AIBU: Catering nightmare

[Pluvia]

A friend who is manager of a small charity has been awarded a grant which she's using for a two-day training break for workers and volunteers. They'll be staying in a large private house. Another volunteer had offered to organise the food and cook the evening meal and manage the kitchen during the training but has dropped out. I'm a good cook and I've catered for something similar in the past, so my friend asked me if I would take the work on. I said yes without much thought.

It's become a bit of a nightmare. My friend said that the meat-eaters would be happy to go veggie for a couple of days so I emailed all involved with a proposed menu and a couple of alternatives. The usual choice of veggie lasagnes, bolognese, Mexican, a Mac and cauliflower cheese. I proposed various breakfast and lunch options too.

There are 14-18 people to cater for and I've been inundated with feedback. Several of them want a low-carb option for each meal. There are three gluten-intolerant. One of the vegetarians can't eat Quorn, someone else can't take soya and a number have said 'no lentils or pulses.' There are people who can't eat anything spicy, a woman who is dangerously allergic to tomatoes, another who can't eat onions or garlic. Even the muesli is contentious: someone's replied saying she doesn't like nuts in muesli. I've been asked to assure one of them that all produce will be organic where possible. Someone else wants spelt bread. One person wants a specific brand of oat milk (can't drink anything else). I could go on and on.

The budget for all this is quite tight. I've got £8 pppd, which sounds okay but of course I have to buy extra in case everyone wants cooked veggie breakfasts both days and that also includes drinks. I can't afford to go all-organic. Nor can I work out how to offer a low-carb veggie/ vegan menu.

I told my friend, the manager, that this was all getting out of hand and she said that I should just do what I can and to those with allergies and dietary requirement I couldn't cater for would need to bring their own food. I called the woman with the tomato allergy to ask her if she could bring her own food for each evening meal to be on the safe side and she was quite shirty with me and pointed out that this was supposed to be a fully-catered event.

This is beginning to feel like a huge ask. It's going to take days of planning to ensure everyone is catered for. I'm going to have to buy a lot more stuff to cover more different meals. AIBU to back out now on the basis that this wasn't the relatively simple job it seemed to be, and that I'm doomed to disappoint/ fail? Or am I over-thinking it? Are there workarounds?

I cant help on the menu. Lots of great ideas above.
£8 pppd is low. I cater scout camps and we would budget £10 for the oldest age groups. £7 for cubs.
Can you get a bigger budget?

Your mistake was in asking them what they wanted. If it was a hotel, they'd just have to eat what was available.

This ^

15 years ago I would have happily catered for a group for a weekend. I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole now.

Run away. Fast.

Agree you should never have asked them for their opinion.

Large tub of full fat Greek yogurt for the low carb breakfast. Get lots, everyone except the dairy free will want some

Do a soup. It can be prepped ahead and cost very little to make. I do Communist soup:
Red lentils.
Red onions.
Roasted red peppers from a jar.
Harissa paste.
Vegan stock.

Are you insured to actually do this, as others have asked?

Breakfast:
large bowl of tinned grapefruit
All bran
Corn flakes
Milk
Oat milk
White and brown toast
Vegan marg
Marmalade and jam

Lunches:

Trays of vegan sandwiches , biscuits and cake, crisps
Individual plates of the same without gluten for the non-gluten folk.
Dress the trays with tomato and onion free salad garnish and the low carbers can pick or not as they prefer.

Dinners: 2 each evening
I'm presuming that the no pulse people aren't the vegans?
Night 1:
Roast vegetable (no tomato, garlic or onion) quesadillas. Those that like chilli can add jalapeños. Served with a salad.
Veg chilli ( with tomatoes, onions and chilli) and rice. Cauli rice can be available in microwave pouches for the low carbers.
Night 2:
Mushroom and courgette frittata with feta. ( no chilli, onion, garlic or gluten)(Served with salad ( no tomato)
Baked potatoes with ratatouille ( incl tomatoes, onions and garlic).

Buy desserts. You can't make them as cheaply as you can buy them.

If you want to offer a 3 course dinner do melon: everyone can eat it as a starter.

Hope this helps. I've brought in a very similar menu for £5pppd but it was a couple of years ago and everything costs more!

There might be a clue here as to why the first caterer dropped out.

As a vegan with relatives with odd allergies I'm in team Back Out Now.
£8 pp/day? Give 'em the money and let them bring in their own food....

Yes, I'd planned soup, bread, cheese-type lunches with flapjack/ cake/ fruit to finish. That was before everyone got fussy. Baked potatoes for lunch on day two, perhaps. Obviously not for the low carbers... Thank you for the yoghurt tip.

It never used to be so difficult, did it? Loads of weekend parties and holidays where it was just a big pan of chilli or curry and everyone tucked in. I'm going to bed, had enough of it.

I may be able to push the budget up to a tenner a head. The previous volunteer had said she could do it for £8 and so it was assumed I could too.

@Fizzorgin

Are you insured to actually do this, as others have asked?

I'm a volunteer. The previous person was a volunteer. Is there some law against volunteers providing food for what is effectively a private house party? There's no meat or fish to go off/give people salmonella and I'm not Typhoid Mary.

""A friend who is manager of a small charity has been awarded a grant which she's using for a two-day training break for workers and volunteers.

I do hope you're going to pass your friend a copy of the 'feedback' these 14-18 people provided? I really feel that she needs to know just how exacting their expectations are.

I know someone already mentioned it, but the last volunteer likely left for a reason.

I’m allergic to tomatoes, oats, and cinnamon. If I knew you were planning a vegan menu for the weekend, I would probably just cancel my attendance. I’ve got no problem with vegan food, it can be delicious, I just know that my allergies with that menu for a full weekend would be a nightmare.

Pull out now.

You don’t have the resources or experience to pull this all together.
The group’s expectations have been set too high & you cannot not safely fulfil their requests.

For Coeliacs, it is not that everything has to be gluten-free, the foods must be prepared so that there is absolutely no cross contamination with gluten containing ingredients & dishes. This requires dedicated preparation kitchen space & suitably trained staff. The same applies to people with other food based allergies (e.g. nuts, lactose, tomatoes etc) that may cause illness if ingested.

If you can russle up a simple buffet style of roasted vegetables with simple herbs, roasted chicken thighs, plain rice/jackets potatoes & big salad bowls you might make it work.
Lots of fresh fruit, baked fruits & shop bought ice cream & non-dairy ice creams - yum.

So, you need to do a veggie menu with no onions, no garlic, no tomatoes, no carbs, no lentils, no beans, no soya and no Quorn for 8 pounds a head for 3 meals?

Yeah, I'd advise to drop out. This is an impossible task. No matter what you do, people will complain. Your friend needs to rethink the weekend. It's not going to work on that kind of budget.

I think @Fizzorgin was just asking as you mentioned not wanting to be sued on your last post if someone has an allergic reaction op

Something super easy to do is jacket potatoes. 18 in a hot oven for 1.5 hrs and the cooking is done. You could provide an option of toppings, like a salad bar. I am currently hooked on kaleslaw (undressed) and it goes wonderfully with jacket potatoes. If you did a salad bar, people could make their own salad and skip the carbs, dairy etc if they don't want it.

Sounds like the worker/volunteers have unrealistic expectations or are very entitled.

Surely they must know that a charity cannot afford to provide individually tailored premium options like branded oat milk or spelt bread and that the food provided will be quite basic and options limited and is mainly just to provide sustenance rather than being a gourmet weekend experience?

Feeding them should be achievable on budget if you offered say

eggs, muesli, toast for breakfast, but just normal stuff from a normal supermarket.

Vegetable soup, sandwiches and maybe home made flap jack or cake for lunch one day and jacket potatoes with a basic selection of fillings the other day.

Chilli, rice, salad (basic, just iceberg lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes) etc one night and something like lasagne, salad and garlic bread the other.

Just basic tea and coffee and maybe a couple of packets of standard biscuits for refreshments and if they want anything out of the above, they need to bring their own?

Perhaps tell them your menu, within budget and if they want anything else they need to either pay the extra cost themselves or bring something - tell them you're happy to heat up ready meals or something they've cooked themselves.

Perhaps tell them your menu, within budget and if they want anything else they need to either pay the extra cost themselves or bring something - tell them you're happy to heat up ready meals or something they've cooked themselves.

But, she already did this and the worker complained that she'd been told it was a fully-catered event.

Another one voting for pull out - whatever you do it will be wrong. Some of these requests are absolutely taking the piss. Don't do this to yourself.

I'm a volunteer. The previous person was a volunteer. Is there some law against volunteers providing food for what is effectively a private house party? There's no meat or fish to go off/give people salmonella and I'm not Typhoid Mary

But you're acting as a caterer as an event, whether you are volunteering or not, and if someone was harmed by food you prepared they could sue if you were deemed negligent.

You can't do this. They need a professional caterer.

I would suggest ignoring food preferences and stick to allergies information only. 2 nights so go for baked potatoes, salad, and a range of toppings for one night (a home made vegan chilli is cheap and easy, grated cheese from lidl is cheap in big bags, they have tuna on special in lidl currently, baked beans are easy ...

Other night I would do stirfry and rice, buy ready chopped, cook with ginger, soy sauce and sugar/honey. Buy mini spring rolls as a side (serve with shop bought sweet chilli sauce) perhaps a pork sweet and sour and a tofu option.

For breakfast offer 2-3 cereals, toast, eggs, real bacon and veggie sausages perhaps.

For lunch I would do rolls with a choice of easy fillings.

Have gluten free bread or rolls.

Rice and potatoes are gluten free, fussy low carb people can stick to salad and stir fry

@TigerLilyTail

Perhaps tell them your menu, within budget and if they want anything else they need to either pay the extra cost themselves or bring something - tell them you're happy to heat up ready meals or something they've cooked themselves.

But, she already did this and the worker complained that she'd been told it was a fully-catered event.

Sorry I missed that, but I stand by the comment that it is unrealistic to expect anything except a basic 'take it or leave it' limited selection approach to this sort of thing. It's just making sure people are fed during a training event for a charity not a gourmet experience where it's all about the food.

Now I'm thinking they can all have omelettes and salad three times a day. That's low carb, vegetarian, gluten free and can be free of tomatoes, although you'll have to be careful of cross contamination.

Dhal and rice for the vegans. If the low carbers are also vegan, then they can just have the salad.

You either need a professional caterer or (if that's not possible on the budget, which it doesn't sound like it will be) then the set-up needs to be that food is a collective responsibility and that meals are help yourself from a range of basic things provided. You can't offer a menu that caters to all of those requirements and I'd stop trying at this point.