Start Here...
- Please read and understand your role early and often! The Chairperson/s are happy to answer any questions you have. We only ask that you read this page all the way through, and that you review this committee's report from last year, a PDF file at the bottom of this page, before proceeding.
- Your committee members will bring all sorts of creative ideas to your committee. So try to recruit volunteers before the end of the school year as it may be hard to wrangle volunteers once school begins. Stay in touch with your volunteers over the summer.
- We would like to store as many of the Spaghetti Supper documents on this website as possible, so please keep an accurate electronic record of your progress as you go.
- Once the Chairperson/s set the first Spaghetti Supper meeting in late August or September, schedule your own committee meeting in September.
- Please attend all Spaghetti Supper meetings, sending a representative only if you cannot attend. Your attendance helps you and the rest of the committees.
- If you make use of you committee binder, add a printed coy of you report and copies of any documents and be sure to return it to the Chairperson/s at the wrap-up meeting after the supper.
- Send an electronic copy of your report and any support documents including photographs, PDFs of documents and/or templates for future chairs to use, to the Spaghetti Supper Chairperson and Class Treasurer.
- Have a great time!
- Grazie!
Sauce Committee Responsiblilities
The sauce committee was responsible for:
- Soliciting and procuring all of the ingredients for the sauce
- Soliciting and procuring other items needed for the meal (the spaghetti itself, olive oil, and parmesan cheese)
- Picking up donated items
- Purchasing any items that we could not get donations for
- Make and cool sauce the day before the event
- Recruiting and organizing volunteers to make the sauce
- Review the Massachusetts guidelines for food service here, http://www.mafoodsafetyeducation.info/cook/food-safety-for-food-workers/. You can print out the PDF below, although it is recommended that you check the link to be sure the guidelines are up to date. Print or email the PDF to share the guidelines with your team.
massachusetts_food_safety_for_food_workers.pdf |
Sauce Committee Timeline
July (3 months prior to event): Confirm your planned event numbers and your recipe plans. Contact Pastene to gain their commitment to donate items as they have in the past. It is also a good idea to begin soliciting for other donations at that time. But Pastene should not be delayed, their donation is significant and must be secured well in advance. Any solicitations should be communicated with the procurement chair, so that there are no overlapping requests, and so you do not waste time with places that will not donate.
August (2 months prior to event): Recruit your committee. The spaghetti supper chairs will give you names of people who have signed up, but you should recruit your key contributors before the, and plan to fill out your roster with volunteers who sign up. At least 4 of you should have cooking experience, access to cuisinarts and salad spinners, and be available from 2pm – finish (anywhere from 7 -9 PM).
September (1 month out): Confirm the rest of the volunteers, and meet as a committee to confirm day of logistics and to review the recipes. Confirm donation pickup times and logistics. Let SS Chairs know about logistics, and let the garlic bread people know when they can expect a handoff of supplies they need. Communicate with procurement chair about what you have lined up to receive, and what else you may need.
Early October (2 weeks out): Meet with Sue Robichaud, head of school cafeteria. Discuss food delivery, storage, recommendations she may have about cooking, get a tour of the equipment, and confirm that she will be available the day you cook. She is an invaluable resource.
Mid October (1 week out): Remind committee members of their shifts via e-mail. Remind them that they all need hats, and clothes they can get dirty (or aprons). Revisit and make sure that you have plans to get all the supplies and equipment you need. Communicate with SS Chairs that you have lined up everything and everyone you need. They are under a lot of pressure managing everything, and will be relieved to know (rather than have to ask) that sauce is in good shape (or if there are problems they have to help with).
Also, tell Pastene what day and time you plan to pick up, at least 3 or 4 business days before your pickup. The order needs to be picked at the warehouse, and the warehouse workers need to know you are coming.
At least 1 business day before Spaghetti Supper: Pick up at Pastene. We held the supplies over a weekend at our house so that we would be sure to have them. Do not schedule the Pastene pickup same day as SS, it takes too much time between the drive to Canton and the loading and unloading process. As long as you have the supplies from Pastene, you can recover from any problems, but you can’t have the supper without the spaghetti or the sauce base!
The warehouse can be tricky to find. I have included the emails describing where it is. Make sure to check the order slip against your order, and against what is actually in your car before leaving. It takes a good sized SUV to do the pickup.
Day Prior to Spaghetti Supper:
Day of Spaghetti Supper: There is not much to do but enjoy the meal. Leave your cell phone with the SS Chairs in case you need to answer questions.
Post SS: You will need to let the procurement chair know the details of anyone who donated, including contact details, so that the class can write them a thank you letter, and so the CSA can provide them a proper acknowledgment for tax purposes. Then you will need to write a post-op report (like this one).
Method Notes from 2015
Overview: Generally in most years you make the sauce in three batches. 2 batches of meat, one vegetarian.
Prepping the vegetables: 2 food processors are essential. Make sure they have a dicing attachment, rather than just the pulverizing blade. You don’t want mush.
Taking the skins off the garlic is very time consuming. We used a method where we shook cloves in a jar or between two metal bowls. We also tried salad spinners to shake them. The collisions of shaking them will loosen the skins and reduces peeling time dramatically.
Cooking the meat: We used both the vat and we cooked meat in pans. The results were actually better in the vat, because we could cook it all at once with softened vegetables. If you cook the veggies until they sweat first, along with the spices, and then add the meat, the results will be tastier.
Cooling the sauce: This takes most of the time. It’s a very active and slow process. The sauce has to be cooled below 70 degrees prior to being placed in the refrigerator for health reasons. We used large trays placed in bays of ice. Spread it to a depth of about 2-3 inches and stir constantly. This works best if the ice in the bays are mixed with water (which will obviously occur with melting). Having some water increases the surface area of the cold against the metal tray.
Supplies needed: Gathering donations is a large part of the job. Most places are pretty friendly about it. Several of them required a formal letter request. Attached are the letters we used to do this.
Follow Up
August (2 months prior to event): Recruit your committee. The spaghetti supper chairs will give you names of people who have signed up, but you should recruit your key contributors before the, and plan to fill out your roster with volunteers who sign up. At least 4 of you should have cooking experience, access to cuisinarts and salad spinners, and be available from 2pm – finish (anywhere from 7 -9 PM).
September (1 month out): Confirm the rest of the volunteers, and meet as a committee to confirm day of logistics and to review the recipes. Confirm donation pickup times and logistics. Let SS Chairs know about logistics, and let the garlic bread people know when they can expect a handoff of supplies they need. Communicate with procurement chair about what you have lined up to receive, and what else you may need.
Early October (2 weeks out): Meet with Sue Robichaud, head of school cafeteria. Discuss food delivery, storage, recommendations she may have about cooking, get a tour of the equipment, and confirm that she will be available the day you cook. She is an invaluable resource.
Mid October (1 week out): Remind committee members of their shifts via e-mail. Remind them that they all need hats, and clothes they can get dirty (or aprons). Revisit and make sure that you have plans to get all the supplies and equipment you need. Communicate with SS Chairs that you have lined up everything and everyone you need. They are under a lot of pressure managing everything, and will be relieved to know (rather than have to ask) that sauce is in good shape (or if there are problems they have to help with).
Also, tell Pastene what day and time you plan to pick up, at least 3 or 4 business days before your pickup. The order needs to be picked at the warehouse, and the warehouse workers need to know you are coming.
At least 1 business day before Spaghetti Supper: Pick up at Pastene. We held the supplies over a weekend at our house so that we would be sure to have them. Do not schedule the Pastene pickup same day as SS, it takes too much time between the drive to Canton and the loading and unloading process. As long as you have the supplies from Pastene, you can recover from any problems, but you can’t have the supper without the spaghetti or the sauce base!
The warehouse can be tricky to find. I have included the emails describing where it is. Make sure to check the order slip against your order, and against what is actually in your car before leaving. It takes a good sized SUV to do the pickup.
Day Prior to Spaghetti Supper:
- Schedule to acquire donations of produce. Check the orders carefully against the list you need. If Idylewild Farms donates, please be aware that there was a lot of confusion when we picked up as to what was approved, and the people at the store were not very flexible about making changes.
- Schedule volunteers to get the meat donation. Board of Health requires meat to be cooked 2 hours after delivery.
- Confirm that all ingredients have been delivered by volunteers and are in place by about 12:00. The loading dock can get backed up, so allow for extra time to actually drop things off.
- Assign volunteers to begin cutting vegetables as quickly as you can get started. Prepare the vegetables for the first batch first, so you can get that cooking, and then prepare all of the next batches.
- Have someone bring ice by about 3:30pm. You will need another delivery later, at about 5:30pm.
- Cool the sauce, store the sauce, and clean the dishes. Go home.
Day of Spaghetti Supper: There is not much to do but enjoy the meal. Leave your cell phone with the SS Chairs in case you need to answer questions.
Post SS: You will need to let the procurement chair know the details of anyone who donated, including contact details, so that the class can write them a thank you letter, and so the CSA can provide them a proper acknowledgment for tax purposes. Then you will need to write a post-op report (like this one).
Method Notes from 2015
Overview: Generally in most years you make the sauce in three batches. 2 batches of meat, one vegetarian.
Prepping the vegetables: 2 food processors are essential. Make sure they have a dicing attachment, rather than just the pulverizing blade. You don’t want mush.
Taking the skins off the garlic is very time consuming. We used a method where we shook cloves in a jar or between two metal bowls. We also tried salad spinners to shake them. The collisions of shaking them will loosen the skins and reduces peeling time dramatically.
Cooking the meat: We used both the vat and we cooked meat in pans. The results were actually better in the vat, because we could cook it all at once with softened vegetables. If you cook the veggies until they sweat first, along with the spices, and then add the meat, the results will be tastier.
Cooling the sauce: This takes most of the time. It’s a very active and slow process. The sauce has to be cooled below 70 degrees prior to being placed in the refrigerator for health reasons. We used large trays placed in bays of ice. Spread it to a depth of about 2-3 inches and stir constantly. This works best if the ice in the bays are mixed with water (which will obviously occur with melting). Having some water increases the surface area of the cold against the metal tray.
Supplies needed: Gathering donations is a large part of the job. Most places are pretty friendly about it. Several of them required a formal letter request. Attached are the letters we used to do this.
Follow Up
- Inventory remaining supplies and update list for chairpersons
- Transfer remaning (nonperishable) supplies back to storage shed
- Email Food Service Director to thank then for their help as well as student and parent volunteers
- Complete and submit final committee report to chairpersons
PDF's of Past Sauce Committee Reports
|
|
|
|
|
|