I have to get hot chocolate for the whole 5th grade in October. The teacher asked me because I'm a great deal shopper. They are going to mix it together and serve it out of crock pots. Does anyone have any ideas? Which kind would be less expensive? Would it be packets, milk, or what? There are 80 kids in the 5th grade. Thanks.
By angie from Cleveland, TN
The most economical and by far, the most delicious way to make a lot of real hot chocolate is to buy a box of Hershey's Cocoa, follow the recipe on the back of the box, and increasing the amounts of all ingredients to make as much as you need. You can make up the "syrup", then take it in jars to wherever you're going to be serving, then put it in crock pots along with milk and heat.
Also make up dry skimmed milk adding a little extra to make it richer, buy a few bags of big marshmallows and you'll be good to go. Hope this helps. I've been there and done that.
Pookarina
Last year I bought a big box of Swiss Miss hot chocolate packets at Sam's Club. I used them as part of teacher appreciation gifts, and part of my daughter's individual Christmas goody bags for her classmates. It had something like 50 or 60 packets in it, and it was maybe $5 or $6. That would be good if you just want them to mix up individual cups (you'd just need some hot water).
Good luck with the hot chocolate, it sounds like lots of fun!
I second Pookarina!
The Hershey's with instant milk sounds the best. I just want to echo loudly the marshmallow suggestion. They will make it extra-special.
I just posted and do have something else to add, though I'm not sure whether it'd work for you. Homemade marshmallows are really cheap (gelatin,sugar, (water) confectioner's sugar to roll them in, and take not a lot of time, maybe 1/2 hour to beat them (need a stand mixer) and a large pan or 1/2 sheet. Set overnight. Cut with a pizza cutter the next day and roll in confectioner's sugar, maybe 2 hours max for a lot of marshmallows but they wouldn't look as polished and even as store-bought and you'd have to have a person who wanted to take it on.
The best hot chocolate I have found happens to be Food Club hot cocoa brand sold at Piggly Wiggly. We host a turkey trot every year and this is the richest hot chocolate we've found at a very reasonable price.
I just did this! I rented a 5 gallon Cambro from a party rental shop for about $20. It's just a large thermos with a spout. No electricity needed. Used Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix. Boiled water on stove and mixed right in Cambro one gallon at a time. 16 cups water to 4 cups of Swiss Miss. One large container of Swiss Miss from Sam's and I had a little mix left over from making 4 gallons.
yeah that sound lovely
