Food suggestions for low budget film

A

Angelshare1

Well-known member
I've been buying little snack packs of chips and cookies. Individually wrapped variety packs along with waters and gatoraide's, pops, ect. And we usually order lunch like pizza. Any other ideas for easy food? (I like these because I can pick up the leftovers, toss them into a bag and use them on the next location.)

What have you liked on other low budget sets? One of my actors told me he really likes that I always have snacks because a lot of other filmmakers don't know to do that. (This is Minnesota, not LA!) Another actor mentioned that I should have more healthy options, but accomodating everyone with fruit and veggies is hard to do when your doing everything yourself and healthy food goes bad, while Fritos have nuclear level half lives.
 
I couldn't personally last on pizza, chips, cookies, and soda for very long. Food like that just makes everybody on set tired and irritable.

If providing fruit is too difficult, I don't have any advice. Just don't ask me to work for you.
 
We've had.. on the feature I'm doing now..

Day 1.. Chili, (bought a tuna sub for the one person who was a vegetarian) cheese and crackers, and someone baked a chocolate cake. Soda/Water

Day 2.. Spaghetti, with garlic bread, someone brought some extra odds and ends like chips, cheese and juice. Soda/Water

Day 3.. Subway platters, Soda/Water

Day 4... Pizza (small cast and crew) Soda, Water

Day 5... Tacos with all the fixings, brownies, cookies, and all sorts of stuff, coffee, soda, water, tea. (we had someone actually cater this day)

Day 6.... Chili dogs, chips and dip, Soda, Water

Day 7.... Boston Butt, fixings. Soda, Water

Day 8.... Fajitas, with all the fixings.. Soda, Water and all sorts of desserts

Day 9..... Spaghetti again. Soda, Water

Day 10.... Hamburgers and Hotdogs, grilled.. all the fixings, Soda, Water

and then we pretty much repeated things a few times.
 
I don't see why everyone is against pizza. I expect to get pizza on a one day shoot actually. I'll tolerate it for a short gig regardless of my pay. If it's an extended operation, two days of pizza in a row isn't tolerable. One day, that's totally fine.

At the very least you should have salads, fruit, snack bars (like granola bars, etc) soda, water, etc. accessible.

You can't just have crap food. Believe it or not, people do go on diets, some don't drink soda, some hate potato chips. Some try to eat healthy in general. You really have to get bananas, apples, and such. I'd stay away from oranges. Some people (like myself) can't peel them easily. And nothing is worse than being defeated by an orange on a long day on location.

Hotdogs, Hamburgers, and stuff are always good. Subs are cheap and filling. Pasta stuff you really can't go wrong with. I've been fed chili too. Pulled-pork sandwiches are easy. Hell, you could probably swing grilled cheese and such.

But always have a variety of drinks, and hazard on getting water only if you are on the fence. Mornings, have coffee, some people need it to function. And tea for non-coffee drinkers. Donuts, Bagels and cream-cheese, butter. Non-expensive and can last through the day.
 
Sorry this post got a lot longer than I planned while writing... I apparently like to talk about food...

Anything that can be self assembled and setup as a "bar" can be easy, inexpensive, and being a picky eater, means I can get exactly what I want and everyone else can ruin their meal with olives.

pasta (with sauces and toppings), tacos, fajitas, meat and sandwiches (could be deli, could be barbecue, could be anything really), nachos, etc. fit the bill as do many others.

Mexican and Barbecue places many times have catering options that allow you to pick up trays of meat and appropriate sides. (fixins here in Oklahoma)

If fruit isn't feasible, how about dried fruit? Although cutting up fruit isnt all that hard... or just providing some apples and bananas. Lots of fruit that doesnt need any prep beyond washing off... Put 15 minutes into your schedule to go pick up a days worth of fruit every morning and you'll have some happier less sluggish actors and crew. Veggies can be tougher if you can't keep a tray in a refrigerator. At least get someone to run 15 minutes to the store before lunch and get a tray or retrieve them from a nearby fridge if you want to prep them yourself (cheaper, but I'm lazy).

And like Azmyth noted above - soda and water. water should be available the entire time. A hydrated crew is a happy one. Pretzels and other snacks are nice to have out with the fruit all day too. Its kind of mean, but I like to have pretzels out when its hot to ensure that everyone is drinking lots of water. And I like pretzels.

And coffee in the morning. If its a small group the starbuck's traveler (i think thats what its called) is easy to transport and keeps you from having to run a coffee pot on set. Also assures that the coffee will be mediocre at least. I've ruined a few pots of coffee...

Lastly (and it sounds like you may have) - talk to your actors and crew. Give them a survey to fill out or send them all an e-mail with specific questions that they will hopefully reply to. Ask about Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher, Gluten-free, Diabetic, etc. as well as any allergies. Also ask for any favorites in sodas or sports drinks.

Lastly again - papertowels, heavy duty paper plates (chinet), heavy duty plastic utensils, coffee creamer, sugar, salt pepper, red solo cups (with sharpie for identification), styrofoam cups for coffee, coffee stirring straws, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, and cooler (unless you have a big fridge on site).

And when on a budget ask around for local vendors to sponsor the film with food. You might be surprised. Think "mom and pop" vs wal-mart though. Wal-mart, starbucks, etc, usually have too many policies and procedures in place to just donate product without a hassle. Offer them a credit at the end of the film or a place foir their logo on your posters or other promotional materials. Or if the venue is right perhaps you could screen at their restaurant on a normall slow night giving them some business they wouldn't normally get.

And Azmyth - Tuna sub for a a vegetarian? How did that go over?.
 
On a one dayer you usually get from me -

fruit / bottled water / coke / coffee / tea and whatever the chef makes that day. Usually I like to provide a vegetarian rice dish with meat on the side that people can add to it like spicy chicken wings etc. That way all my bases are covered. People eat high energy food thats going to help them through the day. Personally Im sick of getting junk food on set.

I find a good alternative though in a pinch are the subway platters (you have those?)
 
Against Pizza? No. Allergic to onions and peppers and lactose intolerant...yes!

It is always hard for me on indies so I often have no choice but to bring my own snacks or simply go hungry. Sandwich platters also leave me in a bad spot because I don't eat bread thanks to what it does to my tummy.

Bringing in healthy snacks is not that difficult. Fruit comes in plastic cups now. Nuts are healthier (if not allergic) than Doritos and they come in packages. Packages of tuna & chicken are now in foil that can be torn open easily and much healthier than Pizza...plus tortilla wraps are healthier than bread since they have no yeast in most cases. Chick-fil-A does platters of chicken and the prices are not that bad. Many grocery stores do wraps on platters too.

I know junk food seems easier but you also risk your cast and crew crashing down from junk food and not having great energy. They need some sort of protein and not just wheat and sugar.

I did an indie years ago and we had lots of healthy snacks on board and several of the crew made meals to bring to set. Buying groceries and cooking something may seem like it takes a lot of time but it ends up being cheaper on the budget by far! We all felt like we ate like kings and we saved a lot of money by cooking most of our hot meals ourselves. Even the directors wife made some meals and I cooked 2 of the breakfasts myself! Cost was about $$20 a meal compared to buying $40 in pizzas! It cut our food costs by over 50%!!

Yes, it does take some time but perhaps you know someone who would like to break in to catering who you could ask about working for free with your food budget so they can earn a credit and build their own resume! Do offer them some gas money for running around to stores and bringing stuff to set though!
 
I definitely am anti-carb anti-heavy, anti-pasta, anti-pizze etc. Light, protein based stuff like chicken or tuna salad that can be served with or without bread is is best in my book, along with fruit, water and soft drinks. Light munch-ables are good too, again including fruit, carrots and even cookies if they're reasonably healthy and not too sugar-loaded (i.e. quality oatmeal cookies = good, chocolate chips, Oreos = bad). Sugar, and especially carbs are risky - they tend to cause large energy drops soon after eating, which is obviously *not* the desired effect. So here's what I'd consider a best/worst contrast:

Best: containers of chicken and tuna salad, and/or broiled chicken pieces, and/or low-fat fresh cold cuts, light bread (or just plates available), fruit, water, low-sugar cookies, munchable carrots, celery, broccoli, etc., coffee and tea, or the like.

Worst: Pizza, Pasta; Fritos, Doritos, or any other oily, salty junk-snacks (except as a tiny part of the total); sugary sodas (without a bottled water alternative), sugar-heavy cookies.

Unfortunately, in my experience the latter menu is *much* more commonplace. I recently looked at some footage from a shoot I did a while back and thought to myself "geez - I look so drained". I take full responsibility for not pulling myself together in the moment better than that, but it's IMHO also worth noting that it was shot not long after a no-options pizza/soda/chips lunch.

My $.02
 
We've had very good experience on very low budget films with just cooking. It's surprisingly much easier than I thought it would be, and you get much better food for less money. Even if you hit up the Trader Joe's, that stuff is super cheap and has a much wider variety of "healthier" things to choose from. Cooks quickly and cheap.

We stay away from junk food on set because people tend to crash.

Also, on LOST CHILDREN, the intensity of the acting work made it impossible to go longer than 4-5 hrs anyway. So we often just had snacks and drinks.

Think about cooking, if you are in a place that you can do that. All of my shorts have a family vibe to them, so if there's an actor on board who loves cooking, they will usually do one of the meals for the shoot. That's how it works in ultra-low-budget world.
 
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Mattykins said:
And nothing is worse than being defeated by an orange on a long day on location.
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I fell out of my chair at that one.

It's been my (limited) personal experience that simply asking what everyone wants is the best way to ensure people stay happy. I've actually used food to surprise my actors and cheer them up on, say, take 10. One of them loved Cheez Itz, but on Day 1 we had only Cheese Nips. So the next day, when I laid out the craft table, he only saw the Nips. Lo' and behold, guess what I found in my car when he started to get cranky (actors can be annoying)?! I busted out the Cheez Itz and took 5.

Take 11 was the keeper :D

Obviously, when your crew and cast start to get bigger and you have more mouths to feed, it's going to be a lot more work and cost more money if you're stuck with craft services. I recommend doing the survey thing regardless. But on low- or no-budget sets, paying attention to the little things your cast/crew ask for and providing makes them feel appreciated and that you listened, and, since the cast might be paid little, if anything, that goes a long way when keeping the set professional.
 
On our last shooting almost nobody touched the fruit and vegetables.
But we run out of cheeseburgers, pizza and hot dogs pretty soon after the mob invaded the buffet.

Maybe it´s a cultural thing and it´s different here in Germany, or maybe it was just my crew, which is not exactly very Gucci when it comes to food.

Next time I try to recruit not so much Bavarian rednecks :happy:

Personally I´m not very ambitious (except I hate seafood).
As long as I got a pack of cigarettes, coffee and some sandwiches, I´m quite happy.


Frank
 
Postmaster said:
On our last shooting almost nobody touched the fruit and vegetables.
But we run out of cheeseburgers, pizza and hot dogs pretty soon after the mob invaded the buffet.

Maybe it´s a cultural thing and it´s different here in Germany, or maybe it was just my crew, which is not exactly very Gucci when it comes to food.

Next time I try to recruit not so much Bavarian rednecks :happy:

Personally I´m not very ambitious (except I hate seafood).
As long as I got a pack of cigarettes, coffee and some sandwiches, I´m quite happy.


Frank
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i wish this was my post...Frank, we park our cars in the same garage. but i'm only German by descent. Didn't know the low-budget crowd were such finicky eaters.
 
What the crew wants and what the actors want can be very different things. The crew might prefer pizza and burgers. Most actors won't. At least not in my experience...

I've heard tell of a few "food mutinies" on sets where these kinds of issues (fast food) were at play...
 
The problem I've found is that the actors (trying to stay skinny) eat differently than the MOGs (Men of Girth, grips, gaffers and the like). And then it seems like there is always a vegetarian in the group.

If you get small rolls they can do a build your own sandwich if you have turkey, cheese, etc platters (from costco or several markets.)

Around here several markets have a 'bag of salad'. Then a couple of small containers of tomatoes, baby carrots, brocolli and a couple salad dressings works.

It can get hot on the set so lots of bottled water, diet soda and iced tea works. I bring in real coke at the end of the day for a pick me up during the last hour or two.

Pizza has never worked for me. People are too picky most of the time. I haven't tried spaghetti only because I didn't want sauce on the costumes.

Rice, chili, corn bread and meat in separate containers has worked because people can mix and match what they want. Trader Joes does trays of cubed boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are great for that and salads.
 
Duke M. said:
The problem I've found is that the actors (trying to stay skinny) eat differently than the MOGs (Men of Girth, grips, gaffers and the like). And then it seems like there is always a vegetarian in the group.
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EXACTLY!!!

Crew does not have to worry about staying thin or keeping their skin from breaking out but the actor does. And even if it does not affect them during your shooting days, it does not mean they won't break out or hold the pounds on the next shoot they have right after yours.

And just for the fun of it...the next time someone tells me they are vegetarian but they eat fish..I am gonna laugh in their face! Did someone forget to tell them fish is a meat and not a veggie?
 
Long time since anyone posted here. I'm looking to shoot a sub $100k film sometime next year and I've never done things the more official way. Last film was about $60k but it wasn't a 20-30 day schedule or anything super official so I'm going at this for what feels like the first time. What should I be expecting to budget for food? Even if I don't know exactly how I'm spending that right now, what do you suggest I write down for now? Crew of perhaps 5-8 with actors on set. Smaller crew...
 
"That orange colour gets everywhere....."

Flashing on the guy snoring on the couch that stole Woody in TS2 and the bowls contents all over the floor.
 
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