Buffet ideas please

? It tends to work better with fewer people.

It's not a terrible idea actually,. If you asked, say, 10 people you knew were reliable to bring a platter of snacks at least you wouldn'rt have the hassle and expense, and people like to feel involved. You could buy them nice boxes of chocs/bottle of champagne as a thank you. It would mean a bit of a mixed bag of stuff, but a lot of it's likely not to be eaten anyway.

Oh i know sophie. in small numbers its great, and a lot of fun. we do thi with mates sometimes, but only about 8 - i allocate what they do, so tell one to do a starter, one the main etc. good fun.

but for 150 people? eek.

I knew you'd approve Nick ?

It's what I've grown up with as the 'norm' for family parties - although thinking about it, it might be a Quakerly thing originally ('bring and share').

Everyone brings a dish, yep - whatever they want - most people have a speciality dish they like to show off (rice salads, pasta salads, pies/flans, home made cakes, bread, trifles etc). We tend to then just buy the minimum bread/cheese/nibbles and drinks. If you think you'll be innundated with puddings and no savoury or vice versa, you can split people up and ask them to bring one or the other, but in general it just seems to work out fine.

And much nicer than loads of shop bought stuff - but without the catering nightmares, so the host/s can actually enjoy themselves.

It involves a certain amount of trust in your friends I guess, but it works for us.

I mnot averse to the idea of doing it at all, and as i said, we do it for fun for dinners sometimes. but how does it work for 150 people? surely the only way is to say to 15 people, each make a dish for 15 people and those 15 are given a budget for each dish. you cant have 75 people bringing all manner of platers, tupperwares, pots and pans ?. what would be the point? they may as well just eat first and go to the party later.

Whyever not? It's not exactly smart and matching but who cares?

WRT the second bit: coz they get to eat each others' nice food of course!

I think in principle it could be done if you can get a few other people to share the load - even if you can get ten other people to bring a tray of (pre-specified) food each - easy stuff like sandwiches or cakes, then you could concentrate your budget on the other bits and maybe squeeze it in to £300.

Mr G were at a wedding at the weekend, and the buffet (for about 120) was as follows: huge trays of potato wedges with communal ketchup bowls, garlic bread with cheese (quite cold), sausage rolls, sandwiches (egg, ham, cheese, possibly tuna), that was it. If you stick to something as achingly dull and lardy as that, you could get it in under £300. I'd ditch the cold garlic bread though, it was awful ?. You could have french sticks and butter instead. They served wedding cake for dessert.

Sausage and chips x 150 from the local chippy? Maybe they'd throw in a battered Mars bar per peron if you buy in bulk ??

But 150 people is too many for that to work. As Nick says, assume you're talking 75 couples. 75 different dishes would be a logistical nightmare. And either each couple would have to bring enough food for two, which would be ridiculous, or you'd end up with a mountain of uneaten food.

I love how the OP has long gone and we're all still here arguing the toss on her behalf ?

? Sorry, Beth, I thought you'd (understandably) decided to leave us to it.

can you imagine the end of the evening? people will be scratting around to find their own plates/boxes/tupperwares/pots etc. there d be duplications, people would take the wrong thing, some people might see a nice pot and nick it ?, its a ridiculous suggestion, unless the person in charge delegated the making of say, 10 different large dishes to 10 people. in other words, those ten cook for 15 people each, so that way the fod is all covered.

however, to make decent casserole or whatever, each of those ten need 30 quid each for ingredients etc. it WOULD be doable that way, but beth would have to dictate (to a point) what they made, and the problem of pud remains, since she needs 150 puds, which would then bugger up the budget. one way *may* be to look into how much a few hundred profiteroles would cost but i still think that at 2 quid a head its a pretty tall order.

I've been to an event where they did this! Ok, so it wasn't the nicest food, but it was a party-in-a-hall type event where the main focus was drinking, and the majority of people enjoyed it.

And, having just done a quick google you can get a mobile fish & chip van (ignoring the random apostrophe) : ?

Private / corporate party's
It's not unusual nowadays to see our mobile catering units at birthdays, weddings and christmas party's. Our various units mean we can cater for any type of event small or large.

With packages starting at just £2 per head give us a call and find out why we dont just make your party different, we make it SPECIAL

My family/friends must be a different social type to a lot of the people here I think. If we were invited to a 65th birthday in a hall we'd expect sausage rolls, sandwiches and that sort of low brow buffet food. It's just the norm in our circle. I doubt anyone would moan or leave if you provided cheapy Iceland food or whatever, they are there to celebrate your dad's birthday and most will eat before arriving anyway.

I don't think anyone's saying that type of food would be unassepable for this type of event (although it truly does ming), but that even that would be really difficult for Beth to produce on that budget, with no help.

I'm liking the idea of roping in 10 helpers actually. If you brief them reasonably well you could end up with a nice variety of stuff. As for pudding, I'd just buy a couple of vast tins of Celebrations or Quality Street and serve with coffee.

Still think the birthday cake only idea is the least hassle though.

Goodness, it certainly sounds like a very stressful job!

Could you rope in a few other close family members to help? Aunties etc?

youre right. i think it does depend on your social circle, level of expectation, budget, all kinds of things. in my social circle, no one would cater in this way, with sausage rolls and such, they just wouldnt do it, but then again, my ex postie makes things like game casseroles, pies, things like that when he has people over, which are always excellent. its not about money as such, and tbh, if somoene spent fortunes providing something so utterly outrageous, i d think it was naff. in my social circle, food and drink is important, and when people come to us i want to to be nice, but not OTT. its what youre used to i guess, how you were brought up and what food you ve expereinced and are used to.

to me though, the thought of going to a do and being served with shop bought sausage rolls, pies and chicken drumsticks fills me with disappointment, and whilst yes, youre not going for the food, youre going for a night out and a celebration, i d still be disappointed, and likely to leave earlier, or simply eat beforehand or not go at all, depending on who it was. i went to a wedding over christmas, the bride is a vegtarian. the meal was vegetarian sausages and mash, a nd absolutely minging "gravy" followed by a dried out sponge pudding. it was VILE, everything was vile, hideous and nasty. sadly, all the guests were discussing how on earth the bride thoiught it was ok to push her vegetarianism on everyone else, and a good few people left right after the meal, including me. the point i m trinyg to make is that whilst the food is not THE focus of an event like that, its still important to an ever growing number of people.

If everyone is going to be a bit beery maybe a spit roast (snigger) type thing would be an idea? i think a whole pig does about that number and i have seen places that do DIY hire with a pig - but not sure of prices

I was just about to post the same - we did this after my Dad's funeral as we had 200 & it was back at my Parents - So we put up a marquee & set the bar up out in the garden & had a lamb & hog roast - £695 & came with a chief. It came with a selection of breads & pickles/chutneys etc...

You know the type of people you are catering for and if you think they'll be happy with sausages and drumsticks etc then go for it.

You could cook the chicken and sausages beforehand and freeze them.

I wouldn't bother with sandwiches though, just rolls and butter.

(Dare I say that Iceland mini pasties are nice). I've never had them myself but my SIL had some at her works Christmas do and was very surprised at how good they were.

I book an outside caterer for lunches at work when we have meetings/training. They charge £4 per head for sandwiches, sausage rolls, pork pie, crisps, vol-u-vonts and cake/flapjack. We are only talking a maximum of 15 people though.

I think if you can stretch your budget to £3 per head then its do-able. Can you look on yell.com for local caterers?

eta, forgot to say Makro is probably best if you have a card.

Mr G's family parties are always along the quiche, drumsticks, salad line. I rarely do buffets myself, but would put out French bread with cheeses, pate and meats, salad, loads of fruit, then make fancy cupcakes, stacks of profiteroles and brownies.

Nick, what kind of buffet food would you ideally like to see then?

I hate it when you go to a wedding and the food is bad - at a wedding we were at recently, the food was quite bland and my roast potatoes were still hard, plus they gave me a dollop of packet mash [vomits]. Mind you, I'm not sure my wedding meal was that fantastic, it seemed OK at the time but I've raised my standards since then ?

buffet food i like are things which show some imagination, even if its just really simply, well made salads with good, fresh ingredients, and really great bread. i dont want ponce, i just want good ingredients well made. eg, you can work wonders with a shoulder of lamb - a very cheap cut of meat. make some pitta bread, some hummus, couple of other things, some decent salad and a good pud, and i m happy. certainly doesnt need to be expensive. belly prok is great for things like that, slow cooked it melts in your mouth. add some home made apple sauce or maybe do it in a oriental way with a pile of rice, and "wallah" ?

I think buffets work if there's some kind of coherence to them. I don't like to use the word "theme" [rrotfl] but that's what it is, essentiaally. There's absolutely nothing wrong with good, home-made sausage rolls and good quality pork pies if they're being served in the context of an old-fashiooned, traditional picnic - so with egg sandwiches, cherry cake, asparagus and mayonnaise, potted shrimps, strawberries etc. Lovely. It's the sausagerolls-curlingsandwiches-miniquiches-wedges-minisamosas thing that's so depressing.

Sorry to bump this but this is worth it I promise...

Nick... you know I'm veggie right?

Do you think I had meat at my wedding?....

(have to say you are sounding pretty considerably-richer-than-yaw about this. Some of us are just common, OK? ?)

I have to say I think the fish & chip van is bloody genius. My mum went to a wedding that did just that - followed by an ice cream van and everyone absolutely loved loved it. Ok, maybe at a funky artist / medja person's wedding and not a 65th birthday, but I love it.

Also, now I think about it, I went to a wedding that had all the guests bring a dish for the buffet. Someone orchestrated it. And more than one person was asked to bring the same thing so that there were enough eg: Salads, er..chicken legs (?) whatever, it was really nice, everyone loved being involved and it meant they could invite as many people as they wanted. Some very organised person was detailed with a sheet of blank stickers to put the name of the bringer on the bottom of the tray / bowl as soon as it was handed over.

I know it's not the same, but we recently did a two day function, in the early afternoon, we did french sticks, wraps and ciabattas with "different" fillings for £5 a head, but we did do over 200! However, we did soup and stovies for £3 a head in the evening - how about that? And I think you're in Scotland aren't you?

i couldnt give a fat rats ass if you had meat at your wedding or not. the fact is, people should NOT force your veggie-ness onto me, and make me eat fucking quorn sausages or whatever they were. this girl decided that they, as the hosts, were going to serve 100% vegetarian food, which, if it had been great, wouldnt have bothered me actually, but it was rubbish. and people like meat, particualry at a wedding when thoughtless couples dont cater enough.

and your final comment i am really baffled by.

I have to agree with Nick - its really sad when people provide 'food' no matter what the quality or cost when its a celebration, with little thought into how edible it is. Its nothing to do with class or status, just wanting to provide your guests with nice food, even if its really simple.

exactly. for me at least, its all about thought.

I know you don't care but I'm going to tell you anyway! We had 100% veggie food. We paid for it - why the hell should we provide dead animal? Can people really not cope without for one day? As it turns out, most people didn't notice; there were a variety of options for the main (no fake meat though).

Frankly, I couldn't give a rat's arse if they had noticed and/or complained. It wasn't inedible, it just didn't have any meat in. Fortunately, we only had people we actually knew and liked at our wedding, so they all know we've been veggie for donkey's years and wouldn't have expected it any other way.

I don't think there is anything in the world wrong with people liking lardy cheap food. I am catering for a 14 year old's birthday party next week. I will be providing them with most of the things on chid's list. It wouldn't be what I'd eat for fun, but they are young working class lads in a small northern village and that's what they want, so that's what they'll have. Yes, class and upbringing does make a difference as to what food you like, but there isn't a 'right' or 'wrong' type of food - that's just your opinion. I don't see why it's more OK to be 'classist' about food than it is about anything else.

Anna: "nice" but cheap food for 300 people? If you can do that then surely you're a magician.

I never said there was right or wrong. i m not getting where you ve got this "classist" thing from, thats your own invention. and your "richer" comment is uncalled for, crass, insulting and a load of crap.

I think the point you - and others - are missing is that a reasonable proportion of the population would prefer 'Iceland' style food to hummus.

I know my entire family would.

Nick, the belly pork and home made aple sauce sounds lovely, as does the shoulder of lamb - I've mentally filed them away for my house warming party menu (when I eventually move). What do you class as really great bread, out of interest? Do you make it yourself?

I do agree that lots of people woud rather have Iceland party food, sadly ?

R-A you are a complete knob.