Cheaper than McDonalds

A few weeks ago I had to make dinner for 40 high school kids including several vegetarian kids. My first thought was pizza, but at over $20/pizza, it would cost around $200! After consulting several cooking experts, I settled on drum sticks and baked polenta with vegetables.
Here's what it took.

45 drumsticks -- about 13 lbs at $1.29/lb (on sale at Safeway, normally it would have been $1.49/lb) -- $17
15 to 20 clove of garlic, 7 teaspoons of salt, 3 teaspoons of ground pepper and coriander, 1/4 cup of olive oil -- $1?
6 cups of polenta - $3
2 large packages of frozen spinach - $4
6 large Roma tomatos - $3 (no GMO worries with Roma tomatos)
2 onions - $1
3 bell peppers - $ 2
1/2 cup olive oil and 3 teaspoons salt - $1?
2 packages of shredded parmesan cheese - $8

Preparation time was minimal: about 20 minutes to process the garlic, salt, etc. in the food processor and coat the drumsticks, and 30 minutes to chop, measure, and mix the ingredients for the polenta. It took about 4 hours total of cooking time after I started peeling the garlic to when I started putting the food into the car for delivery. I also took a 30-minute nap while the meal was in the oven.

All in all, I was able to feed 40 hungry dancers for about $1.00 per person.
You see! With a little thought and work, and without compromising quality, I saved $160 compared to the pizza solution!
It was reported that the dinner was a hit!

Mumblings

Economi is "eco's fruits" or "fruits of eco" in Japanese. Eco stands for ecology and economy.

Someone once said that anti-consumerism is the ultimate environmental conservation. Having been brought up by a mother who experienced the aftermaths of WWII in Japan, I grew up with the doctrine of waste not want not. With work, kids, and other obligations of life, it's often hard to find time to cook, saw or clean or even think, but hopefully with a little ingenuity and effort, we can lead healthier and more satisfying lives while saving a little money and being kinder to the environment.