Macaroni and Cheese for 300 - My Tips for Cooking For a Crowd

I was recently asked to make Macaroni and Cheese for 300 people for a United Way Fundraiser and I agreed to make it without thinking it through...where was I going to do this?  I ended up renting a church kitchen that was the perfect space for making a large quantity of food, but it definitely was still a challenging afternoon.  Just in case you ever decide to make food for 300 people, I'm sharing what I learned today!

Rent a Space - you don't want to even attempt to make this much food in your own kitchen, unless you have a very different kitchen than I do!

Buy in bulk - this is something that I didn't allow time for and I ended up at a local grocery store buying 28 pounds of pasta, etc...  I looked slightly crazy buying 12 huge blocks of cheddar cheese and 8 gallons of milk!

Make a list of every item that you will need to cook your food before you go!  I had to run home because I forgot my food processor and needed it to grate the cheese!  Can you imagine grating that much cheese by hand!

Remember that cooking for this many people is really good exercise, especially for your upper body!  You don't need to work out on this day and you will be tired when you're done and will definitely need to go out for dinner or go straight to bed!

Bring a (crazy) friend!  I somehow talked my friend Britt into helping me.  She was probably questioning her sanity after it was way too late to back out!  

This is not something to attempt on your own!

This kitchen had all of the equipment (except for a food processor) that I needed to make mac and cheese for 300 people!

Britt and I are experts at making cheese sauce!

This is the finished mac and cheese (we made 7 of these)!  Now I have to figure out how to bake it!

I'll share more about this event on Tuesday!  Hopefully the mac and cheese will be a hit!  Find the recipe for Macaroni and Cheese for 25 here!  Follow me on Instagram @crazyblondelifeblog!  Thanks for stopping by Crazy Blonde Life!