Feeding A Crowd On The Cheap

I have a big family. We are close, and do things together all the time. Because of this, a common joke among my clan is that we know how to cook for 50, but can't make a soup for 2. There's some truth to that. While I tend to cook too much for my family of three, I like leftovers, and they save me from eating fast food every day, so it works for us.

That being said, I CAN cook a boatload of food, easily. I have my sister, her fiancé and his kids coming down to see our new place, and since I'm cooking a big pot of food, I invited the neighbors over, too.

I'm going to have 9 people at my house tonight, and sure as it's muggy after a summer rain, there will be leftovers when we are done eating. I'm going to share with yall a recipe to feed 10-15 people for less than $12.

Dead-simple Red Beans and rice.

Wash 2 lb. Of dried red beans. After they are clean, place them in a crock-pot (one of the big ones).-$3

Chop up 2 lb. Of good pork sausage ( buy good sausage. It doesn't matter the brand. I always buy whet ever premium brand is on sale. If you catch a really good sale, like less than 2.50/ lb., buy 5 or 6 pounds and freeze some. This is the most expensive part of this meal. The sausage doesn't have to be pure pork, but you want a good pork content in it for the fats and oils) put sausage in the crock pot. -$5

Mince and add 1 head of garlic, chop and add 2 medium onions. -$1

Next, check your fridge. (These ingredients aren't strictly needed, but I like adding them. I wouldn't make a special trip to the grocery store if I was out, though.) If you have them, chop and add one bell pepper and 3 or 4 sticks of celery. -$.75

Add some salt and pepper, cover everything with water, and let it bump on high for about 6 hours. Check about once an hour and add more water as needed. Those beans are gonna soak up an amazing amount of water. Just don't get ahead of yourself. Only add enough water to cover the ingredients. You don't want the beans getting too soupy.

After about 6 hours, make a roux. (If you don't know how, Google "making a roux". It's an art form, and an entirely different post than this one. If you can find a recipe on making a roux by John Folse, he makes a good one. Mine is different, but you wouldn't go wrong making his.) Add the roux to the pot. -$.50

Make 4 cups of rice. (Again, if you don't know how, Google this. Making rice is as easy as falling out of bed. Screwing up making rice is even easier. If you don't know how to make rice, GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND! Find a recipe, and FOLLOW IT. Making rice is not the time to get creative, and frankly, if you don't know how to make rice, you aren't an advanced enough cook to get creative with recipes.) -$1.25

Serve it up, and enjoy the compliments on this genuine cajun-country dish! You just fed 10-15 people for about $12.

A few points:

Start this dish before 10am. That way you will have time to have it ready by supper time.

If it is done before you are ready to feed people, put the beans on warm, stir them about every 30 minutes, and otherwise forget them until you are ready to serve. This dish only gets better the longer it bubbles. Having it ready 2 hours early ain't gonna hurt it. It will just let the flavors blend better.

If you get the beans done significantly early, don't start cooking rice until about 30 minutes before you are ready serve. No sense in having cold, over-cooked rice.