DIY Nacho Bar. help!!!

Not too much but I do agree that it can get pricey. Those items are not cheap and you will need a lot because guest are not going to portion their amounts.

Yeah, so maybe less options? Omit the olives and jalepenos. I just want a lot of fun with the food for my guests. It's gonna be pricey. I wanted to spend $250 for food for about 65-70 people. Idk if I can?

So you want to spend about $35 per guest on food. I think that omitting a few items won't hurt. I think olives and jalapenos are good ones to omit because they tend to be the foods on that list that most people are most picky about. I also don't know if you need rice...I've never had that on nachos and haven't missed it at least. The other things sound great and I think you can get them at a good price for that many people if you go to Costco or Sams Club or something and get them in bulk. I LOVE nachos so I love this idea!

I would take out the rice, too like Almost Mrs. P said. I know I said this on your other post, but I really love this idea! Nachos are so delicious

Great idea, who doesn't love nacho' s. I honestly think you can do this in your budget. Good luck and congrats

It's the waste that kills you. (and that's 3.50 PP...) I'd leave in the rice; it's filling.

I would omit the rice and leave the jalapenos. I would also omit the lettuce and tomatoes... the lettuce because I've never seen it on nachos (tacos, yes) and the tomatoes cause you'll already have salsa. I think you can add variety without additonal cost by getting 2/3 red and 1/3 salsa verde. You can save a LOT of money if you buy the beans dry and make them yourselves a day or two in advance. I prefer the quick soak beans method. It's faster and is apparently less gas-inducing as well!

Rinse beans in cold water. Put them in a large pot and cover with about 3 inches of cold water. Bring almost to a boil (small bubbles appear around the edges of the pot), cover, and remove from heat. Let sit for 1 hour. Drain. The beans will be "soaked" and ready to cook.

Hahaha! Thank you Celia!! Did I mention I oversee the accounting department at work! LOL!

LOLOL.....

I am doing a nacho bar and we are having salsa, guac, jalapenos, chili and sour cream. Is that the main meal? For us it's is part of cocktail hour so we didn't need all of the toppings.

Something to keep in mind too is that guests can eat a LOT of nachos.......unless someone is serving them, you could be out of meat, chicken, etc in a heartbeat!

What an awesome idea I know I would enjoy that

I think it sounds like an awesome idea! i would definitely leave the rice though. that way, it's kind of a whole meal, but a light meal. one way to cut back, is do fresh boneless skinless breast, and flavor yourself. that'll run you about $40(for about 20 breasts) I'd think. then, about $30 for beef, if you do (3) 5 pound rolls, versus individual packages. there is $70, leaving $180 for everything else. when i do regular tacos for 10 people, i spend about $12 with vegetables, chips/taco shells, add-ons, beans. about $15 if i do rice, and only use beef. about $18, if i use chicken, and that's offsetting the price difference in beef and chicken. that said, I'm sure you're good budget-wise. you could always throw some shells in, for those who'd rather have tacos. fyi, I've always used Doritos(loooong before taco bell figured it out), and those will add variety(you can also do the spicy ones, for extra flavor factor)!

You can buy a HUGE jar of jalapenos (like the kind they have at Subway) at Walmart for like $5. Its prob a 2.5 quart jar. Very inexpensive! Id keep the lettuce and tomatos .. they are pretty reasonably priced .. and delish!

I did some preliminary number crunching. Prices are based on sale prices at normal grocery stores in SoCal. Going to a costco, wlarmart, food 4 less, aldi, etc. would probably save you more money. Calculations are based on 70 people. A "serving" of most items is typically one ounce, but I doubled it two since we as Americans like to over-indulge, especially at a wedding!

Meat (1/2 cup pp): @ $2.50 per lb & 35 lbs of meat = $87.50

Tortilla chips (2 oz. pp): @ $2.50 per 12 oz. bag & 15 bags = $37.50

Cheese (2 oz. pp): @ $4.00 per lb & 9 lbs = $36.00

Salsa (2 oz. pp): @ 3 jars/$5.00 & 9 jars = $15.00

Dry beans (1/2 cup pp after cooking): @$1.00/lb & 6 lbs = $6.00

Total =$182.00

If you go with canned beans, you would need 18 10oz cans @$1.00/can = $18.00

For guacamole, making your own would be significantly cheaper if you can find avocados on sale @2/$1.00.

Oh, I will disagree with Cheetah on one point. To save even more money on the chicken, do NOT buy the boneless & skinless. Instead, de-bone and de-skin it yourself. Bone-in skin-on chicken is usually way less expensive than the convenience of having all the work done for you.

Yum. Nacho bar sounds DELICIOUS!

My FH is going to be so jealous of your Nacho bar! I think all of these items you could do relatively cheap in bulk with the meat and guac being the most expensive.

A nacho bar?! Freakin awesome! I've never seen that!

Haha...thank you! My wonderful amazing MOH came up with it! Everyone loves Nachos right? Lol