The basic budget entrees in trhe Big Pots section is the place I would start for entree ideas. These are set for 100, so you would do the recipe 4 times.

Including good bread and a baked dessert each time (I envy you those ovens) will lift this out of the ordinary realm. See the angel biscuits recipe for a lot of ideas, and look at Texas sheet cake and Mississippi mud cake recipes from other sites. These are made on the really big sheets and 4-5 would make dessert for this size meal. Also fruit cobblers.

It being summer, I would probably do a taco bar one time, rice, beans, etc; a baked potato bar one time, with maybe a chili or BBQ topping; breakfast/brunch for supper one time (see the do it yourself brunch thread on this cook talk), or a pancake dinner; impossible pies (sort of baked frittatas) including cheeseburger and veggie; baked or oven-fried chicken with oven-roasted rice pilaf and vegetables. Chili and cornbread if I didn't use chili on the baked potatoes. Whole hams with baked beans, potatoes, and a corn side dish.

I would figure out a standard salad bar type offering that rotated the marinated veggies and trimmings but always included slaw, egg salad (vegetarians), bean salad and pasta salad. Potato salad is tougher because you have to peel or at least chop all those hot potatoes.

I would figure a beverage center that staye dthe same.

For help with this large a meal, you need about 6 people cooking in the kitchen, plus eachone for beverage management, one for dessert management, one for salad; and about 20 to set up, serve and cleanup. You need a volunteer coordinator who does NOTHING but manage the volunteers.

You need 1 or two shoppers. One of the cheapest ways to get meat for these events is to buy the weekly store specials, but it helps to give the manager a "heads-up" so s/he can order sufficient stock- THey won't be expecting you to come looking for 300 pounds of whole chickens or quarters all at once.

The plan for 100 lists really will work for this.

Since I posted all my tables is 2004, I ask readers to make an initial estimate, post it, and let me review and comment. You will want 5 ounces cooked ready to eat roast beef PLUS 3 ounces cooked ready to eat turkey per person. All the other items are covered in the various plan for 100 lists and pages (for example, fruit on the fruit tray page, beverages on the beverage planning page, cakes and desserts on the dessert bar page.) You can start by reading the plan and shop article in the holiday cooking section of big pots, checking the beef roasting article and the turkey yield article for meat guidance.

Take a look at the thread called:

Wedding Reception Menu Ideas