To think feeding 40 people for £50 is more than possible

[user1486841477]

I was planning to make a chilli con carne, curry, pulled pork, meatball pasta, carbonara in large pots.

Add sides of rice, garlic bread, potatoes, chips, pizza.

Snacks of crisps, nuts, quiche, cocktail cheese and pineapple, cruidetes with dip,

Large homemade cake

Different desserts.

My mum thinks this doesn't sound that interesting and I should be doing fancy canapés etc.

Caterers all wants £6 a head which I can't afford and don't need to ask I'm a good cook.

Am I being too ambitious?

What would you do to feed 40 people on £50?

I think you'd need to do at least 15 portions of each dish, and my chilli (eg) probs costs 5quid for me and dh to make (Inc everything) and we usually get 3 portions. So to make 40 portions (working on a similar cost for other dishes too) would take it to 67 quid.

That's without quiche etc.

Sounds like a lot of food to do for £50 to me

I think you could definitely do it for a lot less than the caterer has quoted but £50 seems very ambitious

I don't think you need to do that much choice for 40 and it would be hard to do for £50'

The food you've described all sounds absolutely fine but does that really all come to £50? It sounds like it would cost more to me.

No need for fancy canapés though.

Your menu sounds lovely but i don't see how you'd get it down to £1.25 per head. Am prepared to be proven wrong though!

I go away self catering for a group of 14 of us yearly. 14 x full English a day and 14 x evening meals (same sort you mention) a day for 7 days. We all split the cost and it's about 35 per head. Works out 2.50 a day per plate.

40 people at that price would be 100 quid. Admittedly you aren't doing full English but the sausages and bacon don't cost too much and the bread, eggs etc are all similar to a buffet anyways.

I would do big vegetarian dishes e.g. vegetable curry with rice and dahl, but would depend whether the guests would like that kind of thing.

I would do big vegetarian dishes e.g. vegetable curry with rice and dahl, but would depend whether the guests would like that kind of thing.

I've already priced my shopping list up at £50.
I add quite a bit of veg to bulk things out.

I may need some extra stuff but in my mind I won't go much over. I like there to be a decent amount of choice

If you just want to buy basic ingredients (value brand, buying in bulk) and don't spend out on fancy extras, sure £50 will cover the ingredients.

Obviously caterers are charging much more as they have a reputation to maintain so won't use cheap "value" ingredients but will go for more premium quality. They will also need to add in hourly wage for skilled labour doing the cooking (not just for the time spent actually cooking this meal but also the planning and possibly training beforehand) and either skilled or unskilled labour doing all the clearing up, plus wear and tear on equipment, general overheads for the company's resources and a profit margin.

Do you just want to buy the ingredients for £50 and do it all yourself or do you want caterers?

I would do a vegetable curry, a vegetarian chilli and rice to go with both, plus mango chutney to go with the curry and Greek yoghurt ( instead of sour cream) for the chilli. I'd make a few different cakes for pudding.

I don't think you can buy a reasonable quality of meat or fish within that budget, which is why I'd stick to vegetarian food.

Absolutely doable, especially depending on what cupboard staples you already have and if you have access to wholesalers.
Kg of rice about a pound, 1.5kg of pasta 90p, pasta sauces a jar for £1 or cheaper to use boxes of sieved tomatoes or pasata and use herbs you may already have to make sauce. Veg can be really cheap in aldi/lidl etc, can make pizza dough if you already have the ingredients or buy pre made pizza or ready to use pizza dough, garlic baguettes about 35p for 2 value ones, the only really expensive part is the meat, and if you live near a butchers or meat wholesaler that could be taken care of in about £35 leaving plenty for the rest.

Even with buying the cheapest options I really can't see how you'd buy all of the above in quantities sufficient for 40 people on £50 but good luck, it sounds like a task - I hope it goes well for you.

I think your menu sounds great. I'm amazed you can do all that for £50 though!

No, I don't think you can do it on £50 unless you are buying the most basic disgusting meat. Sorry. Stick to vegetarian only and maybe you can get starters and mains.

I go to the marks and Spencer's seconds factory shop in Oldham so for £1 I can get a massive bag of cakes with barely anything wrong with them except maybe slightly wonky chocolate decoration.

They have birthday cakes for no more than £5.

So dessert will only be a few pounds.

I will also make some cheap desserts.

The pizza will cost no more than £3 for two massive ones as I make everything from scratch

I will choose cheap quality. Not going to lie. It it will be all homemade.

Yep, it sounds feasible. I do a veggie chilli that feeds the 5000, is tasty and very economical. I'd agree veggie food is generally cheaper though. What's the occasion, OP?

I reckon you'll be able to pull it off

Op didn't say doing 40 portions of each, just enough food overall for 40.
If a family of four can get a weeks worth of shopping for £50 (so 3 meals each, for 7 days is technically 84 meals) absolutely 40 is possible, especially as it works out cheaper per portion to buy larger packs. I'm incredibly fussy with meat, but tescos 750g 18% fat mince at £3 is great stuff, 3 or 4 packs of that would make a decent sized chilli no problem, and local butchers are always offering trays of 10 chicken breasts for £9 or £10.
That would still leave £30, i don't eat pork (find it tasteless) so don't know what the pulled pork would cost, but theres always multipacks of crisps on offer, cheap pizzas and garlic baguettes (3 frozen pizzas for 95p is aldi) and potatoes rice and pasta can all be bought super cheap and in very large quantities.

Yup.....definitely doable! I'm a chef.....you can feast like a king with very little money! Good on yer! And it doesn't have to be crap cheap nasty stuff either. That's why cooking from scratch works. Show 'em how it's done

I wouldnt bother with either pasta dish tbh, too much faff and isnt very nice if it isnt eaten fresh out of the pan.

Also I would do jackets instead of rice/chips as its easier to keep them hot and still edible.

Umm.... you probably could, but I don't think it would be very good quality, and may not taste very nice. Sorry!