"Charlotte L. Blackmer" wrote:
>
> I ended up running our monthly "free community meal" this last weekend.
> Because a lot of our volunteers are college students, I knew our numbers
> were going to be light. I'm going to tell my story, but if you have your
> own stories in large scale/hotel-pan cooking, by all means chime on in.
> (If the food is cheap, so much the better. I'm always on the lookout for
> ideas.)

I'd suggest you get a copy of the 1942 edition
of TM 10-405 The Army Cook. That's got lots
of recipes for feeding mass quantities, as
well as lots of good practical advice. Much
of it is made from fairly cheap food, like
beef hearts. Of course, you probably won't
be making your own garbage incinerator out of
an old cheese barrel and plenty of mud. :-)