Is this enough food for a lunchtime spread?

[glitterpaperchain]

Hosting a family garden party in a month. There will be 9 adults, a 4 year old and two 3 year olds. Arriving at 11, staying at least a few hours. Plan is to just cover the kitchen table in food buffet style. 3 adults (including myself) are vegetarian. Plan is:

2 large quiches (one meat one veg)
Pasta salad with roasted veg + pesto
Potato salad
Sausage rolls
Lots of french bread and rolls
Range of cheeses
Range of sliced deli meats
Cooked chicken slices
Caprese salad
Crackers
Crisps and dips
Tomato, cucumber, pepper sticks etc.

Abundance of these ie the potato salad will be a big one, I am overweight and like a good portion so trust me when I say a large portion (anyone remember a similar recent thread? 😅)

Not sure on puddings yet, probably a fruit salad, biscuits and the birthday cake. Cake has not been planned so cannot give specific dimensions on size or volume of cake.

Is this enough? What else would you suggest?

The replies are interesting. The 8 adults are 8 couples, and if we were seeing just one of the couples (so 4 people) all of us would usually do picky bits rolls type of stuff, so french bread, cheeses, meats, avocado tomatoes. Maybe a small quiche too. So for more people I thought more of that, plus pasta salad potato salad crisps and dips, plus dessert.

Interesting the people that say it's nowhere near enough and there must be something hot, its quite normal to eat a sandwich for lunch isn't it?

I will be adding 1 or 2 pizzas and veg sausage rolls!

Yes it’s quite normal to just have a sandwich for lunch

something like 2 /3 of the uk population are overweight and so eat more than they should

Years ago I went to a friend's place for a meal and others were invited. I was early and asked if I could help and she said yes if I put the lemon meringues she had onto plates and threw all the wrappings in a bin bag. She had bought them but wanted people to think she had made them. Final task was to leave her recipe book open on the page with lemon meringues. She got a lot of praise about how lovely it was to have homemade puddings. She just said Thanks I agree it is worth the time. I think pizzas by the way are a good idea. I prefer pizza rather than quiche and if any are left over you could have them with salad the next day. Your menu sounds lovely.

Oddly similar to a thread from a month or so ago. Right down to the 2 quiches.

This one seems a better quantity though!

The thread that I mention in my OP?

So a third of adults are veggies. You need more veggie options as really only have quiche which all 9 are having

others are sides

You do know that you now have to spend the rest of the day arguing with people telling you to add pizza and veg sausage rolls, because they don't read further than your OP

But if you put a lot of 'sides' together, especially when they're substantial foods like the things the OP has listed, plus the later mentioned pizza and veg sausage rolls, you have a filling, substantial plate of food.

But will it be a Greggs sausage roll 😉

I mean I think they're all sides 😂 It's a picky bits buffet not a main and sides meal. I'm one of the veggies and it sounds plenty to me but interesting to see what others think, I've said I'll add pizza and veg sausage rolls

I'm veggie too @glitterpaperchain and this sounds like food heaven to me! Will the quiches be homemade or bought? If the latter, I would do 3 rather than 2 as they're quite small, but the quiches I make using an 8 inch tin easily feed 6-8.
Puddings - summer berries with a bowl of whipped cream and one of mini meringues make easy DIY pavlovas and there's a lovely Mary Berry recipe for easy lemon cheesecake that is always a winner. If it's hot, get a load of vanilla ice cream with different toppings like sprinkles, sauce, smarties etc and let the children do their own ice cream factory. Wish I was invited!😀

Pizza, burgers, curry, chilli and jacket potato’s or even a roast would all be better, OP

Can't tell if this is a joke

it’s just Sides ? 🤣
junk food like pizza and burgers would be better 🤣

Or a roast dinner?

Sounds lovely, OP! I also love these kind of buffet things with lots of bread, cheeses, meat, quiche, potato salad. I actually prefer them to barbecues and stuff like that. Crusty bread and some good cheese with a dollop of potato salad, some pasta salad, some quiche. Sign me up.

When I was on maternity leave, my antenatal group used to have weekly meet-ups rotating around the houses and we would all bring stuff like this. DD1 is 7 and I still think of it often!

The roast was the most bonkers suggestion. Hopefully the weather will be hot so they can relax in the garden and enjoy her lovely spread rather than being stuck inside cooking a roast.

A roast would be a perfect mix of protein and veg and carbs. Not loads of little sides that won’t fill anyone. Can do a nice nut roast for the vegetarians. Starter of soup would be good

Well to me it isn’t. Maybe it’s cultural but we really go all out with good food if we’re hosting.

Why does everyone seem to think a buffet is sides?
do people never have a quiche and salad for lunch, or a sandwich or just a salad?

I know, it's utterly bizarre. In what world is the food that the OP is planning to serve 'a load of little sides that won't fill anyone'.

Most of the things the OP has said she is serving are quite substantial foods that could easily fill a plate with a bit of each, that would be full of protein (chicken, charcuterie, cheese, egg, sausage), carbs (potatoes, pasta, bread, pizza, pastry) and veg (on the pasta salad, pizza, with the caprese salad and the crudites), so how is a plate full of all that less filling/substantial than the same amount of roast dinner?

But I think OP is going all out with her hosting

a normal lunch would be say a slice of quiche and some salad or a roll with some chicken slices or some cheese and crudités

she’s offering all that and more !

A lot of it is also personal and depends who is coming, like the person who said not to do cold sliced chicken because no one likes it, but all the meat eaters attending like it. It's an expanded version of the kind of food all of the guests often serve at smaller get togethers so will be what they are expecting. It's more quantity I'm worried about than the type of food!

Isn't this your second similar gathering? Is it the same people coming? Did you have enough last time?

You could always serve what seems to be on the generous side but plan to use up any leftovers afterwards, so don't have other food that needs to be eaten over the next couple of days. If there's leftovers, eat them over the next couple of days or freeze them. If not, have something else in the freezer or cupboard you could eat, or just buy more food.

I hate to recommend ChatGPT but asking it 'I'm planning a lunch buffet for 9 adults, a 4 year old and two 3 year olds and will be serving these foods <insert list>. There are 3 vegetarians. How much of each item should I serve so there's sufficient quantities to feed everyone generously'?

Quantity is difficult - think about if you were just service quiche you might need 1/4 of one per person. Drop that to 1/8th of one because of the variety.

chicken - maybes 2 thick slices would go in a normal lunch sandwich- so 1 thick slice per person would

sausage rolls - well 1 big or 2 smaller ones if that was it with some salad so again half the quantity

because you want to ensure that everyone can have a bit of something and those that just want one thing can have enough

i think professional caterers would have less but as long as you can eat leftovers / give them away I’d err on side of caution