🥘 Cooking for a Crowd

Dear reader,

In my family, the ultimate way of showing someone you love them is making them food.

We couldn’t visit my grandfather’s house growing up without eating a little prosciutto and cheese, or taking home a tupperware of red sauce or a paper bag of veggies from his garden. My mom always sent me back to college with a quart bags of frozen leftovers: her famous bolognese sauce, my favorite tomato soup. When a friend is going through medical treatments or loses a loved one, you bet my family will be there with a lasagna or a pot of soup.

I don’t know all my neighbors, but I care about them. And that means I’m going to cook them some food.

For the past few years, I’ve cooked for the Friday Café, a free hot meal served up by the First Church in Cambridge every Friday. I've also been making more trips to my closest community fridge.

So, today's post is my practical guide to cooking for a crowd in solidarity! This is a bit different from my normal game design posts, but it's been on my mind. I hope you (and your neighbors) get something out of it.

Essential Practices

Cook meals you would want to eat.

There are exceptions to this, of course (vegetarians who are willing to cook meat, or using popular ingredients you don’t personally like) but in general, don’t make a meal for others that you wouldn’t eat yourself. Don’t use expired ingredients; don’t just offload old leftovers. You want to be familiar with the recipe and be able to taste-test and tell that it’s good.

As a bonus: cook some for yourself! I often make three batches of a meal at a time: two for the café and one for my partner and I for our own dinner.

Don’t cook with alcohol.

Even if it cooks off, it’s best to just avoid alcohol entirely for sober and pregnant folks. Don’t use wine, beer, spirits, wine-based vinegars, or similar ingredients.

Avoid non-alcoholic wine, beer, and spirits as well; even without the actual alcohol content, the taste and smell of those ingredients can be triggering, and AA participants don’t consume them.

Label your meals with all ingredients.

People need to make informed decisions about what they eat. Make sure you label your meal with all the ingredients you’ve used.

Helpful Practices

Cook in batches — and leave extra time.

If you live in a small space like I do, you’re going to need to batch cook to make a big meal to share. Sauteeing or cooking on the stove can be really labor intensive in batches; things you can roast, bake, grill, throw in a slow cooker, or make in an Instant Pot can be a lot more manageable.

But cooking in batches is time consuming, and you’ll probably need more time than you initially think you’ll need. In between each batch, you’ll have to pack up and store the finished meal, clean any tools and pots you need, and prep the next batch.

Consider different dietary restrictions.

If you have a dietary need—whether it’s for medical, religious, or ethical reasons—and you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, it can be really hard to get those needs met.

When cooking for others, you don’t need to account for every possible need—and you probably won’t be able to—but it can be nice to switch it up! Do you have a really good veggie chili or vegan pasta recipe? Are you an expert in gluten-free baking? Can you avoid pork in favor of poultry? Can you switch out nuts for seeds or other textural items? Explore the possibilities!

Pack in the protein and nutrients.

A pot of something hearty and filling can keep folks going on a hard day. Adding some protein (meat, fish, or plant-based) plus some fresh produce is a great way to help people get the nutrients their bodies need.

Curries, stews, pulled chicken or pork, pasta bakes, enchiladas, and other one-stop meals work well for this.

But don’t be afraid of indulgence.

Everyone needs actually nutritious food, but everyone also deserves a little treat!

The Friday Café always includes dessert; dropping off a batch of cookies or muffins at the community fridge is a great idea. Extra credit for cooking your favorite treat.

Soft foods are also great.

When you don’t have consistent income, dental care can be hard to come by. Soft foods such as oatmeals, pastas, curries, and stews can be helpful for people with toothaches or tooth loss.

Consider transportation, containers, & utensils.

If you’re cooking for a specific food serve, they might have their own system for heating and serving the food. But if you’re cooking for a community fridge, think about how to make it easy for people to enjoy your food, such as using containers with locking lids or bringing disposable silverware. Make sure you safely can get the food to wherever it’s going as well (you sure can take a big container of soup on a public bus, but having done it, I wouldn’t necessarily do it again). 

Some Things I Like to Cook

Meat & Fish Mains

• Beef stew with carrots & peas over egg noodles
• Chicken pasta with tomato cream sauce
• Cold pasta salad with tinned fish
• “Marry Me” chicken with rice
• Pulled chicken sandwiches
• Pulled chicken curry with rice
• Sausage & peppers with rolls or rice

Vegetarian Mains

• Chickpea curry with rice
• Mac & cheese
• Veggie chili with cornbread
• Steel-cut oatmeal with fruit or nut toppings

Salads

• Arugula salad with some combo of roasted winter veggies, fresh fruit, nuts or seeds, goat cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette (I pretty much only like arugula salad so it’s always what I make!)

Desserts

• Apple crisp (or other seasonal crisp)
• Brownies
• Cookies, any type (I love baking them!)

Ways to Feed Your Neighbors

• Get to know your immediate neighbors and check in with them often.
• Invite people over to dinner.
• Offer to drop off food or order takeout for folks who might appreciate it.
• Bring groceries, prepared meals, or homemade meals to a community fridge.
• Donate groceries to or volunteer with a food pantry or food bank.
• Set up a Little Free Pantry on your block.
• Connect with your local mutual aid network or Food Not Bombs chapter.
• See which local orgs need cooks—churches and shelters often have meal programs you can cook for. My area has an organization called Community Cooks that matches up cooks and meal programs—maybe yours has something similar!
• Keep cash on hand for people panhandling so they can choose their own meals.

A Final Note

You’re never going to be able to do this all perfectly. You’ll pack your food in single-use plastic, burn the chicken, let the produce go bad, try a new recipe that turns out weird, and much more. It’s more important that you do it imperfectly but still do it, rather than never try at all.

Upcoming Events

• The Mutual Aid TTRPG Jam is happening on itch.io until February 28. Join us to explore ways to design games inspired by values of mutual aid and community care, and raise funds for your local mutual aid efforts.
• SomerCon, my local tiny TTRPG convention, is happening this Sunday, January 25, and I'll be speaking on a panel called How to Publish Your Game. If you're in the area, brave the cold and come hang out!
• On Thursday, January 28, I'll be hosting an in-person jam night for the Mutual Aid TTRPG Jam at Side Quest Books & Games. We'll do some writing exercises and then have open design time!

Mutual Aid Asks

A couple of my friends and their partners are going through some pretty tough times right now. In the spirit of mutual aid, if you have some funds to spare, I'd really appreciate it if you gave their GoFundMes a look:

• Support Cheyenne in Wake of Brother's Passing
• Support a Trans Couple in Crisis

Thanks for joining me today!