GWAPA Food Committee - Volunteers Please!

[chris_todd]

I hate being the third board member in a row to post, it makes it look like we are ganging up on the topic, however I haven't gotten to comment yet.

Not at all, it's your club, too, and the more insights and input we have, the more likely we are to come up with something that works well.

...remember the committee is not supposed to shoulder the burden, they are supposed to organize the effort. When the monthly meeting is announced and people are 'pre-registering' you could have them volunteer to bring something at the same time.

Which is almost exactly how CCA does it. Rachel will post "OK, I've got this covered, and so-and-so has that, but can someone bring this-and-that" and someone will step up and say "yeah, I got that". We'll need to vary the volunteers anyway, because not everyone goes to every meeting (e.g., I know I am going to miss a few meetings this year).

[DelawareJim]

I rather like the idea of better finger foods than chips, but would much prefer finger food/snacks...

Any specific suggestions? When you think of tasty finger food, what comes to your mind?

Anything from the bakery comes immediately to mind; cookies, brownies, cupcakes, creme puffs...

Cheers.
Jim

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Damnit Jim! Now I need a snack.

[ingg]

At every meeting I've hosted, we (okay, 90% my wife) put out 8-10 dozen cookies home made.

None of them ever made it out of the meeting, and costs are a fraction of dried out store boughts. Granted, from scratch and mroe than volunteers should be expected to do every month, but!

Even using box recipes - a box of brownie mix is, umm, under $2, add 2 eggs and some oil, makes 15-20 brownies. Toss in some chopped up leftover Valentines chocolates and make it fancy! 2 boxes would be enough for a good sized GWAPA meeting, $5, simple to make, and able to be paper-plated to bring.




Veggie platters are similarly a fraction when bought as actual raw veggies and washed and cut at home instead of the prepackaged thing. (another one we always put out). This is one I'd propose.

I have a hummus recipe... wife's family recipe.... that is simple and fast to make, and everyone (okay, except little meatatarian me) who has tried it loved it. Goes well with the veggies or with crackers/toasted flat bread.

(I'll even beg her to show me how to make it and bring it next meeting if you'd like. )

Cubed/sliced cheeses from the little blocks on the other side of a box of crackers...

Voila! For what, $15-20 or so, could have a huge platter of fresh cut veggies (green/red pepper, cucumber, celery, baby carrots, broccoli), hummus, crackers and some cheese for the veggie hater folks (I actually really like celery and peppers, even a meatatarian like me'd catch on!).

Rotate in whatever fruits may be in season and maybe a yogurt dip? and keep it fresh and changing...

Would blow away the bags of potato chips I think! Not only blow it away, but easy to delegate, as you just bag and bring what parts you grabbed, and easy to clean up, one platter.



I sincerely hope we can keep up revenue (we did good in January mostly thans to raffle) and get back to ordering a ton of food. Don't mistake me, I like having a lunch at the meetings too! Just think we gotta work with what we have for now until we can get cash flow back up to afford it.

The Box is meant to do that for us, so folks know - donations not sold for $2 are to be brought to shops primarily, to trade in for items for the raffle, to generate revenue....to eat the next month!

[chris_todd]

Dave, that all sounds great, wanna be on the committee, too?

[ingg]

I'll help out from time to time, all I can offer.

I'm so far behind in correspodence stuyff a tthis point it is pathetic!


you guys get veggies/crackers together, I'll bring hummus, we'll see how that one goes over next meeting? Host just needs to supply us a platter to put it all on.

[chris_todd]

I'll help out from time to time, all I can offer.

Any and all help is appreciated, of course! Understand that being on the committee doesn't obligate you to bring anything; I only asked because you had expressed a fairly strong opinion, and wanted you to have the opportunity to shape the eventual solution (beyond the input you had already provided). I'm sorry if you felt like you were being goaded into volunteering, that was not my intention. You already do a lot for the club (most of us don't see it because it's all behind the scenes), and no one could possibly accuse you of not contributing plenty.

you guys get veggies/crackers together, I'll bring hummus, we'll see how that one goes over next meeting?

That sounds delicious, though I wouldn't want your wife cursing my name, LOL. Of course, if she wants to share the recipe, I'd be happy to take a stab at making her recipe. I love hummus! And it's silly easy to make, too.

[PaulS]

Whatever we decide to do, lets try to keep it simple and easy - please! I'm glad to help but I really don't want to get involved with anything too time consuming or complicated.

[chris_todd]

Whatever we decide to do, lets try to keep it simple and easy - please! I'm glad to help but I really don't want to get involved with anything too time consuming or complicated.

Understood, noted, and 100% agreed! If this takes me more than 1 hour per month (not counting forum time, LOL), we can go back to chips and sodas.

[Bgssamson]

Agreed on the donations. Let's see what we can achieve via food preparation and creative shopping first. Remember that the new auction rules and donation box were implemented to help pay for food too, so if those are successful, the $40 budget will likely go up. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered already. We probably still need a couple more folks to help spread out the workload. Thanks to everyone for their comments! I know Chris is going to do a great job pulling this together with everyone's help.

I am still up for my donation! where do I send it to? I know the meeting is tomorrow but better late than never right? I promise i will put a reminder on my calendar.

-Brian