[Sca-cooks] Fair feast budget

[Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise]

> 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.

Hm... I'm on the other side of the PA/NJ border, and I shop in Lancaster 
County PA a lot, where I can get great deals. Also I have a cheap source 
for bread. So for $6 a head I can do a feast for 160 with 2 courses (not 
counting starters on the table), comfortably. Under the constraints 
named, without a free precook in the host kitchen such as our local 
group generally has, I'd be a bit nervy about a three course feast.  Our 
local group usually buys cases of steamer pans and charges 'em to the 
bigger events but not in the feast budget, so that's something I don't 
have to worry about.

If you can pre-buy your meat and freeze it well ahead of time, summer 
events and fall events are cheaper than winter ones-- otherwise, the 
fruits & veg are expensive but the meat relatively cheap.

The feast budget in our area runs about $5-7 a head but it really needs 
to go up a bit with the Atkins revolution increasing the base price of 
meats lately :) I'd say $6-$8 would be a fair price in my area.

-- 
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 
"The toad beneath the harrow knows/exactly where each tooth-point goes,
The butterfly upon the road/Preaches contentment to that toad." 
			- Rudyard Kipling