What’s You Best Tip for Feeding a Crowd on a Budget?
Who says hosting has to come with a hefty bill?
It’s the last day of Hip2Save’s Birthday Week! 🥳
All good things must come to an end, and we’ve reached the final day of Hip2Save’s birthday week. We hope you all have had just as much fun as we have! We appreciate each and every one of you for sharing your input in the comments and for being amazing members of our Hip Community. 💗
There’s still time to enter, so be sure to check out the previous giveaway prompts, too —
- What would you buy if you had $25 to spend on Amazon?
- What’s one thing you’ll gladly pay full price for?
- Which store has the best clearance section?
- What’s one grocery name brand you’d never switch from, no matter the price?
During our birthday giveaway, all you have to do is comment for a chance to win. This format is just like our monthly reader giveaway and makes for some great conversation among our Hip2Save community. The giveaway prompt posts will be going live each day now through Friday, and your comment will get you entered to win that day’s prize. Easy peasy!
Today, we’ve got one $100 Amazon eGift card up for grabs. Comment now through Sunday, June 29th 11:59 PM MT for your chance to win.
We want to hear from you!
Today’s Birthday Giveaway Question:
What’s your best tip for feeding a crowd on a budget?
Share in the comments section below for our Hip community to read. By leaving a comment, you are entering to win a $100 Amazon eGift card!
Entries for this giveaway are now closed.
How to Enter:
- Comment Below: Share your favorite way to feed a crowd on a budget.
- Duration: The commenting entry period starts on Friday, 6/27/25 at 7 AM MT and ends on Sunday, 6/29/25 at 11:59 PM MT.
- Eligibility: All approved comments within the entry period are eligible. Winning comments will be chosen at random. Readers may only win one time during the giveaway.
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Winners will be contacted by Tuesday, July 1st with the details of their Amazon eGift Card.
Here are our Hip team’s favorite ways to feed a crowd on a budget…
“A baked potato bar is always fun, especially since everyone can customize their own! Bags of potatoes are always super inexpensive, then just add bowls of different toppings like cheese, butter, sour cream, chives/green onions, chili, taco meat, etc!” – Erika
“My go to is pasta (typically baked ziti) when I’m feeding a big crowd. It’s SO cheap, easy/quick to make, and you can pre-make it all beforehand, then just heat it up and not be in a rush day of trying to cook. Plus, sides are super easy too. Just grab a few salad kits and a few loaves of garlic bread and you’re good to go! Easy peasy.“ – Liz
“My daughter hosted her church group recently – over 25 kids. I tried putting a bunch of Nathan’s hot dogs in the slow cooker and that worked so well! 🌭 The taste was awesome, and they could dish up as desired with all the toppings. Cheap and so easy/good. I served chips and cut up watermelon, and they loved it.“ – Lina
We can’t wait to hear your brilliant hosting tips to feed a hungry crowd!
Thank you for celebrating our birthday all week long with us! 🎉 Now let’s get back to the deals…
I would say a taco bar. We already have beef, grow veggies in our garden.
A baked potato bar is hard to beat. It’s inexpensive and guests can choose toppings that accommodate their individual tastes and dietary requirements.
Baked pasta dishes, they go a long way
Baked pasta dishes can feed a large crowd
Taco bars, Hawaiian Hay Stacks, BBQ with baked beans, potato salad, and mac and cheese, a couple of make-a-head lasagna casseroles, salad, and bread, and everyone bring your favorite soup in a crockpot are some of the meals my family enjoys at get togethers.
publix catering trays. no work and feeds a crowd on a budget. worth it when you remember all the time you save.
We served a ‘CAVA’ bowl bar at our daughter’s graduation party. It was inexpensive and delicious. Brown rice, white rice and quinoa, pita bread cut into fourths, kale and arugula , grilled Mediterranean chicken and an assortment of topping like diced cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, feta and olives. Homemade tzatziki and tahini dressings. Everyone could fix their favorite bowl.
We love to do a temaki (hand roll sushi) bar. We have the rice cooker, seaweed, and all the things we like in our sushi. Plus a pot of miso for a side dish. Everyone gets to roll their own!
I love making a hearty soup made in a large crockpot and serving i with sliced up sandwiches (made from French bread).
We enjoy doing Tacos, the meat goes along way and the variety is endless! Some easy charro beans and rice for the sides are also a cheap filling side!
Sloppy joes in the crock pot isn’t too bad. Especially if you mix some of the meat mixture with beans.
Remember that crowds usually include people with varying dietary needs. I like to make a pot of white bean chili. Then offer toppings such as shredded chicken, shredded cheese, green chiles, etc. Serve with cornbread and Tortilla chips. Great for vegetarians and gluten-free.
For budget get togethers, I do a taco bar. Pulled pork, shredded chicken, shredded beef along with all of the toppings. Each person at the get together can customize their meal.
Baked spaghetti, bread, and salad. Buy your ingredients at Costco or BOGO’S at Publix.
Pasta dishes are always a big hit.
We love to do a taco bar– works well for different dietary needs/preferences, easy to setup, fairly cheap, & we can usually use leftovers.
Baked potato bar or some easy crock pot meals! I also have a sourdough starter so I like to use the discard to make pretzel bites!
Taco bar with all the fixins!
Taco bar and chips
Crockpot full of pulled pork ,BBQ sauce, buns ,sliced pickles, chips and Cole slaw.
A baked potato bar is always a hit. We also like to do soup or chili in the fall. For summer a salad bar is great, especially when you have homegrown veggies from the garden.
My tip to feed a crowd on a budget is do a pot luck. Have everyone bring a side or dessert while you make the main dish or meat. Since you’re hosting you would still provide the essentials. Stock up on paper products with coupons or sales. Do cheap drinks such as lemonade or tea.
I would say it depends on the day. Summer definitely hot dogs and brats with choice of sides like beans and chips. Add on dessert for sweet tooth.
Whenever I need to feed a crowd, I go with lasagna, baked ziti, or chicken Alfredo.
Then garlic bread and a big salad!
A large garden salad, pans of baked ziti, and garlic bread. Pasta is a great “go to” for crowds.
I think nachos are the best and inexpensive way to feed a big crowd. You can go to Sam’s Club or Costco and buy a big box of nacho chips, nacho cheese, ground beef, lettuce, shredded cheese, and other toppings. You let your crowd serve themselves and customize the way they want their nachos. It’s great on a budget and nachos are bomb!
we make soups in the slow cooker when we need to feed a crowd – chicken enchilada soup, chili, baked potato soup, vegetable soup.
Spaghetti, chicken Alfredo,taco, breakfast for dinner
BOGO Publix deals and sub platter, Costco, and ALDI! Boom!
Simplify simplify! One main dish like spaghetti & sauce, offer salad, varioius dressings and rolls. Walmart offers to-order cupcakes with filling inside that are tasty.
If you are providing the main dish have others bring side dishes including dessert.
Meatballs & Pasta
Ive cooked for my husband and the guys he works with. We love to do bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast, baked ziti, salad and bread or taco bar for lunch and/or dinner. They are always super happy!
Jgriffin1885@gmail.com
Pulled pork and coleslaw
A Boston butt would be a great Price for 10 lbs and cabbage/ carrots are cheap this time of year. And who doesn’t like this combo!!!
My absolute favorite thing to serve for a crowd is a taco bar, chili bar, or make a bunch of different appetizers. You can stretch those tortilla pinwheels for days!!!
Taco bar for the win! I also like to grill hotdogs and keep it simple in the summer.
We have a very large family, so the best way to feed them on a budget would be to ask every family to bring a side dish, then the host home would buy large packages of hot dogs and bake them in thir convection oven. Serve with chips and condiments.
My best tip and go to is to utilize chilis and casseroles, as well as when really on a tight budget ask guests to bring their own drinks (sodas can get pricey fast) and or pot luck style dishes.
Always honest or from Gordon’s. I’ve done weddings graduations and birthdays on budgets . Go with Mac and cheese it’s a winner everytime
Pulled pork is always a hit and only one meat to prep with toppings compared to tacos or nachoes that need a lot of extra toppings.
Spaghetti is always a budget family that can go a long way
My husband volunteers at a homeless shelter where he helps prepare food for 150 people. A couple of things that he has learned….Things that take the most time are chopping and forming individual things like meatballs. Casseroles work great especially when they are based on cheap ingredients like pasta or ground beef. Taco bars and potato bars are popular but often involve food waste as you have to prepare more than you need.
Shop clearance and use coupons. Ask everyone to contribute something (a dish, drinks, paper plates, etc.).
When hosting a large group we grill hot dogs/burgers and have pasta or potato salad. It is usually fairly inexpensive and very filling! If it is warm outside we also have watermelon because a whole watermelon goes a long way.
I like to make casseroles and baked Italian dishes buffet style. I also will ask if anyone wants to bring their favorite casserole sometimes I make it a competition. See who has the most creative, tastes the best, etc.
Look at the sales ads
Chili with toppings, pasta with broccoli, garlic, oil, hot dog bar
Meal prep large casseroles or a bar where people customize their food (pizza, potato, sundae, etc)
I love a good potluck 😅
Sloppy Joes!
We just did a taco bar! Crowd pleaser and very easy!
We just did a taco bar! Crowd pleaser and super easy!