Can you feed 15 co-workers for less than $15?

[Designgal34]

My boyfriend called a little while ago and said he needs to bring in a dish tomorrow to his office that can feed about 15 people. There are two requirements: 1) It must be "Thanksgiving" themed (i.e.: cranberry, turkey, biscuits, etc), and 2) must be finger food so there's little to no clean up.

Because we're on a tight budget, he really wants to bring something in but doesn't want to spend more than about $10-15 on the ingredients.

I was thinking about sliced turkey and a cranberry relish in phyllo cups. Does anybody have other ideas?

[lucille]

What about pecan tassies? They are like little pecan pies but they are finger food. You make them in small muffin tins.

[khorrell]

How tightly do you think that they're sticking to the theme, and are there cooking/heating facilities available? I like your turkey and cranberry idea. You could also put them on crackers (don't have to cook the phyllo that way) with a dab of cream cheese to hold it together. Olives stuffed with anything. Cream cheese and pepper jelly on wheat thins or triscuits (my personal favorite ) How about deviled eggs?

Good luck, and I can keep thinking if none of those ideas work for you!

[Designgal34]

mm, pecan tassies sound really good! Probably a little too time intensive for us to make tonight, but definitely something I'll make for my holiday party next month! Thanks so much for the tip!

[Designgal34]

khorrell, I think cream cheese is a really good idea, and would probably be a great flavor addition! I was planning on buying the frozen phyllo, but crackers or bread toasts might be a much better idea

[gt0163c]

Can you do dessert? While you probably can't do pie (cause it's not exactly finger food, although we've eaten both pie and cake as "finger food" in my cube before), you could do sugar cookies cut in Thanksgiving shapes (pumpkin, turkey, etc).

Biscuits/bread can also be cheap. A couple of loaves of grocery store bakery bread shouldn't be more than about $5. Add some butter (real butter is always good, although a little more pricey) and you're good.

The standard "green bean casserole" would be great if there's a way to cook it or at least keep it warm. Similarly mashed potatoes are fairly easy...you could cook them tonight, mash and warm them in the morning, maybe keep them warm in a crock pot.

What about beverages? Apple cider would work and is easy and relatively inexpensive.

Or, you could do what I normally do and bake brownies. I use the Betty Crocker Original Brownie Supreme recipe and add a little vanilla and a couple of handfuls of chocolate chips and then just slightly underbake them. They're not Thanksgivingy, but everyone loves them and never minds when I bring them in regardless of the occasion.

[Ms. Ferret]

I'd do cornbread muffins. I can't cook worth a damn but I can still manage cornbread, and cornbread mix is super cheap.

[purplefdu]

I know I'm late on this one but stuffing cooked in muffin tins for individual servings is great for this. As is cranberry sauce made this way. Fifteen servings is only a bit more than the standard dozen tins and fairly cheap.