Thanksgiving Dinner for Over a Thousand Guests!

Chef Carmen Schiavone, Catering Manager for Loaves & Fishes of Contra Costa, provides the ingredients and directions for preparing Thanksgiving dinner for over a thousand guests. 

Serves 1090 meals:  
     • 300 meals for Martinez L&FCC Dining Room
     • 160 meals for Antioch L&FCC Dining Room
     • 100 meals for Oakley L&FCC Dining Room
     • 100 for Monument Crisis Center Seniors Partner Dining Site in Concord
     • 85 meals for Mental Health Consumer Concerns Partner Dining Sites in Concord & Antioch
     • 80 meals for Fresh Start Partner Dining Site in Walnut Creek
     • 15 meals for L&FCC staff and volunteers who would like to join us on Nov 24
     • 250 side dishes and trimmings for First Baptist Church of Martinez to serve on Thanksgiving Day
 
Ingredients:
     • 30 whole turkeys
     • 400 lbs. fresh potatoes and 10 lbs. of butter to make 34 gallons of mashed potatoes
     • 360 bagels, 100 lbs. of onions, and 60 lbs. of celery to make 26 gallons of stuffing
     • 51 gallons of gravy
     • 218 cans of sweet potatoes
     • 218 cans of green beans
     • 1090 rolls and 10 lbs. of butter
     • 135 pumpkin pies
 
Directions:
We started preparations for the Thanksgiving meal on November 2. It will take us nine days over two weeks to boil all the potatoes. It took five volunteers three days to slice all the bagels.  It will take six volunteers two days to cut the onions.  It took two very dedicated volunteers one day to cut all the celery.  It will take four to five days to cook all the turkeys. 
 
Time & Labor:
Volunteers:  66 individuals; 275 hours of volunteer time.
 
Oh, and while we are spending almost three weeks making the Thanksgiving dinner we are still preparing our usual almost 500 meals a day each day!
 
Cooked with love,
Carmen