[Sca-cooks] Fair feast budget

[rtanhil]

The postings about 12th Night in Atlantia have gotten me
thinking. It seems like you need two of the following three
things to cook a successful "big feast": big feast budget,
ample resources on site, do-ahead options.

If you've got a big enough budget, you can do a lot with
good resources on site, even if you have to make everything
there or resort to premade things like bread and pie-crusts.

If you have a big enough kitchen and enough volunteers, you
can save money by making a lot of stuff ahead of time and
bringing it to site to reheat.

Given the following parameters, what would you consider to
be a fair feast budget?

serving 160 people (4 comps, 16 children at half-price)
royal progress or important local event (but not Kingdom
level 12th Night or Coronation)
table course, 2 meat courses, dessert
Dayboard has its own budget and volunteers and will only
need one or two burners and the staging tables until noon.

8 commercial burners (understanding that you can only really
get 4 big pots on an 8-burner stove)
2-3 commercial ovens
15-20' of prep surface
refrigerator
3 sinks with adequate wash area by one of them
3 8' tables for staging food
enough serving platters/utensils to avoid re-use during the
feast

1 dedicated volunteer that will stay with you from the time
you unpack to the time the last dish is washed (probably a
spouse)
4 people who will help with the morning crunch
3 people who do not have fest reservations and will help
with plating food
4 people who will help with cleanup

If I had $6/head ($888 to spend), I could feed them well,
but would have to make my own bread or beg someone else to
do it for me, would have to avoid disposables like steam
table pans and disposable pie tins, and watch for sales. If
I had $7/head ($1036), I would be a lot happier, and would
probably be left with enough for a luxury or two.

Of course, it can be done for less. If you have access to a
wholesale food distributor (a real one, not a warehouse
store), you can save a fortune. If you avoid beef, lamb,
cheese, and fish, you can save money, too. I'm talking about
a real feast that you would want to eat, not one based
entirely on chicken leg quarters and legumes.

How low can you go?

Berelinde