Now that we have a menu set up (here), time for the shopping list.
Produce:
- 1 lb carrots
- 4 tomatoes
- 4 cucumbers
- 2 eggplant
- 1/2 lb serrano peppers
- 1 bunch cilantro
- about 2 bulbs of garlic
- 10 lbs potatoes
- 3 lbs onion
Refrigerated goods:
- 16 oz sour cream
- large container of hummus
- 2 dozen eggs
- 2lb butter
- 1 lb parve margarine (I chose to make the snickerdoodles, pumpkin spice, and cake balls parve to keep leftovers for a future Shabbat. Skip this if you don’t want to do this, and make this butter!)
Dry goods:
- Pita–approximately 50
- Large bottle of applesauce (or several of different flavors)
- 3 lbs chickpeas
- 16 oz chow mein noodles
- 5 lbs sugar (won’t use it all, but you’ll need a lot!)
- 2 lb bag of brown sugar (again, you probably won’t use it all, but brown sugar is good in cookies!)
- 2 boxes spice cake mix
- 1 box cake mix (flavor your choice, for cake balls – you can make a 9 x 13 from scratch instead if you prefer)
- 1 cup of frosting (I made mine, but you can buy a can, too–choose your flavor and add your own ingredients)
- 29 oz pumpkin (not pie mix)
- Big bottle of oil for frying (canola is a good choice)
- 2 bags milk chocolate chips
- 3 bags semisweet chocolate chips (parve, see margarine note above)
- 1 bag butterscotch chips
- 3 bags white chocolate chips (parve)
- 1 bag cherry cordial m and ms (half of the chunks in the chocolate cherry chunk cookies)
- 1 small bag of dried cherries (the other half of the chunks in the chocolate cherry chunk cookies)
- 1 bag white chocolate peppermint hershey’s kisses (for white chocolate chunk cookies)
- Bottle of 100% pure apple juice
- Soda (we used 4 2L), beer (we bought 36 and used about 20), 2-3 bottles of wine, a bottle of vodka – and ICE!
- Gallon sized freezer bags
- 1/4 size aluminum pans
- Aluminum foil
- (have on hand: some good olive oil, small amounts of salt, pepper, mayo, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cumin, paprika, dried parsley, 2 cinnamon sticks, lemon juice, vanilla extract, baking soda, baking powder, corn syrup)
Other things to consider:
- Plates, forks, spoons, napkins, and cups for your guests
- Serving dishes and utensils
- Table covering(s)
- Blech or device for keeping your hot food hot (cider, latkes, and falafel)
- Chairs
- Decorations? (We like scattered gelt, and the kids used their paper chains from our rainy Sukkot)
- Place for coats (yes, it’s winter now, so there will be coats to put somewhere!)
- Place for gifts (I got four bunches of flowers, several bottles of wine, etc…we put the wine out and I had two vases ready for flowers from previous experience. Just be ready in vase your guests are this thoughtful!)
