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Planning a party and need some party food for an upcoming event?
I used Costco party food to feed 25 (including 16 college-aged boys), and goodness, this party food plan was super simple to pull together (and didn't break the bank!)
My son's college Young Life house has weekly house nights, and he asked if I could host them this week (we live about 30 minutes away.) I offered to just get the meal catered to make things really easy, but he said they'd sure love a homemade meal.
HOT: HURRY TO GET YOUR Â BASICALLY FREE COSTCO MEMBERSHIP FROM GROUPON: don't miss this one while it lasts!Â
As you can imagine, no mom is ever going to miss that opportunity to make homemade food for their bunch, so I came up with some party food ideas and set to work.
Now, I've used Costco's Mac & Cheese before (at his graduation party most recently) and I knew there was nothing better on the planet that was easy and delicious for a bunch of college boys.
He also loves this easy Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sliders recipe (get the recipe HERE, or better yet print my entire free Crocktober Cookbook right over HERE), so I figured out how to make this super easy and without way too much work.
The Italian Beef Sliders are one of those recipes that you can literally make in under 10 minutes (I shredded the meat after cooking using my Kitchenaid Hand Mixer ~ so simple!) and this party food was done.Â
Here's the party food menu I came up (that could easily make for great Super Bowl party food too or any other party your planning anytime soon!)
- 5 containers Costco Mac & Cheese – containers each around $11 (I easily would have had more than enough with just 4!) = $55
- 13 pounds of chuck roast from Costco at $3.99/lb (I got two of their chuck roast packages which weighed in at just at 13 pounds. I could have probably done a little less, but we had enough for 20 + leftovers which was exactly what I was hoping for) = $68
- 3 dozen hamburger buns at $2.69 each – IÂ easily could have done 2 dozen and won't buy as many next time =Â $8.07
- 1 veggie tray $9.99
- 1 tray Costco cookies 60 ct (I also made a batch of these best ever chocolate chip cookies too ~ the next time I do this I'll double up my batch of homemade cookies and skip the Costco ones ~ they homemade ones were eaten up in under 5 minutes but the Costco ones were barely touched… there's just nothing like mom's cookies warm from the oven!) = $15.99
- 4 packets Kroger brand Au Jus Seasoning package $.49 each = $1.96
- 4 jars Kroger brand Pepperoncini peppers $1.99 each = $8.96
- 1 kale salad from Costco ~Â they almost ate all of this (which totally surprised me!) = $5.49
TOTAL COSTCO PARTY FOOD COSTÂ = $173.46
This would easily feed 25 normal people (I encouraged those kids to eat and eat and eat because I didn't want leftovers here), and we still had leftovers left that I sent home with them at the end of the night.Â
That would make the party food meal per person $6.93 per person with very minimal effort (and  tons of meat!), and my bet is you could easily feed 30 with this same plan (especially if other folks were bringing a few appetizers to add to the main dishes too.)
If you have tips on what types of Costco Party Food you make when you're trying to feed a bunch I'd love to hear them ~ leave a comment to share! And if you have other party food ideas that you make when feeding a crowd I'd sure love those recipes too. It's so much more fun to make a big meal when you can make it quickly and easily, and this one was a huge success at our house!
HOT: HURRY TO GET YOUR Â BASICALLY FREE COSTCO MEMBERSHIP FROM GROUPON: don't miss this one while it lasts!Â
Hello, how many pans of Mac and cheese did you cook at once and did your adjust the temp and/or time?
Hi Cheryl! I baked 2 at a time in each oven (I have double ovens) and didn’t adjust the time. We kept them warm in oven too – hope that helps!
Since you were making a larger amount of italian beef sandwiches how long did you have to cook it for in crock pot? Your recipe that is connected shows a 2-3lb chuck roast and you use 13lb to feed your crowd. I just need to know cooking times, please?
When the weather is cooler we like to have a chili bar….. I make a traditional red one and a white chicken chili both in slow cookers and then have lots of toppings for everyone to chose from…shredded cheese, sour cream, green onions, rice, sometimes baked potatoes, corn bread. The leftovers freeze well and I can always use the toppings in meals throughout the week. It’s filling, cheap, easy to put together, and my favorite….easy clean up!