To cater the funeral myself? WWYD

Maybe your local bakery could do sandwiches to order, plus sausage rolls, cakes etc.

For DH funeral last year we had a private function room at a pub with a hot and cold buffet. The room hire was free if we used their catering. They were able to prepare the food fresh while we were at the funeral. If you'll be running around getting young DC and yourself ready then I wouldn't do it myself. As well as all that, you'll have to prepare it well in advance and either have somewhere to store it (if at home), or worry about delivering it.

Sorry for your loss OP.

The issue you have is numbers. That's the thing about funerals, unlike other events you are never sure who is going to come, and out of those who do, who is going to want to come back for tea, sandwiches and cake.

When my dad died last year we spoke to a local hotel who did funeral teas all the time, they asked us to guesstimate as a starting point and said that if there were more people turned up than expected they would just bring more food out. It would be really hard doing that yourself but I completely understand why you'd want to.

Echo the advice above. One tip if you cater at home..borrow some extra teapots and maybe extra kettles.

No I wouldn’t cater it yourself- too much pressure and others probably wouldn’t like the idea. You’re well within your rights to say no to the idea of the previous caterer though - just point out that the food was very poor and suggest a couple of other options. Also, M&S and Waitrose have catering options that can be ordered.

It was my mums funeral last week we had a catered buffet at a venue ,whilst the food was plentiful it was quite basic
The problem with catering yourself is you don't know how many you will be catering for there well be some people who can't go on to the buffet etc
I would just get caterr,s in they will have have an idea of what is enough food
Whilst I wasent overly impressed last week there was enough food for everyone.

We DIY funerals in my family. It's a keeping-busy, mutual support exercise. We do buy supermarket stuff, though, otherwise it could all disappear down the vortex of performance cookery.

Good point about hired venues and hygiene laws; supermarket platters must be certified, so that's an appealing compromise.

I think it depends how many people, the venue and the budget.
You could cook a roast ham/gammon and just get a load of nice bread, then make up a few salads, Ientil, beetroot and feta, green salad, bean salad, coleslaw etc. or you could ask some of the family to make/bring something as well?
I'm sure your food would be nicer than a catering firm. But you mustn't put yourself under too much pressure!

Order sandwich/buffet trays from Morrisons or M&S. Easy peasy and super reasonable.

It's too much to manage yourself but equally it'll piss you off at a sad time if you go with the expensive option. And you've already pegged it as expensive so your brain will get stuck here. You could find an alternative real-life caterer but they might let you down too. Just take the easy option this time.

It's the stress on the day I'd want to avoid. As above posts have said, either use a different caterer - ask around for recommendations - or buy the platters of sandwiches that supermarkets, M& S and so on do and get them delivered.

My first question would be where is the wake being held? In a commercial or public location would you need a hygiene cert etc or public indemnity insurance.

My second though is that with wakes you rarely know how many people will be turning up, or what dietary issues they might have. A cafe / restaurant/ professional caterer will have a better idea of how to handle that.

Honestly, just don't.

Get catered food brought in or go to the local pub they ususally cater buffets for funerals.

Use one of the supermarkets and pre order it all ready made. Sandwiches etc......

It will be too much for you to prepare on the day. Or ask around for a better caterer. Locally (south coast) they are about £8 per head for a standard buffet.