For years, restaurants have allowed us to customize our meals with a salad bar or buffet. But sometimes it costs a pretty penny. Why not do a smaller, more affordable version of that “bar” at home? In fact, it’s the perfect idea for roommates – a simple way to personalize your meal!
Let’s face it, we don’t all like the same things. Duh! But if we make several options available, everyone can have exactly what they like…even if they have to avoid one or two things due to dietary restrictions. Thanks to my friend Debbie who gave the inspiration AND the pictures for this post!
Mexican Bars
There’s an old joke that Mexican food is just 5 or 6 ingredients you mix and match to make every possible Mexican dish. To an extent, that’s true. So, it’s pretty easy to come up with a group of ingredients you can use to make several different bars.
Start with something simple like a Street Taco Bar: small flour or corn tortillas, meat or grilled peppers and onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, jalapeños, avocado, and salsa.
For a more traditional Taco Bar, simply add hard corn taco shells and maybe make some carnitas in the crockpot for the meat.
Bowls are a hot item right now. Use the same standard ingredients from your other bars but add rice and beans and maybe switch to grilled chicken for a Mexican Bowl Bar.
Start with a bed of tortilla chips, meat or beans and cheese, broil until cheese melts, then top with your standard ingredients for a Nacho Bar. Maybe this is how you use up the leftovers from a previous Mexican bar!
(Plus make Chuy’s Creamy Jalapeño Dip at home…even dairy-free if you want!)
Noodle Bar
Whether you like regular pasta or zucchini or other veggie spirals, you can make those the base of your “bowl” and provide some protein and other veggie options for toppings. This one works hot or cold. If you want it warm, maybe you need pesto or a marinara sauce on the bar. Cold simply requires a couple of salad dressings as sauces.
Hot Dog Bar
Ultra simple and requires no explanation…seriously the hardest part of this one is cooking the dogs!
“Make Your Own” Pizza Bar
This one requires a little more cook time. For fun, everyone could make their own crust by pressing out the dough. Or the crusts could all be cooked right before mealtime. Or we like using pita rounds, flour tortillas or wraps as our crust sometimes (and I buy these when they’re BOGO for extra savings). If using thinner crusts, cut back on sauce just a little.
Once each person adds their own toppings, their pizza needs to be cooked long enough for the cheese to melt and everything to heat through. Just be prepared for that little extra time and oven use.
Grilled Cheese Bar
Maybe you offer options on bread, cheese, AND some optional toppings for a special grilled cheese. You could do offer choices on a “menu” (like in the picture) or let everyone make their own then toast it to their liking. Pair with a crock of tomato soup and some crackers…what a tasty meal!
Omelet Bar
Provide everyone with a bowl of 2 eggs whisked together with about a tablespoon of water. Then provide meat and veggie toppings (chopped small for this purpose). One more whisk of the eggs and toppings and into the pan the omelet goes. Who wouldn’t love this easy breakfast at night? (No pic for this one, but you get the idea…just came to mind as I was typing)
Why is this a great idea for roommates or friends?
There’s just not enough hours in a day. But what if you could each contribute to the bar with just a couple of items? Together, you’d have a whole meal!
Even if you had to leave it in the fridge on a night when everyone’s schedule is crazy, just mark what each item is, and everyone can pull it out and assemble their own when they get home. (Containers where you could write on the side or top with dry erase marker like these would be great for this!)
“Bars” – the perfect way to “personalize” your meal!
Everyone does a little of the work, everyone gets what they want, everyone gets fed (even if it’s later), it’s almost like a weeknight party, AND leftovers can be thrown together in a soup or casserole at the end of the week. Yes, the perfect apartment-kitchen-sharing idea!
Got another idea for a bar? Share it in the comments below…the more the merrier!
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