How to Feed Surprise Dinner Guests: Last-Minute Meal Additions

Every mother has been in the situation when last-minute dinner guests are either invited to join the family for a meal, or who just show up for dinner with little or no advance notice. Sometimes if you were planning to make a little extra to have some leftovers, this is not a problem, but if you are cooking one chicken breast for each member of the family and serving a small side of broccoli, adding three people to the table will stretch things significantly. The following tips will help you to adapt and add some food to your meal when you have surprise dinner guests.

Surprise Dinner Guest Tip: Serve Appetizers
Typically, this would be referred to as spoiling somebody's appetite, which is seen as a bad thing. When you don't have enough food prepared to satisfy everybody's appetite, go ahead and spoil them. Serve bowls of mixed nuts and pretzels, or crackers and cream cheese, or even a bag of chips. If surprise dinner guests come often, consider having on hand things that can quickly be put on the table as appetizers. This will also buy you a little bit of time to add items to the main part of the meal if needed.

Surprise Dinner Guest Tip: Cut Meat Into Strips
If you were planning to serve pieces of meat for dinner, and you suddenly have more people than you have portions of meat, the best thing to do is to cut your portions into strips and serve them from a bowl. That way, everybody will get the same amount, and they won't even be able to tell that they have less than a full portion of meat.

Surprise Dinner Guest Tip: Add Frozen Vegetables
Frozen vegetables cook very quickly in the microwave or on the stove, and they can be a great and simple addition to any meal. Serve a side of corn or green beans, or if you're feeling fancy, some creamed spinach. Any of these items will put not only more food on the plates, but also add some color and nutrition!

Surprise Dinner Guest Tip: Add Instant Mashed Potatoes
This is my favorite way to stretch a meal very quickly: add instant mashed potatoes. They are really inexpensive, taste great, and take just a few minutes to prepare. Plus, they go well with just about any meal. It would be a good idea to have a box on hand, and ten minutes before dinner is served, put some water on the stove (or in your electric kettle if you have one). After your water boils, just add the potato flakes and butter, and give it a few minutes to re-hydrate.

Surprise Dinner Guest Tip: Serve Dessert
If you find that your meal just wasn't quite enough food to satisfy everybody, then serve dessert afterwards. If you have some ice cream on hand, or even just open up some canned fruit and serve fruit cups, it will leave your guests with something to finish off the meal and make it seem more complete.