# Homeless Ministry - Meal Ideas



## Bruenor (Oct 2, 2008)

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some ideas here. Right now the homeless ministry at my church is serving sack lunches, but in the very near future we're looking to start serving hot meals. I'm looking for some ideas for meals that we can put together. 

Right now we're estimating on feeding 65-80 people at a time. Everything has to be prepared at the church kitchen (state laws), so we have about an hour first thing in the morning that we can do prep work, and then an hour after services are over to finish up anything and get to the lunch site (25 minutes away). I'm planning on buying a couple of those 22 quart roasters and a couple of large crock pots. Between those we should be able to cook the food and transport it for serving.

Here are some ideas that I've had.

1. Chili
2. Chicken noodle soup
3. Chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes
4. Beef and noodles with mashed potatoes
5. Minestrone soup
6. Vegetable soup
7. Pasta with meat sauce

From the trend, you can see that it's heavy on the soup side. That's not a bad thing. Actually, with the cold weather settling in, having a hot cup of soup would be great.

Any ideas that people have would be helpful. I figured that HT would be the perfect place to come to get ideas for good, filling, low cost meals. Also, if anyone has had experience starting or running a homeless meals ministry, send me a PM. I'd love to chat.

Thanks!


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## homefire2007 (Sep 21, 2007)

A good hearty potato soup and hot rolls to go with it. I'll think more on this. Sounds like a really great service to provide and I wish you every success!


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

There are a lot of combinations you can do with beans in addition to chili. I've got a couple of standards, the usual ham and pinto beans and I also do one with white beans and ham plus shredded cabbage.


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

Are folks going to be able to sit down and eat or will they take their bowl with them? If they're not sitting, it's going to be hard to manage a bowl of soup and a dish of potatoes.

I agree with the other posters - potato soup or bean soup would be good options. You can add sliced kielbasa to either of these also. Bread or a roll would be a better option than mashed potatoes.

Also, chicken and rice soup or turkey and rice or turkey and vegetable. You could also do chicken chili or do little meatballs with ground turkey.


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## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Chicken or beef stew. Heartier than soup especially if you add biscuits.


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## kbshorts (Dec 6, 2005)

Beans & rice! Simple and cheap.

KB


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Spaghetti is quick and easy. Do different sauces: traditional tomato, an Alfredo sauce and broccoli (put broccoli in with the pasta the last few minutes of cooking - works with fresh or frozen and no extra pots to wash), left-over chili, stir fry up some veg (what ever you have on hand) toss in cooked pasta and add a teriyaki sauce (carrots, celery, peppers and onions work well this way).

Fried cabbage and noodles (we like it with a bit of shredded apple and onion in it too). This would be a nice side dish to a slice of ham or kielbasa.

Lasagna could be laid out quick then baked in oven for an hour (or possibly in the roasting pans) and ready to go fast (they 25 min drive to the serving area would let it set up perfectly ). Slice up some zucchini or add a layer of spinach to amp up the vitamins.

Can you get a group to go in on a different day to bake up a bunch of bread? Bread that was half white half wheat flour would bring up the quality of the meal faster then all white bread....and quality fiber fills the belly.


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## wanda1950 (Jan 18, 2009)

Mac & cheese and green beans. Homemade hamburger helper--I use part TVP in mine & no one ever complains--use tomatoes or vegetables in it for a better balanced meal. A turkey will go a long way if you have access to a freezer & they'll be pretty cheap soon. Serve some meat with cornbread dressing & a vegeetable first, then turkey with noodles & gravy, then turkey noodle soup, etc.

If you could sometimes include a dessert, they would enjoy it so much. Maybe bread pudding or a giant cobbler would be affordable.

My MIL volunteers at a feeding site & they always have boiled eggs for the people to take with them or eat on site--she says they go like hotcakes. You can't get better cheaper protein. They also keep peanut butter & jelly/honey/syrup on hand & make sandwiches if they run out of hot food. PB is pretty expensive now but maybe you could get some donated.

Beans would be good but a problem with the cooking time & canned are expensive & just not as good. Could someone put them in to soak the night before? Then they could finish in the crock pot during service maybe. 

Kielbasa stew with pinto beans is good--add sliced kielbasa (or whatever is on sale of sausage) tomatoes, green peppers & onions. Cornbread. 

Cowboy beans--any kind of beans added to browned hamburger cooked with onions & green peppers if available, catsup, ( or whatever thick tomato product on hand) season liberally with garlic & a lesser amount of chili powder. TVP will work in this also. Cornbread. 

I think it is wonderful that you are doing this. God bless you & your efforts to help.


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## homefire2007 (Sep 21, 2007)

A huge pan of cornbread or bread stuffing mixed with shredded chicken or turkey. Then gravy poured over it. Dressing is relatively easy to make yourself with stale bread or you can buy the boxed kind. Shredding the meat can make a little go a long way. I used to make this for lunch when I had a big crowd to feed, it sticks to your ribs and is simple to prepare.


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## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

*Ham and scalloped or au gratin potatoes with whatever veggies (canned or maybe a salad) and a jello salad (whip it with cool whip & cream cheese for a treat).

*Chicken legs & thighs are cheapish - with bbq sauce: easy to toss in a roaster & smells good. Potato wedges roasted with butter or oil, and spices. 

*Sloppy joes

*Ham BBQ - chipped ham goes on sale for .99 quite a bit in my area.

*You can make a good soup out of just about any combination of meat, veggies and a flavorful broth. (stuffed pepper soup, stuffed cabbage soup are especially good and filling - cheap too!)


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## Kmac15 (May 19, 2007)

Are you feeding a sit down meal or are they going to be eating on the go? I was thinking pulled pork on bun or burritos for on the go and no utensils.


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## Bruenor (Oct 2, 2008)

Thanks for the ideas everyone. We're going to be setting up under an overpass, so seating will be limited to nonexistent. I'd like to set up tables and chairs, but I don't know yet if that's possible. Soups/stews/chili in a cup would be great, and also hot sandwiches would work well without seats.

Keep the ideas coming everyone. These are great.


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## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

I think fried (or oven baked) chicken quarters would be good because they taste good hot or cold, is easy to make in large batches, and don't require utensils, etc. I know it isn't really a meal, but I would (and do) eat it to get by.


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## Hears The Water (Aug 2, 2002)

Flour tortillas are cheap and portable. You can put pretty much anything in them too. So since seating may be very limited, this might work well. You can cook up turkey (going on sale soon!) or chicken, shred and add some lettuce and ranch dressing, or add some rice, tomatoes and taco seasoning, some black beans would stretch it too. You could do hamburger or ground turkey with some taco seasoning and regular pinto beans to stretch it too. Even eggs, sausage and cheese is good, but a bit expensive. 

Just warm up the tortilla, put the fillings in, roll and wrap in tin foil. Stack in the roaster ovens set on low and they will stay nice and warm. They are easy for the folks to eat or even store for later, if they need to. HTH, and bless your ministry. 
God bless you and yours
Deb


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

The closest you can get to a real homecooked meal is always best. 

I remember eating at a soup kitchen/street mission sunday meal with my father when I was a kid when he was involved with that church and I recall the food (especially the soup) being certifiably awful. Not in a "picky eating kid" kind of way, but a "chicken soup isn't supposed to taste like that" kind of way. 

I remember on one occasion he "tithed" a lot of money into a salmon and crab dinner he wanted the men to enjoy--- he bought flats of good quality stuff direct from the factory and hand delivered it to the kitchen. The cook was planning to make it into some kind of fish stew slop until he put his foot down and dictated that it was to be served as the product was intended. 
He seemed to think she had this weird bloody minded belief that the food was too good for the bums so she was going to ruin it.


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## Classof66 (Jul 9, 2011)

Our church served the soup kitchen once a year. We were told we served one of the best meals. We made goulash, lettuce salad, bread and dessert, usually homemade cookies. Many commented on how good it smelled when they came in the door.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

If it is a catering truck, then breakfast burritos are good. Easy to carry and eat. Scrambled eggs, a bit of cheese. Good protein and some calcium. Give an orange with it.

You can put a lot of nutrition into an oatmeal cookie. Besides the oats which are good, you can add a small amount of powdered milk to the dough and a little bit of dried fruit and nuts. They are relatively cheap to make. Almost everybody likes them, and it is not empty calories. Even that sugar is valuable to someone trying to keep warm.

I make breakfast bars with home made granola and use the rice crispie treats recipe with the marshmallow cream. You can put a lot of good nutrition into homemade granola if you put a little thought into it. They are easy to eat and carry.

Just a suggestion: hand out small bags of decent quality dog kibble to those with dogs. They will feed their own food to the dog and starve themselves. I think that the street dogs owned by the homeless are probably the most loved dogs in the world and you will never see gratitude like you see when you provide something for their dog.


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## Bruenor (Oct 2, 2008)

oregon woodsmok said:


> Just a suggestion: hand out small bags of decent quality dog kibble to those with dogs. They will feed their own food to the dog and starve themselves. I think that the street dogs owned by the homeless are probably the most loved dogs in the world and you will never see gratitude like you see when you provide something for their dog.


The main guy in our group also operates a dog rescue organization. On a regular basis he gets a delivery truck (U-haul sized) of pet food from Tractory Supply. They donate it and write off the cost. Then he distributes it to the rescue group, and also brings some down to the homeless camps for those with pets.


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## Miss Kay (Mar 31, 2012)

I'm thinking one pot meals you can put in a cup and eat while standing. We love what I call noodly stuff. I brown ground meat, add canned tomatoes, wheat pasta, onion flakes and italian spices, and just before it gets done we add chesse to melt. 
Also, we do fried brown rice (better for them than white) fried with raw eggs stir fried, peas, small cubbed carrots, some kind of stir fry meat, and soy sauce. Doesn't take long and you can make it as big as you like.
My husband has a recipe for jambalia that is a one dish thing and folks always love it. It has brown rice, cubed smoked sausage and boneless chicken, green onions, and some spices. You can probably google some different recipies for that.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Goulash, stews, scalloped potatoes with ham chunks, shredded chicken in dressing, pot pies, chili, beans with ham, burritos, sloppy joes


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

My MIL works at her church's kitchen. What they feed is determined by what they can scrounge. Panera or some similar place gives them all the day old breads, soups, etc. They get venison from local hunters and approved road kills. Lots of restaurants have surpluses that they can't serve because the food is past it's prime but still edible. 

I would say put as much work into finding donations as you do serving the food and you'll be quite successful.


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## gottahaveagoat (Jun 5, 2006)

Sausage stew. It's smoked sausage, cubed potatoes, carrots, peas, canned tomato. I also put pkt of onion soup in it but you don't have to (gives more flavor) sprinkle when you serve with parmasan cheese. Serve with corn bread, bread & butter or biscuits.


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## Limon (Aug 25, 2010)

A lot will depend on your budget, how many you are going to have there to serve and how much help you're going to have. I'd recommend starting out simply, see how much your group can handle, and add as you go. 

The sitting area is nice, but it might not be feasible. First, look into your local regulations. My aunt's church provided folding tables and chairs until the health department slapped them with a fine over it - yes, this was in a parking lot for the homeless. (Something to do with the chairs and tables couldn't be sanitized properly because they folded? Don't remember the exact details.)

Before that, they had to chain the chairs and tables together because one or two would disappear every meal. It got too expensive to keep replacing them. After the deal with the health department, they switched to lunch bag meals - sandwich, fruit, cookies, etc. Another consideration is you'll need someone with a truck or van to haul them and set them up.

The burritos mentioned above are a great idea. They're easy to eat without utensils, they're budget friendly and they'll be hot. In addition to the boiled eggs, fruit is also popular as a take away, but it does get more expensive unless you have a restaurant supply/Sam's Club/etc to buy from. Cups of stew and soup will be very appreciated in cold weather, and sandwiches are more popular as the temps go up.

If you can swing it, a bench with water and soap to wash their hands and faces usually goes over well. Just make sure you don't have someone who tries to completely bathe with it. The stories I could tell...


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

Oh yeah, my MIL's kitchen gets end of day left overs from one of those Mexican places like Moe's or Chipotle. That sort of stuff can go a long way when wrapped in tortilla shell or over taco chips.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Okay, food that can be eaten standing up....

Taco salad in a bag. (personal sized bag of Frito's opened, dump in meat, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese)

Walking salads for a side dish. Leaf of lettuce with peanut butter spread on it. Place a mini carrot in and roll it up. Apple wedges instead of carrots work well for this, too.

Grilled cheese with turkey or ham on it and a bowl of home made soup (real soup....made from bone broth...like grandma (and homesteaders) use to make)

I second anything you can put in a tortilla. I use to make PB&J that way for my kids when they were little and didn't want to come inside to eat lunch. Might be something you could make for them to take for a second meal later.


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## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

Don't forget about fresh fruits and vegetables, with dip if you want. They love this! The past few months, I've brought Little Smokies in BBQ sauce, and they have liked it too, except for a little kid who bit into a sausage and cried because it was spicy. And what are you going to serve for beverages? We serve juice (both real and fake-ish) and milk, and sometimes tea if people bring it.

My church serves at a soup kitchen once a month, although this place does have seating and in fact they must use it if they want to eat there. They serve people of all ages, including quite a few children. They aren't necessarily homeless, but it's in a high-poverty area.


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## Shawn (Apr 2, 2008)

Bruenor said:


> Right now we're estimating on feeding 65-80 people at a time. Everything has to be prepared at the church kitchen (state laws), so we have about an hour first thing in the morning that we can do prep work, and then an hour after services are over to finish up anything and get to the lunch site (25 minutes away). I'm planning on buying a couple of those 22 quart roasters and a couple of large crock pots. Between those we should be able to cook the food and transport it for serving.


Since you mentioned having to cook at the chuch kitchen (state law), did you check to see if they will let you use crock pots to enamal pan roasters? I took the Illinois health department classes for a Certified Food Sanitation Manager (for my chruch) and we were told that there were not allowed to use them.

Now I love using my crock pot and have made things for church pot luck meals, but not when we feed the homeless at the shelter on Saturday's at our church.

But for ideas I would stretch out any kind of pasta and sauce, rice and beans, chicken legs done with italian dressing (pour a bottle over an roast). I also like to fill them up with stuffing with left over bread I can get my hands on. Make it from scratch with sage, onion and celery. I see that they will really eat when the food is hot and flavorful.

Good luck with your mission.


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## mamakatinmd (Aug 21, 2005)

how about pasties? They are a homemade hot pocket basically. They can be filled with any leftover meat, vegetables, and potatoes. These could also be wrapped in foil to keep warm. They are great finger food that can be eaten standing up. 

Chicken or Beef with dumplings are filling too and can be eaten in a cup.

When I need to stretch meat I make homemade fried rice with it and put in any veg on hand too. 

Hot dogs cut up in baked beans.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

Never ran one, but I have over 25 years restaurant manager/owner experience have wanted to be a part of a 'soup kitchen' for quite a while.

Besides items already on your list:
fresh fruit - whatever is in season
Dinner rolls -- making them from scratch is both cheap and easy.
Beef stew
Chicken Ala King
Hamburger helper type meals -- easy to make from scratch and quite a variety.
(example, Hamburger Helper Salisbury Steak = Saute hamburger, cook noodles and drain, mix together with a brown gravy, season to taste)


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

Chicken & dumplings would be yummy/filling.


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## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

I don't have anything to add except, keep in mind a LOT of the homeless people don't have teeth to eat salad and hard fruit like apples or pears. Soft fruit like bananas or oranges would be fine. You could do pasta salads.


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## pistolsmom (Mar 19, 2005)

Creamed chicken over biscuits and mashed potatoes.


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## Oma2three (May 5, 2012)

Has anybody mentioned Split pea soup with pieces of Ham in it.Also like mentioned above a rich homemade dressing with lots of cut up chicken in it and served with gravy.If you guys can swing it pass out bags wih a boiled egg , an apple .a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a big oatmeal raisin cookie in it.


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## PD-Riverman (May 24, 2007)

I have not seen anyone mention "Chicken Bog". That is a very popular meal here and you can feed alot of people cheap, Simple to make and VERY Good. A plate of chicken bog, a roll and some beans or slaw, glass of tea--a very Good Meal. If you are interested, I will tell you how to cook it.


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

I'm not clear on what types of hot foods you are looking for, but the sack lunches sound like a good way to feed a large number of people. Will you continue with the sack lunches? If so, what I'm suggesting is for the sack lunches.

Any meat can be boiled and shredded. Add small amounts of seasoning and sauce, such as bbq. Place a fair amount of the shredded meat on a bread, any bread, and wrap as individual sandwiches. Save the meat broth to use in making vegetable soup. If you're not using the broth the same day it can be put into containers and frozen for future soup bases.

When making soup, season and taste the broth until it's tasting good and then add vegetables that are already boiled or cooked. Don't add a ton of raw carrots and expect those to be tender in an hour. That so isn't going to happen. 

If you have donated canned vegetables use all of the contents including liquid and put into the soup stock. Taste and adjust the seasoning as you add to the soup. Serve the soup in individual styrofoam cups, with a seal lid if possible. The soup can be eaten with a spoon or drank as a semi-liquid from the cup. 

In the sack along with the meat sandwich include the following: a bottle of water, a piece of wrapped candy such as a caramel, a piece of gum, a wrapped plastic spoon and napkin, and a small ziploc bag of granola mix. If you have any food donations such as cereal, raisins or other dried fruits, nuts, candies these can be mixed together as a granola type of snack mix and portioned out into small ziplocs and eaten as a breakfast or anytime snack. 

With the above menu it's flexible enough to provide good nutrition while taking advantage of a sometimes varying array of donated or cost reduced foods. 

Bless you and yours for feeding hungry people.


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## Use Less (Nov 8, 2007)

Beans & Greens (oven or pot or crock.) Baked pasta, such as ziti w/sauce.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Id say make softer easy to eat foods, not sure how their teeth are. Chicken and rice with veggies. Chicken cooked ( what ever is cheapest) rice and frozen veggies add chicken base if needed For flavor salt pepper. Biskets. Hamburger stew. Like regular stew just use burger. Spegettie but use elbo noodles. Corn bread muffins. Packs of cereal for Them to munch on later. Or a cereal bar. Or an oatmeal bar. All Recipes. Con has great recipes. Friendship soup. Cream soups. With small crackers.


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## rivenoak (Sep 29, 2009)

Dirty rice & some meat. We eat this often at home. Has grains, veggies, and protein. 

I usually fry up some sausage and put a couple slices on top of the rice/beans, but you could do ground meat. Very filling.


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