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?

You can get a gammon joint in M&S for £5.50 look amongst the bacon

I’d go the other way… some of the budget sounds rather tight (pesto for £1?), and I think you’d go well to fear everyone for that money.

Looks lovely, OP, and £120 is not much to spend on 16 people for this sort of buffet. Like PP I wonder whether some of your portion sizes are going to be too small- even shopping thriftily £10 is not going to get you very much cheese. So I'd increase that, increase the bread, have a bigger gammon joint. You don't need pork pies and sausage rolls- go for one or the other. Maybe increase the salad sizes as well as that can be done fairly cheaply. A green salad would be a nice addition.

Personally I wouldn't put crisps on a fork buffet but I may be on my own in that. Or are they just for picking at before?

Unlike PP I would definitely do the hot choc as I think that sounds fun and will be a wow for any kids attending. I would dump the fruit salad especially as you have fruit with the cheese.

(Some PP have suggested things like chilli and rice as cheaper ways of feeding a crowd- obviously they are right but I think it depends on what you're aiming to do. A mixed buffet like this seems more celebratory to me.)

Ok personally I wouldn't do a buffet like this. It's too much a mush mash of food, you're likely to have nuts left over that will be chucked away, it's quite 'brown', it's a lot of prep for not much taste reward. Also I'm not sure how you are going to get all that cheese for £10.

I would do something more 'whole'. Pulled pork with salad and coleslaw or Mexican with nachos, enchiladas, guacamole, coleslaw etc. A big beef bourguignon with mash, bread, green beans. It will end up being less work and will look and smell delicious.

Op is it a dry party, does no one drink? On nye people often have a drink. Is it a religious thing? I think even if expecting people to bring their own booze you do need to habe some in, otherwise you can’t even offer someone a glass of wine or a beer.

personallh when we are hosting our guests always bring booze but we always have enough in, to be able to offer people a drink, otherwise how do you manage replenishing drinks , people can only drink from their own bottles?

normally we do Prosecco, white wine, rose wine and some gin /vodka/rum, with the relevant mixers and ice. Plus some nice soft drinks and water, for anyone who doesn’t wish to drink.

unless all adults are tea total it’s polite to be able to offer a glass of something, particularly on nye.

Also do you have enough glasses, plates, crockery, napkins etc?

It's good value tbh but I agree there are too many items on the menu that must be small amounts judging by the cost. I'd do as pp say and lose some of the smaller items - you don't need so much choice unless there are a few guests with dietary requirements. It also gets fiddly having loads of small things on a table all with separate spoons etc.

No hot chocolate - sounds messy and there's already dessert so plenty of sweet stuff. You can also keep some boxes of choc biscuits / mince pies back and get them out if needed.

The issue with a buffet is you need more than what 16 will eat because you can't predict what they will go for , and as they serve themselves, you need to offer generous amounts or the popular items could run out v quickly.

Also make sure you don't plan to make too much yourself as you might be busy getting ready for all those guests - I know I often plan to do cooking but then regret it as I run out of time and energy .. don't forget there will be cleaning up from the cooking as well.

You don't mention alcohol which usually adds a lot to the cost.

Is this a come round at 8pm for nibbles type event so people have eaten something first of a full on NYE party. First one fine, but not much, the cheese must be one of those tiny multipacks?

The second one, I'd rethink, do a chilli or pulled pork or curry, followed by a decent cheese board that can be grazed on. If there is alcohol involved it's a long haul until midnight and they will want to eat.

£7.50 p/h is light. What a bout drinks, alcoholic / non alcoholic / tea / coffee? I'd definitely lose the hot chocolate.

Unless you change the menu you aren’t going to cut it for that.

I would do less items but more of each. Probably just cheese and ham, maybe a cooked salmon and don't bother with sausage rolls etc. Couscous sound nice. And more salad stuff/olives/houmous but it depends what everyone likes. Also just two dessert options but bigger.

Sharing crisps £3
Cheese twists £1
Dips £2.50

My family would not speak to me for a year if i laid out £3 of crisps for 16 people 😂

How can you get all that cheese for £10?

I think you’d be better of reconsidering your menu than adding £30 to the budget of items, as it appears you’ve gone limited in quantities on every item.

I have done NYE before and tend to do a couple of hot dishes in my slow cooker so that I am not stuck in the kitchen all night. Chicken curry (from scratch, no nasty jar stuff) and chilli always go down well. You could do rice, tortilla chips, guacamole etc. If you get two large baguettes you can make your own garlic baguettes and its cheaper and nicer than buying the ready made ones. I would also do veggie samosas, onion bhajis, a salad and a nice cheeseboard with crackers/grapes/chutney etc. I wouldn't necessarily go for mince pies either as I am usually sick to death of them by Boxing Day. I normally get a large chocolate gateau from Costco. One of those should easily feed 16 people.

I’m not a cheese person so I was drawn to the couscous, potato salad and coleslaw! The point of a buffet is variety, isn’t it, to suit all palates?

I’d definitely downscale the meat options as they’re all versions of the same thing, and increase the vegetables instead – a green salad, some crudités, maybe roasted Mediterranean vegetables.

But price-wise seems reasonable – it’s always costlier to do lots of different things than a one-pot mega chilli.

Asda cheapest mince pies are £1.25 for 6. So were you only planning on buying 12 mince pies for 16 people?
I think you should allow about 24 mince pies as on nye many would eat more that one over a few hours I would have thought

Hosting is expensive. Maybe suggest to those coming all bring something? And delegate what you know roughly

Would agree with this…could do a big slab of poached salmon, looks impressive as a centrepiece and it’s much cheaper these days. I’d defo ditch the hot choc and go old school with some after eights, who doesn’t love those?

sounds lovely though. Lucky guests x

I’ve read it again (I’m hungry) and agree it needs a bit of a rejig. I’d do the gammon but not all the other porky things, get salmon instead, and instead of £15 on tart ingredients perhaps a substantial big quiche. So meat, fish, veggie.

What age are the children though? Sausage rolls and crudités probably more appealing than gammon and pomegranate for small ones.

Drop the chutneys and sauces – can offer butter for rolls and mayonnaise as a condiment, and up the vegetables. You probably don’t need pomegranates and grapes as well as fruit salad for pudding.

Baked potatoes always seem to go down well but it also depends on whether you’ve got space for people to sit down with a plate or mill around standing and eating? Sliced baguettes might give you more bread for your buck to bulk it all out than part-baked rolls.

Sounds good value room for another?

I would say that is good value for money at less than £10 per head for nice party bits

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

I really don’t think it is, it works out as £7.5 per person including soft drinks.

Each to their own, of course - but I would find your menu a bit children’s party, @rainbowmagicunicorn. It’s very Asda advert.

I’d be inclined to offer

One meat / poultry thing.
One fish thing. (Whole salmon the most obvious.)
One pot of dahl.
One huge tray of varied roast veg.

Then rice, roast potatoes, a salad. The best bread you can find.

Then a tableful of mince pies and Christmas cake.

Then a whole Cheddar (or whatever), cheese biscuits.

All easy enough to dip into as people see fit - but geared to adults, not children!

Exactly. The object is not to stuff everyone full as cheaply as possible; it's a party.

I think many are being snide to the OP, who is trying to do a nice thing.

Keep the hot chocolate, it's fun.

Maybe pare down a few other items in favor of a larger cheese board and bread or rolls. A turkey crown would be nice for small sandwiches. Have a few bags of crisps or keep the microwave popcorn flowing.

Tbh, one of the easiest things is to buy a load of different pizzas and keep them rolling out of the overnight throughout the evening. That plus crisps/dips/salad/cheeseboard is usually fantastic.

I spend that much on Christmas for 6 people it’s nit that much if you are hosting a special dinner or party . Go ahead hun , life is short . Good food it’s part of the fun . Seems good and yummy 😋

A chicken for 16 😂😂😂😂 you must eat very little