Cater Your Own Party--For $1-$2 Per Person

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By Shel Horowitz

Commercial catering is expensive. It would be unusual to get a meal for less than $10 per person, and not unheard of to pay $60. When I entertain, I cater it myself--cheaply and well. An example: the book release party for The Penny-Pinching Hedonist, held in a local library. I didn't know how many people to cook for, and no one ever goes away hungry from my events! So I made a ton of food: I fed 70 people at the party and had enough left over to have fed another 70. My family ate the leftovers for three weeks. Cost: about $100.

The secret is to think about foods that are filling, interesting, easy to prepare, and cheap. I also find that spicy foods often stretch farther. My menu included: a European-style pasta salad with vegetables, capers, a few sun-dried tomatoes, and just a little cheese; an Asian-style pasta salad with rice noodles, Japanese mushrooms, snow peas, ginger, and hot pepper; houmous made from scratch (starting by soaking dried chickpeas a few days ahead), cut up carrots and celery with several dips, bags of chips, soda and ice tea, and I forget what all else.