Can you please critique my Christmas day buffet

[ProssecoSparkle]

Can you lovely lot please cast an eye over my Christmas day buffet. This is for 4 adults, 1 tween, 1 three year old and a 11 month old.

Is there anything you would take out? Different combinations?

Chocolate cake
Sticky toffee pudding
Cream
Ice cream
Dips and breadsticks
A few different crisps
Crudets
Cheese and pickle on sticks
Hummus
Cheeseboard
Mini chedders
Tangerines
Hero's
Cranberry sauce
Pate
Colslaw
Vol e vans
Lentil soup
Brusheta
Steak slices
Salad
Mozzarella and tomatoes
Mustard and honey dip
Italian meats
Turkey
Pigs in blankets
Carrots
Parsnips
Brussels sprouts
Stuffing
Sausage rolls
Dauphin potatoes
Yorkshire puddings

This will all be homemade

Sounds lovely, op. With all the "can I come" responses, am having visions of hoards of marauding Mumsnetters all turning up at your place, surging towards your front door with their forks at the ready.

I still don't understand why your not plating up a dinner (with steak or turkey) then doing all the buffet bits later?

@HumerousHumous a mumsnet gathering would be the ultimate wild night. Sitting here laughing at the thought of it. Start of with drinks and nibbles and by the end of the night we would all be shouting LBT 🤣

Mumsneters would be very welcome. I've bought enough booze. I can put my drinks menu up if anyone is interested.

But you only have to provide one or two special things that your guests like, that will fit in with your meal. Not half a dozen things that only one person will eat, and another batch of stuff just for someone else and then a third lot for someone else, that doesn't fit with the meal at all.

I'm doing a couple of starters because I know dh won't want what me and dd want for example, then a couple of puds because dm and ds will want different things.

If you're keeping the warm stuff separate in the warming drawer, with everything else on the table, then it's not going to get eaten until hours later if at all.

Why did you ask for a critique if you are now just replying to the vast majority saying it’s a weird menu with ‘my family are batshit’ and cracking on?

Did you actually want a critique or some kind of affirmation / praise?

It's a buffet with an attached Christmas dinner I think. Great choice though for a mixed crowd.

But that's a million meals. A Xmas roast then a meze. Who will need that?

Offer the soup to start then the turkey. Keep the meze for another day.

It's WAY too much food, you're not feeding 15 people. Seriously, a lot will just go to waste.

I would split it up. Dinner at 1 with all the main meat and veg etc

Desserts to come out after or a bit later. Then everything else in the evening or boxing day if you have too much.
I can’t understand wanting to have salad and soup and turkey and salmon and cheese, fruit etc all at the same time! It will just sit there for that amount of people.

Bet you wished you never asked 😂

I would have:

Starter
Lentil soup with warm roll
Bruschetta
Pate with toast/oatcakes

Dinner
Steak
Turkey
Pigs in blankets
Carrots
Parsnips
Brussels sprouts
Stuffing
Dauphinoise roast potatoes
Yorkshire puddings
Cranberry sauce
Gravy

Dessert
Chocolate cake
Sticky toffee pudding
Cream
Ice cream

Later in the evening
Cheeseboard
Italian meats
Sausage rolls
Mini cheddars
Heroes
A few different crisps

Leave out or Boxing Day
Dips and breadsticks
Crudités
Cheese and pickle on sticks
Hummus
Tangerines
Coleslaw
Vol au vents
Steak slices
Salad
Mozzarella and tomatoes
Mustard and honey dip

I love everything you have listed but that menu for a single day is insane 🤣🤣🤣

Whats on the drinks menu?

Thanks vanillalime sorry it won't let me tag for some reason. 💖 that sounds a good menu. I could make melba toast for the pate.
Drinks are:
Cola
2 x different cocktails
Fresh orange
Diluting juice
Pink gin and tonic
Prosseco
Bucks fizz
Cranberry juice
Rose wine
Beer
Think that's it. That's not all for Christmas day though. We only have a few drinks each.

Sorry originalusername2 it won't let me tag. I've had great advice and tips on the whole. However I never want to type the words warming drawers again 🤣

Diluting juice? Do you mean squash 🙂You can call it cordial if you think it sounds better. Personally lemonade is a good shout as it's mixes with non alcoholic drinks better than coke ie with cordial and on its own or with alcohol.

Anyway I did a massive spread like yours for Boxing Day one year. It looked amazing when it was all out ( like the ghost of Christmas Present was in the room) and everyone loved the food offered.
However there was loads of bits and bobs left over afterwards but not enough of anything worthwhile; odd slices of stuff, bits of bread/ bread sticks , half eaten dips. Unlike Christmas dinner which got turned into delicious bubble and squeak, the buffet bits were too grotty or bitty after we had sat down to them. They weren't really appealing after an hour or so and leftovers got wasted.
This year it's going to be the same food but served more thematically to limit the waste.

what is going on here? Lentil soup in shot glasses, cold brussels, stuffing on a buffet?? Just put out what you and your family enjoy and sod everyone else, this sounds like crazy amounts of work for one days food

I think that a whole lot of food for that many people.

That’s an enormous amount of food

I have to say, this is trying to be everything to everyone and risks ending up being nothing to anyone. Cold, congealed food that’s been lying around for hours is not my definition of Christmas lunch. Buffet food is specifically food that can be kept at room temp safely and appetizingly for a few hours and still taste the way it’s meant to (eg sausage rolls, scotch eggs, salads, cut fruit, antipasti etc). Just cooking a day’s worth of 5 people’s food, most of which is a hot meal, and putting it all out at the same time isn’t a buffet. It’s just cold and congealed food sitting on the side

That is way, way too much food for the amount of people. I think you're going to end up with most of it in the bin.

I also don't think it works as a buffet, especially not if you chuck it all out together.

Can people stop banging on about food poisoning? No one is going to get food poisoning from eating freshly cooked food that has been well prepared from a clean kitchen, just because it has either gone cold or sat out for a bit.

Food hygiene rules made for catering establishments are to cover their backs, not because food immediately becomes toxic if it sits out for one minute over the allotted time.

@ProssecoSparkle you say you don’t want to be tied to the kitchen all day, but the amount of “popping” food in and out of the fridge and warming drawers will surely have the same effect. You are going to be up and down like a yoyo and stressing endlessly about the food, which sounds like the antithesis to a relaxed day.

Diluting juice? Do you mean squash 🙂You can call it cordial if you think it sounds better.

No we mean diluting juice 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@NotbloodyGivingupYet

Forget the vol au vents??!!!
I was going to invite myself around for those alone!!

Used to love them at Christmas time!

My brother does a big buffet (for approx. 20 people) on St. Stephen's Day (26th December). It works really well. However, he just serves hot food. He has a big island in his kitchen, so he lays out an assortment of mains and side dishes. Everyone grabs a dinner plate and moves around the island and helps themselves. Once everyone has finished eating (some go back for seconds), it's all cleared away and the dishes go in the dishwasher. The food is hot (everyone has to be there early) and it's not left hanging around for hours. There are lots of people to help to clear up and wash up the pots/serving dishes.

Once we've cleared up after the main course, we exchange presents. Then we move on to tea, coffee and desserts.

He used to do soup as a starter, but he found that dishing up the soup and then clearing away after it, was messing up with the timing for the mains. So he ditched the soup at some point.

I understand that not everyone likes the traditional turkey, potatoes, sprouts, carrots etc. Which is why you've steak pieces and things like vol au vents, bruschetta, coleslaw etc. That's not an issue - I mean, it's Christmas Day and everyone should have food that they like. But it does amount to a lot of food for just five people (I assume the three year old and one year old won't consume a lot of food). You'll have a lot of leftovers. But they need to be put in the fridge a.s.a.p. once everyone has finished eating their main course.

I wouldn't put out the desserts and crisps until the savoury stuff has been cleared away. The three year old and one year old will probably spot them and then not have any interest in the savoury food.

I do buffets a lot and that's far too much food. I stagger it too, I wouldn't put desserts out at the same time as turkey especially not with kids around. If you want to spend as much time with family as possible that is not the easiest menu imo.

How about a hot buffet at lunchtime then a cold buffet later on?

Sounds great!