If you was entertaining family - approx 10 adults what food would you serve for the most convenient and cheap optobo

[KenAdamsRealWife]

Normally would do a Buffet type lunch/dinner but I find it adds up too much. I’m on mat leave and really looking for cheap as chips ideas for around 10 adults over Easter.
Thanks

Pulled pork (pork shoulder so cheap, done in the slow cooker).
Coleslaw
Apple sauce
BBQ sauce
Bread rolls

Chilli would be my choice.
Serve with rice, wedges, salad, cheese topped nachos, sour cream, salsa, guacamole, jalapeños.

Follow with a lemon cheesecake.

Laughing at depressing lasagne and baked pasta Big Italian family gatherings must be awful sad.

My favourite for a lot of people is ziti al forno - ziti pasta with passata, ricotta, mascarpone and mince, parmesan on top, all baked in a big tray in the oven. It works with Quorn mince too. And pretty reasonable if you get all the ingredients from Lidl.

Can I have the recipe for cheesy tuna bake and nachos please?

2 -3 roast chickens stuffed with lemon and garlic
Jacket potatoes or potato dauphinois - super easy to make - sliced potato, garlic, butter and cream
On Ocado that would be £20 then some lettuce or peas to go with it.
Chocolate brownie with mini eggs in if for Easter - haven’t costed that up but I often make it with value chocolate at 50p you’d need 4 bars plus more butter, sugar and flour and cocoa powder - probably £5 tops for 2 but that’s buying from scratch.

So Alsi prices would be far less?

Wow some great input here, love Mumsnet for its variety and ideas! I will re read through, love coconut rundown but maybe just for my little family 😊
Don’t really want to spend more than £20/£25 and good idea about asking someone to bring dessert.
It’s more of a relaxed affair as I don’t have a big dining table so will be food on laps do I even belong on Mumsnet

The door's thatta way 👈 op, no dining table, never heard the likes of it

I've just realised that my go-to when my sister comes to us might actually be suitable. Tesco often has specials on whole salmon or salmon sides at this time of year, that bring it into budget meal territory. Wrap a side of salmon in foil, sprinkled liberally with salt/pepper/lemon/ fresh or dried herbs of choice, and bake for 30-40 minutes depending on size. Present hot or cold with baked potatoes, bread and a selection of simple salads. If I've got a real lemon in, sometimes I slice it and lay the slices over the fish before I bake it.

Part of the reason I do this rather repetitively is that we have meat-eaters with allergies (me, my son and my sister), pescetarians (3 of our children), and vegetarians (two of her family)... So usually add in chickpeas or something for the vegies, but salmon has been popular since the children were small.

If anyone offers to bring a dessert say yes!!

For big groups I tend to do hot toast sandwiches. Roast a chicken and a gammon, hot crusty rolls with a few accompaniments like bowl of stuffing, pineapple, coleslaw, salad.

*hot roast, not toast that would be rubbish 😂

Yet another vote for pulled pork because pork is usually cheapest, it is all prepped in advance and goes a long way. With rolls and homemade coleslaw, possibly also corn on the cobs and potato wedges.

Lasagna can be lovely but it's not that special imho.

I'd probably go Greek and do Moussaka (pretty similar to riff on lasagna but spiced lamb mince, potatoes and aubergines as the layers béchamel on top.

A nice salad "sharp" Greek salad (tomato/onion/cucumber/olives - yes it's meant to have feta but with Moussaka I prefer without as the main is rich anyway) to cut through the richness of the Moussaka and some Pita bread.

If you want you could also serve some humous/tzatziki/taramasalata and veg crudités as a help yourself stater (the first 2 being easy to make yourself in quality if you have a food processor).

Then I'd probably cook a Greek honey cake for dessert (you can make it tray bake style and cut into squares, just dust with icing sugar and lemon or orange zest before serving to make it look pretty).

All of it (bar the salad) can me made ahead of time.

I'm not going to pretend it can be made as cheaply as a lasagna (due to the cost of the aubergines) but it's not that far off and imho it's a bit more "occasion" food.

And apologies for the many typos - I'm not multi tasking well tonight

I know it's isn't the point of the thread but

Rice I'd do at 100g dry weight per person...based on what my family would eat

we do 60g! Given that 70g is a portion that's loads!!

A big curry or stew

You could do something like a Spanish omelette - I do one with lots of eggs (obvs ), boiled potatoes cut into half inch (ish) chunks, frozen peas, onions and red peppers, all mixed up, put in an oven dish and baked on a low heat until cooked through.

Cheap as chips but more nutritious, can serve with baguettes/nice bread and green salad.

Sausages, mash & baked beans/peas & onion gravy.

You can get 12 sausages in Aldi/Lidl for £1.10

Or Sausage casserole.

Oh there's definitely a little touch of 'oh I couldn't possibly feed my guests that' on this thread. As someone said above, only on Mumsnet.

Two large gammon joints from Aldi. Slow cook over night let them cool the slice - roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese and broccoli for pud have venietta ice cream - well that's what I'm doing !

Do you have a slow cooker? Chilli in a SC is fairly easy and you can make it hours before your guests arrive.

I do a chicken pie filling that you could also serve with rice as an alternative to chilli.

1 chicken thigh per person, or one small breast or 1/2 a large breast
leeks
mushrooms
Campbells condensed mushroom soup - I use one for my small slow cooker, my large one would take 3 or 4.

Chop up the chicken, leeks and mushrooms and put im the SC or pan and cook, I've not done it on the hob, you might need to add a bit of water. I'd probably do 1/2 - leek per person and 1-2 portobello mushrooms but you can bulk it out with more or add some tinned sweetcorn.

You could leave out the chicken and add more veg.

Do a big pan of rice and some baked potatoes, do a salad and some grated cheese.

Both the chilli and the chicken can be done the day before and then re heated when guests arrive.

I'd probably just get ice cream for pudding, or make a cheesecake.

Fish finger butter, cheap supermarket pizza and oven chips

Although I can't imagine trying to eat chilli and jacket potatoes on my lap either.

I suppose pizza is good lap food ditto anything you eat with one hand and a fork.

A huge paella with chicken and/or seafood would be nice, with green salad. Or perhaps a lamb and red pepper paella, since it's Easter.

I also like the tagine idea, and the 3 chickens with sides. Tagine doesn't have to contain preserved lemons.

Did a similar thing a few weeks ago;

Made slow cooker chilli and added lentils for bulk - winner

Borrowed a second slow cooker and did a seafood chowder (used Lidl for ingredients- they do a fish mix pack for reasonable amount)

Did jacket potatoes cut in half
Coleslaw
Tuna mayo (suited the kids to have jackets with topping)
Grated cheese
Small salad / crudités
Garlic bread

Then for pudding niceish vanilla ice cream, assortment of tarts / cheesecake (again budget friendly Lidl)

Coffee and some biccies

Everyone was very pleased and fed- worked out £50-£60 total.