1. Choose a dish that you can make almost completely in advance. (Almost completely? Well, so that all you need to do is add the almonds and the dressing to the green salad or the crushed nachos to the top of the casserole.)
2. Make a dish that will travel well. (A 4-layer cake with wobbly decorations on top? Probably not. A frozen dessert? Only if it’s a 10-minute drive or less to the destination, with a freezer immediately available when you get there.)
3. Prepare a dish that won’t self-destruct if it sits and waits. (Skip a soufflé or a designed dusting of confectioners sugar on a warm volcano cake.)
4. If you have a winner of a dish, double or triple it, depending on the size of the group. But make sure it’s a recipe that survives that kind of expansion—and that you have adequately-sized containers to prepare and then transport it.
5. If kids are attending the potluck, keep them in mind when you decide what to make. Finger foods are especially easy for kids to handle.
6. If you made the dish last year and people loved it, make it again this year. Good chance someone’s hoping you’ll show up with that same amazing Chicken Chili Bake. The idea is not to show your versatility as a cook, but to bring the dish that always gets eaten up after the first pass-through.
7. Label your container and its lid.
8. Take your own serving spoon. (The host probably doesn’t have an infinite supply). Label it, too.
9. If you don’t have time to cook, put together a cheese board.
Eight or fewer people eating? Choose two or three cheeses, about one pound of each. You can go mild and creamy, paired with hard and bitey.
For eight to twelve people, select about 4 different cheeses, again a variety of textures and flavors.
Add some cut-up fruit that’s not too juicy (apples, grapes, dates, dried apricots), breadsticks, or crackers, maybe some mustards for dipping.
Have a separate knife for each kind of cheese.