I really think your serving your community via a soup-line is noble.

I would roast two chickens like say in crockpots (or better yet
turkey). Then make brown rice, topped with gravy derived from the
crockpot stock, carrots & celery too (maybe other veggies depending on
sales but not potatoes because of the rice). I'd make biscuits half
whole wheat probably, white ones would be prefered by some, the good
ones by others.

I don't know if soup lines do a desert. Cake I think would be your
cheapest, fruit or a cobbler would be best nutrition I suppose.
Restaurants or grocers may donate. I home deliver meals to shut-ins
in my community and the food comes from Golden Corral (local buffet)
donations.

I haven't ran a soup line, so I don't base this on experience. It is
instead my thoughts on high nutrition per dollar. If your customers
stomaches are really out of whack (ever been around a meth adict?)
they will not handle the complex stuff, but what can you do?

oOn Jan 5, 4:17*pm, "cshenk" > wrote:
> We've gotten friendly with the church our huge monster commercial chest
> freezer went to. *(Replaced by a newer model as mentioned in the past).
>
> On Sunday and holidays, they have a big free potluck for local homeless and
> others who are short on funds. *When it gets cold like it is now, they
> always have trouble having enough food to go around. *They arent government
> subsidized or anything.
>
> We signed up to bring food on this Sunday (and plan to for the first Sunday
> of each month if work permits me to be off to bring it, will alternate
> another Sunday if cant or drop off something during the week if needed).
>
> Anyways, I'd love any ideas of things others would find useful to feed at
> least 20 people a good serving for 6$ or roughly that. *This isnt intended
> to be a full meal, just one of 3-4 items they'd get.
>
> For tomorrow, I have a hodge podge bean pot using 2lbs (dry weight) butter
> beans, 1 largish onion, 1 green bell pepper (big one) and about 1/2 cup
> frozen chopped green bell pepper (one that was not going to be used fast
> enough so we chopped and froze it which works find for a crockpot need), 2
> smallish ham hocks (2$ worth at 1.39lb), a splash of mirin (a japanese rice
> cooking wine), some osem brand chicken consomme powder, and water. *This is
> all in a very LARGE oval crockpot and I think it fair to say 25 servings in
> that. *6.5 quart? *There won't be much meat per person, but the protein
> content should be high and it can go as a soup or as a topping on rice.
>
> They have a large ricemaker so I added in 5 cups dryweight of hinode (a
> brand of medium grain 'sticky' rice).
>
> I am thinking I may try next Sunday too with a large batch of
> dashi-tofu-chinese broccoli soup to serve in mugs with a 1/4 cup of rice at
> the bottom. *It will make a nice warming soup and I can get tofu at 3 for a
> dollar (about 3/4 cup block each). *Might change the greenery type pending
> on what there is fresh at the asian grocery, but they always have something
> <grin>. *They have these 3 big tureens of broth at the door which are often
> just bullion cubes and water so 6 quarts of this soup would be a nice match
> to the beef and chicken ones.
>
> I was thinking a large pot of spagetti sauce but that shows up every time
> since it's pretty easy to hit 3$ for 20 servings if you leave out the
> mushrooms and meats. *(They have their own pots for making up the pasta and
> folks gift them with dried pasta all the time so just bringing the sauce is
> ok).
>
> One they arent used to but I didnt know in time for this week to stock up,
> is just baked potatoes or baked yams. *Thats dead simple too and I'd be able
> to make up a big pot of either in the crock. *If doing sweet yams, I could
> make a sauce and have them soft and like 'baked yams with brown sugar'. *I
> passed the idea over though and they think it will work well.
>
> Oh, the place for food safety reasons *does* have rules and won't just take
> 'anything from anyone' and put it on the line. *If it is prone to fast
> spoilage for example, they require it be made there on site <g>.
>
> The only rules are it be safe, and have as close to 20 servings as possible.
> They also ask us to not become poor ourselves by adding in more than we can
> afford.
>
> Any other ideas? *They will be most welcome! *I plan to have fun and do a
> little good in the world at the same time, while not going broke. *I'd also
> like to try to add things with as much nutrition as possible and in winter,
> warming things like soups and stews.