I found that I could make it using juice and sugar cheaper
than buying the mixes. It also tastes better.

Your humble servant,
Rosalyn MacGregor
(Pattie Rayl)
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In a message dated 10/9/98 4:01:08 PM, you wrote:

<<How did we do it?  Aggressive fundraising of all kinds.  We were lucky to

get a university hall for events, which was inexpensive by comparison to a

lot of churches and community centres.  We planned hard, and in advance, to

keep costs low, and cooked seasonally as much as possible.  (No strawberries

at a fall event!)  Made friends with butchers and other food vendors.  Even

if you cannot afford to underwrite the entire cost of the meal, certainly

your group can discuss some amount of subsidy.



And if not, rethink the feast.  People tend to overcalculate quantities and

use more expensive modern alternatives, such as powdered "lemonade drink"

instead of limonadas (which, IMHO, tastes MUCH better and is easier to mix).>>

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