Breakfast Foods for a Large Group

Quiches make elegant breakfast foods for a large group.

Breakfast is generally the lightest meal of the day, which makes it the easiest to prepare in large quantities. On the other hand, breakfast is the first meal of the day, which can mean little time to prepare before everyone is ready to eat. When you need to serve breakfast to a large group, choose foods that are not cooked to order. Select meals prepared in large containers so you can scale the amount to whatever size group you have.

Casserole

Breakfast casseroles generally taste best when prepared the night before, which makes them an ideal choice for a large group. You can take your time making the casseroles the day before and you just need to bake them in the morning. To make a strata, mix cheese, breakfast meat and vegetables into cubes of bread in a casserole dish. Pour a mixture of eggs and milk, with a ratio of one egg to every 1/2 cup milk, over the bread cubes. For a quiche, pour a mixture of three eggs and 1 cup heavy cream over cheese, meat and vegetables in a pie crust. Leave out the pie crust for a variation with fewer carbohydrates. Bake a strata or quiche until a knife comes out clean.

Continental Breakfast

If your breakfast group is too large for you to prepare hot food for everybody in your kitchen facilities, serve a continental breakfast. Set out whole fruits or make a fruit salad. Serve yogurt, cottage cheese, dry cereal and milk. Also serve an assortment of pastries, muffins, bagels and bread. Provide butter, jam, peanut butter and cream cheese for the breads.

Meat and Eggs

Bake trays of breakfast meat and serve them alongside scrambled eggs for a simple hot breakfast. You will need about two to three slices of bacon per person, or about 3 oz. of ham or sausage. Spread the meat on baking sheets and bake until heated through and cooked thoroughly. In the meantime, scramble eggs in frying pans on the stove. Serve fruit juice and toast with butter and jam to round out the meal.

Hot Cereal

A large pot of oatmeal, cream of wheat or grits makes a simple and nutritious breakfast for a crowd. You generally need about 1/2 cup dry oatmeal, 1/3 cup dry grits or 1/4 cup dry cream of wheat per person. Provide an assortment of dried fruits, nuts, spices and sweeteners, such as honey, brown sugar and jam, to mix into the hot cereal. Also serve milk for people to drink or mix into their hot cereal.

References

• Ellen's Kitchen: Planning Breakfast for 100
• "Joy of Cooking"; Irma S. Rombauer; 2006