To spend £120 on a buffet for 16 people

[rainbowmagicunicorn]

We are hosting a New Years Buffet for 16 people (13 adults, 3 children)

This is my food plan:

Part bake rolls £4
Crackers £5
Cheese - cheddar, Brie, blue, Boursin, Wensleydale and cranberry £10
Chutney& cranberry sauce & apple sauce £4
Grapes, pomegranate, oranges £5
Slow cooker Gammon joint £10
Sausage rolls £3
pigs in blankets £5
pork pies £4

Sharing crisps £3
Cheese twists £1
Dips £2.50

Coleslaw £2.50
Potato salad £2.50
Nigellas festive cous cous £2.50

Puff pastry tarts - pesto and thinly sliced tomato, pizza (tomato purée, mozzarella and Italian herbs), caramelised onion and goats cheese:
3 x rolls puff pastry £4
Pesto £1
Tomatoes £1
Tomato purée £1
Mozzarella £2
Italian herbs £2
Canalised onion chutney £2
Goats cheese £2

Pudding
Slow cooker hot chocolate £6
With toppings - mini marshmallows, squirts cream, sprinkles, candy canes £5

Mince pies £2.50
Yule log (homemade) £5
Profiteroles £3
Fruit salad £10

Drinks
Selection soft drinks £10
Tea and coffee (will have in)

Total £120

£120 seems a lot, but yet the food doesn't seem excessive to me!

AIBU to spend this much? Or is this just the cost of things nowadays?

I would expect it to cost more, are you getting enough of each item, think about how many you are getting per person.

I'd spend another tenner on some cheap pizzas and.garlic.bread.......they always go.down well and are good for bulking out.

Actually these costs seem low. All that cheese for 10 quid?

Are your guests bringing drinks? If not, ask them to bring some of those items to save money.

Scrap the pizzas.....I'd make a couple of giant kebabs (( two packs of chicken thighs, marinade and skewer onto potatoes)) then slice and put out with salad and pitta bread and sauces (( mayo, chilli etc ))

Again cheap, serves loads and guaranteed to go down well.

Have you enough of each thing for that amount of people. The maths looks wrong to me. How many sausage rolls are you getting for 3 quid, how many bags of crisps for three quid. How much dip for 2 quid? How many mince pies for 2 quid?

you need enough of each thing for 16 people to have some. So 16 sausage rolls min, 7 sharing bags of crisps, several pots of dip etc.

it reads like the portion size is wrong.

That looks fine and very reasonable. My only comment is that is it rather pork and cheese heavy, would there be room for slightly less pork and maybe something fishy?

I’d scrap the pigs in blankets, replace with something like a whole chicken to slice up or chicken wings. I agree with a PP who said too much pork. Could you do a plate of oven chips too for a bit more bulk?

A different scenario, but we hosted 10 (plus us 2) a couple of months ago and did a slow cooked pulled pork for around £7, 2 big bowls of Mac and cheese £6, fried chicken thighs £8, sausages £5, burgers £5, HM potato salad £2, rolls, salad, cheese, etc £10, crisps and dips £6 - so around £50 all in for food.

I’ve also done similar with big bowls of chilli. Could you do a bit more home cooking to make more substantial choices?

If money is short op I’d do something like build your own burgers or rolls and sausage, get nice rolls. You need at least 32 rolls with some spare, then same for burgers or 60 odd sausages, and butter, several pots of different flavoured mayo’s, huge salad, a few pots of potato salad and coleslaw, fried onions and mushrooms.

then get something like 32 mince pies as some folks will eat 2 each.

I can’t perceive how you can have enough of anything for those low costs. 10 pounds of cheese for sixteen people to have some of everything on, that’s impossible unless they just sniff it. A goats cheese for 2 pounds is very small you can’t get 16 portions from it.

the golden rule is you need enough of everything for everyone to have some.

A different scenario, but we hosted 10 (plus us 2) a couple of months ago and did a slow cooked pulled pork for around £7, 2 big bowls of Mac and cheese £6, fried chicken thighs £8, sausages £5, burgers £5, HM potato salad £2, rolls, salad, cheese, etc £10, crisps and dips £6 - so around £50 all in for food.

My god @CountZacular I want to come to your next party please

You can get 5 cheeses for 10 pounds? Are they bitesized?

We don't do anything during the year - never go out, don't really host (maybe occasionally have a bbq, but that's been a few years now), don't go on holiday, the kids don't have birthday parties (the eldest 2 are past that stage anyway) and finances are just tight.

BUT New Year's Eve we host. We have several friends gone round with their families (8-10 adults, 8 kids, although 2 of those kids are now 17/18). We go all out - no idea how much we spend, but we want everyone to have a good time! And we never regret it.

So if you're happy to spend it, do it. Remember, if you were getting somewhere to cater (assuming you were at a venue and got them to cater), it would be cheaper per head because they get food at a cheaper rate. So it will always be more expensive per head to cater at home.

If you have the money, just enjoy yourselves. If things are tight, maybe look at other options!

Sounds good value to me and I need to start shopping where you do!

I wouldn't have 6 cheeses though, experience has taught me people don't want to stand there making their own cheese and crackers. It gets messy real quick if you are using the same knife to cut cheddar and boursin and butter the crackers! Better to have one generous big half wheel of chedder for instance.

I would also streamline everything else, one big bowl of cous cous or tabbouleh and no other salad for instance. No one is eating rabbit food at 10.00 on NYE.

Other than that, don't stress too much and have a great evening.

I don't think its enough cheese if its one of the £10 selection packs, will go very quick if even half the people are cheese lovers. I do love cheese though!

Too many desserts.

How is fruit salad costing £10? Is it even needed, when you're already serving other fruit? You're serving £15 of fruit, which would be enough for 60 people.

Gammon joint - people won't want to carve meat and will gravitate towards the picky stuff.

Pastry products - too many.

I would buy vol au vent cases and make up egg mayo and chicken with garlic sauce. You could make 36 plus ingredients for about £10 .
Tasty ,easy and quite cheap.

If cheese board part of main meal, it’s 100-150g cheese per person on average. So your aiming for 1.6-2.4kg of cheese.
Depending on cheese, most would be £12-20 per kg for average but nice supermarket types. I think cheese bill will be more like £30-40

If it’s a selection pack of cheese from Asda you need at least 4 of them and you can’t just do one Boursin to be split 16 ways. Even the gammon joint between 16 is not much, I’d expect to do 2. I’ve done those cheese board selections and it’s just enough for 4, but not generous.

I think you’re seriously under catering with too many little things. Some of it a bit unnecessary. Like why are you buying pomegranate if on a tight budget.

I think set your budget and then decide the menu ,

as a pp said big bowls of Mac and cheese is cheap and filling, easy to do.
burgers or rolls and sausage
baked potatoes, about 20 in case anyone wants an extra.
Half corn on the cobs

several sharing bags of crisps and nuts.

mince pies or profiteroles, not both , forget all the hot chocolate sprinkles stuff.

Pretty much cross posted and yes that’s my experience too and that’s before the crackers.

Less than £10 each

Sounds like there isn't enough of anything to make a meal!

I'd choose three main dishes and stick to that - include a veggie one if required.

Sounds amazing I'd come!

Don't ditch the pigs in blankets and crisps... I'd want those!

Cheese and crackers can be v expensive. Maybe stick to the cheese twists/cheesy "things" rather than actual cheese.

A punnet of grapes is over £2 so I don’t see how you an do all your fruit for £5?! My kids would eat that much between 2 of them in about 5 minutes at a buffet!
sorry op I think your menu sounds great but you’re underestimating the portions massively!

I also thought that the volume of food is likely to be too small for the numbers at the prices you are quoting.
Think about portion sizes. Making sure each person has a full plate of something.
Cheese is probably a rather expensive choice for this.

No, but she's spending e.g. £3 on sausage rolls, so you can guess there's not going to be many!