Imagine you are preparing a Roast Beef Dinner for 150 attendees to one of the Dallas/Barnhartvale Volunteer Fire Association’s dinner dances of the 1980s. What would your shopping list look like? My list would be crumpled on the floor with me beside it, in tears. Luckily the Women’s Auxiliary to the Association had these events down to a fine science - check out the list below, found in their 1982 cookbook:
Roast Beef for 150
40 lbs (18kg) baron of beef roasts
150 baking potatoesÂ
17 doz bunsÂ
4 lbs margarineÂ
12 heads lettuceÂ
6 cucumbersÂ
3 heads celeryÂ
12 tomatoesÂ
3 bunches radishesÂ
3 bunches onionsÂ
6 - 500 ml containers sour creamÂ
6 gravy mixesÂ
2 dressing mixesÂ
3/4 lb coffeeÂ
vinegarÂ
oilÂ
saltÂ
pepperÂ
sugarÂ
powdered cream
As seen in “Look What We’ve Cooked Up!” by the Women’s Auxiliary to the Dallas/Barnhartvale Volunteer Fire Association, 1st Edition, 1982.
