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?

Just do stew or sausage casserole , with a smaller dish for veggies and crust bread.

your Mum is mad: no one eases of their boots and thinks 'I could murder a cold prawn on a blini'! So true

I'm not sure why this thread has attracted the mean comments. Some people are so snarky.

your Mum is mad: no one eases of their boots and thinks 'I could murder a cold prawn on a blini'!

Playing Devils Avacado, maybe OP's mum is saying it based on OP's cooking

I'm sure it is possible to do it OP, I'm not sure I'd want to eat it though. Drop the pasta option, it's not good for mass catering.
Stick to two or three options (meat and veggie) that give everyone the opportunity to have a meal they actually choose, rather than doing smaller portions of extra dishes.

Totally agree with PP just do a massive stew, one veggie one beef and a few trays of sandwiches.

Otherwise, goujons, sausages and sausage rolls. But after a big walk I really think stew.

Theres a reason why caterers dont offer buffets of lasagna, carbonara, risotte, etc etc. Its too much to cook, costs too much, people arent that keen and a lot of the things taste rank after sitting about.

I recently went to a thing that was initially sold to me as a 'dinner party'. Then ithe numbers grew and it turned into a potluck dinner buffet where everyone bought something and although there was supposed to be a theme of sorts, it was a bit of a shambles. No-one wants coleslaw and green salad on the same plate as a Thai veg curry and rice alongside some steak and kidney pie....

And all the most popular stuff that actually worked together disappeared really quickly so I ended up with little blobs of all sorts and it was really unappetising. I know now where the term 'dog's dinner' came from because it really did look like the scrapings off everyone's plates.

Now I know what the occasion is I think you could do a couple of huge vats of very hearty soup, one meaty, one veggie and people can have it in mugs with a spoon. And the pulled pork in big floured baps with a veggie alternative like falafel.

😂😂😂 "Devils avocado"!! 😂😂😂

That sounds lovely and very doable.
I wouldn't do the two pasta options, as pasta doesn't hang around well.
I'd do rice in rice cookers, bread and jacket potatoes.
I'd do the chilli, pulled pork, curry, meatballs in tomato sauce. But is there a veggie option?
Be aware that the more choices you offer, the more people will eat- they can be greedy!

Sounds yummy.

You could just do Chili with trimmings, eg:
-one vat meat
-one vat veggie (made with actual veggies instead of the Devils own quorn)
-rice
-tortilla chips
-tortilla wraps
-salad
-grated cheese
-soured cream
-salsa

I think that if it is after a charity walk then hot and filling is good - carbonara sounds like a faff to make and keep for this sort of event but something like Mac & cheese would work well and could be eaten by many veggies as well.

Jacket potatoes with a selection of fillings (cheese, beans chilli etc) would also work well

If it's after a cold walk then maybe just serving hot soup and crusty bread may suffice. With some sweet stuff from Iceland

You REALLY need to simplify. And for the love of all that is holy, ditch the carbonara - no way will you be able to mass produce it and keep it standing and still have it edible. Everyone will go for other dishes and the poor sods who are last in the queue will end up with congealed carbonara. Grim!

As others have said; a mountain of baked potatoes, a vat of chilli, a veggie curry or similar, and some lovely puds. You can't go wrong. Your original menu has "disaster" written all over it.

Another one saying too much choice. With that many dishes people will see it as a buffet and take a bit of everything. They will then have too much food and you will have a lot of waste. Keep it simple - one veggie dish, one meat dish, salad, French sticks, butter. Maybe a whole `Brie if you want. If you make one veggie and one meat chili you can add extras like grated cheese, chopped red onion, tortilla chips, lime wedges to dress it up a bit. And don't bother with peanuts and crisps , they are just faff. No-one ever left a party saying 'I wish I'd had more crisps'.

Desserts on your budget will be harder. I went to a party recently where the hostess asked her close friends to all bring a homemade cake baked in a loaf tin. We sliced them and laid them on platters decorated with flower petals and little flags identifying the flavours. There was vanilla ice cream to accompany them for those who wanted it.

Soups or stews with some nice bread and batch cooked jacket potatoes sounds good to me, plus that way you can do a spicy one and have a non-spicy option. Seasoned well neither are boring, and they are very warm and filling with loads of styles to pick from. Perfect after a long walk!
A veggie dish is definitely needed, but please try to make it vegan friendly too, and allow for the fact others will likely want some as well or it might run out before any veggies get near.

Not sure about the cost (have never catered for 40 people) £50 does sound a little over ambitious. Not to say you couldn't do it yourself cheaper than the caterers though definatley. I must say though, that sounds like an amazing buffet, never mind fancy canapés! It might be to do with me being 6 weeks pregnant (I got particularly excited at the thought of cocktail sticks of cheese and pineapple) but that all sounds great and loads of choice, your guests will be spoilt.

I think I'd do jacket potatoes, beans, cheese, chilli, veg curry and pulled pork. I'd have a bit of rice if anyone doesnt like/want potato. It's exactly what I'd want after a big walk!

Bacon rolls and cheesy chips. Sorted.

Thank so OP, that's me planning a trip to Oldham now!

OP, I cater for between 40 and 70 in a church hall at least once a year, three courses for around £2 per head. I'm in Bury, so I'm probably aware of food prices in the area, which other posters possibly aren't.

For people coming back from a walk, I'd recommend either two bits of something like chilli or, at a pinch, something I did a couple of years ago.

Make two big pans of corned beef hash, pour finished hash into foil trays and cover with pastry. Dump them in the oven to cook the pastry about 30 mins before needed. Serve with crusty bread and red cabbage.

Can you get to Bury market? Loads of meat and veg way cheaper than supermarkets.

Also, how much help will you have? Even one other person will make a massive difference.

It is doable, OP, but keeping it streamlined will help the budget. It's always cheaper to make more of one thing than two separate things and slow cookers are your friend for sure.

Westfacing: not being specific/ not giving a detailed brief is not the same as not being honest. You have given a very odd interpretation of the word.

Good for you, OP, I assume you are taking this on as a volunteer and if you can, miraculously, do all this for £1 a head you are saving the charity 40x£5 over the caterers cost.

And as for kidney beans being an expense: they are the cheap ingredient that makes the expensive meat go further! Tesco value kidney beans are cheap, dried beans cheaper still.

I just wanted to come back on here and say that I really hope you simply things as your original menu sounded was too complicated and sounded like it would be budget.

I agree with Magicchicken, 2 big vats of soup and some ready filled baps with pulled pork/meatballs or falafel already in foil so the walkers can just grab a cup of soup and a roll and go eat will be best. No queues for food or people taking too much of everything leaving nothing for others.

When I was reading your post I assumed it was for a communion or something as we have dd's communion in May. We have around 40-50 people coming. I am a good cook and could probably cook for everyone quite cheaply but its worth it to me on the day to pay a caterer. When going through menus I was advised to stick with 2 mains and some salads and rolls because the more choice you have the more food you need as people will automatically take more. You could indeed cook the menu you listed but it might not be very nice once its been waiting around a while and might not be enough food. I have lasagna for 20, curry for 20, rolls and 2 salads for 40 and 1 quiche for veggies but will have extra salads,quiches and rolls on stand by in case it doesn't stretch far enough.

Could you ask around caterers and see could you get a cheap deal on rental of a few soup terrines?

Well it worked out amazingly.

For people wanting to do similar here is what I got.

From the factory shop(park cakes) I got:

Massive Bag of chocolate caramel shortbread -£1

Massive bag of Chocolate brownies- £1

I made 3 pear and almond tarts and portioned them up small so everyone would get a piece. -£3

4 litre tub of ice cream.

I then put out chocolate sauce, marshmallows, chocolate raisins, smarties, strawberries and a big stack of homemade pancakes so people can assemble their own pancakes (this was a huge success)

Total: £8

Starters:

Vegetable soup - £4

Different bread rolls and a cheese platter with chutney.

Mains:

Chilli con carne- £10
Veg chilli- £5
Pulled pork -£5
Roast chicken -£7

Sides and extras-

Tortilla chips
Grated cheese
Guacamole
Sour cream and other dips
Gerkins
Total: £4

Large fruit salad total :£4

Coleslaw

Homemade potato wedges

Shredded lettuce

In the seconds frozen shop (heron foods) I got a huge bag of battered cheese sticks.

Total-£3

Final total: £53.

I could have easily done this on £50 or less. They chose me as I'm pretty good at these things.

Some stuff we had was unnecessary but it was nice to have them and made it more special. Everything was eaten.

I got everything wholesale or from factory seconds shops which made a huge difference and used a lot of frozen stuff.

The feedback was excellent and there was hardly anything left which was good.
People had more than enough food and most people were so impressed they donated money. We ended up making £100
Just in donations.

On not budget I would have made a cheesecake, some quiches, more cold buffet options but I could barely tell this difference between this and the buffets where I've had £150 budget for the same number. In fact, I think it was nicer and I will be sticking to doing big pans of hot dishes in future. The chilli's were delicious and the cooked pork and chicken meant I didn't need to buy the usual expensive slices of pre cut meat.

So yeah, you were all wrong. 😁

You got some great bargains there. There is nowhere around where I live that I could have got things that cheaply including the markets. The Tortilla chips,plus the extras to go with for £4 is bloody amazing.

It looked like it would be a nice selection of food.

Glad it went well.

Sounds excellent OP. I definitely think the soup will have gone down very well!