Recipe Information for Pacific Gatherings

Cooking for large Pacific gatherings

Providing a healthy meal for a large group can be a difficult task and to do this on a tight budget even more difficult.  Follow the links and factsheets below on how to produce healthy foods. 

The following tips will help you to keep the cost of your food down while still providing a balanced meal.

• Use smaller serving utensils so the amount people put on their plates is smaller
• Use smaller plates which will fill up faster
• Have bread or other lower cost and filling food at the start of the food table
• Cut meats into smaller pieces
• Provide sauces, jams and other condiments in bowls rather than in single serves
• If you put food on individual plates make the portions smaller
• Serve food on smaller trays and platters 
• Pre plate expensive meal items to avoid people taking too much of these

Making food go further

• Base your meals around starchy foods such as potatoes, rice, pasta or bread, which are cheap and nutritious.
• You can make meat go further by cooking it in casseroles or stir fries with cheaper ingredients such as beans or seasonal vegetables
• Add left over rice, pasta, lentils or dried beans, baked beans to stews to increase bulk
• Cut up fish and stir-fry with vegetables or mix with  rice. 
• Add tuna to mashed potato, divide into small round 'cakes' to make into fish cakes and bake in the oven
• For mince you could add breadcrumbs, grated courgette, carrot, and/or marrow, rice, pasta, onion, green pepper, dried peas, beans or lentils
• Put mince mixture into a pie dish and top with mashed potatoes
• Add vegetables, pasta, pulses, tofu, barley and yoghurt to soups

Remember when preparing Oka I'a or any other dishes to use salt sparingly and when you do use salt make sure it is iodised salt.