Barely a duplicate to be seen. There was also another table filled with plates of bars. Bowls of hot dish and plates of buns rounded out the meal. Yes a classic Minnesota Lutheran funeral meal. My favorite Ladies Aid cookbook has many jello salad recipes plus an entire section devoted to bars in addition to the one for cookies. It is a well used cookbook.

Was there Tater Tot Casserole?

AKA Tater Tot Hotdish

There were only a couple of Jello salads but lots & lots of bars at my maternal grandmother's funeral.

I am of the opinion you are not legally dead in Minnesota if there is not Jello at your funeral lunch.

I worried that my dad's brother had faked his death when at his lunch, held at Mt Olivet Lutheran Church (one of the big ones in Minneapolis, if you're not familiar) there was no Jello at all.

But yes, there has to be jello for a proper funeral lunch. 😀

My Grandma was Methodist and again small MN town - no bars or jello but oh my the cakes. OMG the absolute best cake ever. The “church ladies” took great pride in the cakes they made for funerals. It was what they “did” for departed parishioners. I see a similar pattern at my church - one woman always, always makes Buckeyes for the requisite cookie plate. Even for her own father’s funeral.

"Measure with your heart"