hey would be the cheapest way to get 40 pies. i wanna do 40 pies for my upcomming 38th birthday. (along with slime) Part of me just wants to get them from a bakery, but i may just need to buy. but what would be the cheapest route for 40 pies (talking pudding and whip cream and crust)
For the crust I am still trying to learn how to do them (here in Brazil I don't find it easily done), but for the cream part (like shaving cream), I use a mix of cold water (1 cup) to ~17g of emulsifier and around 1/3 cups of sugar
I'd skip the bakery - that would get pretty expensive. Same with buying them from the supermarket, even in bulk (I suppose that's possible). You can make your own pies in a variety of styles, some with crust and some without. Purchase the pie tins (check the dollar stores nearby), then follow any number of recipes. A messy friend and I have been using heavy cream which can then be whipped using an electric mixer - add coloring as desired. I also love mixing ready-made cake frosting with shaving cream - stir together and you get a nice sticky mix (the frosting comes in a variety of colors). Pudding and cake mix stirred together make a nice filling, and you can add topping to some and leave others open. All of that cleans up easily and nicely, since it's all sugar-based. Have fun!
I'd buy the pie tins on Amazon.com you can get them in bulk and the ones with smooth edges. Then if you have a bulk food store near you , GFS restaurant supplies store you can buy big cans of pudding and or fruit fillings and top them how ever you want. Enjoy!
If you have instacart, I'd start playing around with searching items. Near me there's an Aldi, they sell pie crusts from about $1.25, if you were willing to pay around $25, you could get like 20 pie tins depending on the delivery fee. (it wasn't much of an increase for me). I spent $50 for 40 pie crusts, and I think that's reasonable.
Sams Club on instacart is also good because you don't need a membership. Sams Club sells tubs (and I mean like big tubs) of Cool Whip called "Sam's Vanilla Whipped Icing". It goes for like $33, and can fill a large amount of pies.
I know this is not exactly in line with your question, but I second the cake frosting mixed with SC approach that another reply mentioned. Makes a lovely texture if mixed slowly.
Amazon often sells a 12 can case of Gillette Foamy Sensitive SC for ~$15 with free shipping. Difficult to beat that for quality and quantity.
Depending on what bulk discount stores you shop at (BJ's, Costco's, Sam's), Frozen pies can be cheap - easy to pick up in bulk, and thaw in a relatively short time period. I was pleasantly surprised...
Wow! 40 would be epic! Def agree to make your own. For sure will be the cheapest route. I like the frozen crusts you bake or seconded with the tins. I wonder if you could just make a bunch of instant pudding (can buy the powder in bulk) and then top with either shaving foam (not as tasty) or make the mentioned above recipe w the cold water, emulsifier and sugar. Have fun!
I made 50 pies ones for a kink event where I had them tie me up and cover me, and faced the same issue. I wanted to minimize cost and non-edible mess, so didn't want to use tins or paper plates.
My solution for the crust - Tortillas!
Bake them inside of a pie tin just a little bit, and they will hold their form and will break apart like a pie crust upon impact. (You can experiment with different times to see what you like; I found less cooking was better for people to handle as they were less likely to shatter as they picked them up.)
I then used pudding for the filling, and cool whip for the top, and some rainbow sprinkles for fun. (I could have used shaving cream for the top to save a little money.)