Comments on: Potluck Dinners – Tacky or Frugal?

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:03:39 +0000

I think PotLuck is the way to go this season! If you are having a party with a bunch of people who don’t know each other except through one mutual friend it is a good way to get to know the people by what they bring… of sorts. For example a birthday for your best friend and you invite her other friends because she does have them you know and they bring what they like to cook and eat. It is a good way to start conversation amongst the strangers also. Never mind the expenses because that is not the reason why we socialize is it?

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:12:49 +0000

My favorite potluck ever had a theme…”bring your family’s favorite obscure dish”. It gave us and our friends lots of chances to try new things. I’m considering hosting one like it soon…except my fiancee and I have way too many obscure favorites to choose from. :)

The look on a friend’s face the first time they try Chinese Pastry (which contains no pastry and is not even remotely Chinese) is priceless, especially when followed by the bellowing laughter at the long family-history story explaining why we call it that. :)

By: Foobarista

Foobarista — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 06:09:00 +0000

I vote for “frugal” – or at least “fun”. Also, if parties are monstrously expensive, you won’t have many, as you point out.

We often have parties for my wife’s Chinese woman’s group at our house. Being from mainland China where potlucks are unknown, it took them awhile to get used to the idea, but it has become quite popular among her group; the “inertia” needed to get a party organized and such is far less if it doesn’t involve a week’s pay and three days of cooking, as it could if a Chinese hosted party is planned.

Some potluck tips:

1. Assign dishes, or at least general food categories, to people, or have “sign-ups”. At our first potluck, we had 11 Safeway pies!

2. Potlucks work best as buffets, with disposable eating-ware. Sit-down potlucks can be a logistical nightmare unless you have plenty of tables.

3. If you have any guests with special food requirements (vegetarian, kosher/halal, etc) this needs to be known in advance and dishes planned.

By: Jeff Mackey

Jeff Mackey — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 15:34:14 +0000

I think you are both right. It would probably be improper for an established 50 year old couple to invite friends over for a pot-luck unless it was at a cabin or picnic type scenario.

For us younger ppl, I don’t see anything wrong with a pot luck…it can cost a lot to have people over…my wife and I have a house and most others do not, so we entertain more often than others…and it can cost a bundle…especially when wine is involved!

By: Melsky

Melsky — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:35:42 +0000

I like potluck dinners a lot. At least that way, you always know there’s one thing that you can eat at the dinner! Also, it’s fun to see what other people made, I have gotten good recipes and ideas from potlucks, and learned about food from other cultures.

By: 3thingsaboutmoney

3thingsaboutmoney — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:31:19 +0000

Personally, I love potlucks, but now that I am not a starving grad student we just call them “cooking club” dinners. Part of the stigma is just the name which older people strongly associate with being poor. I love to cook fabulous meals or try out new recipes which can be a very expensive and anxiety-provoking proposition if the whole dinner party is on you. So everyone tries out something (usually on the smaller portions end) plus the host also makes something cheap and “safe” (simple pasta dish, split pea soup or something) so we have something to eat if all the recipes fail.

We rotate houses and the host gets to keep the leftovers. We do themes (Indian food, entree’s under 5.00 in ingrediants, something out of a particular cookbook, whatever) It’s a blast, its social, we laugh really hard, its good food, and it ends up being a really inexpensive way to entertain. I highly recommend it as a practice. Your mom is old skool but you aren’t. Go for it.