Costco cheapest for sandwich platters? Advice needed from members!

[littlewifey]

We are having our son christened and have approx 110 guests. I am thinking of joining Costco to buy the sandwich platters from them but have no way of finding out prices of them before joining. The sainsburys sandwich platters are cheapest shop bought ones at £10 for 24 quarters but obviously this would only feed 6. Is anyone a member of Costco already and think it would work out cheaper to go there? I thought if I joined there I could get cakes and crisps too prob cheaper than supermarkets?

I am a member of Costco but don't find them cheaper than the supermarket. I have never bought the sandwich platters but I have seen them and they don't look amazing. I would get from marks and Spencer's as they do great party food platters, or waitrose. Also you can get lots of good deals in the supermarket for crisps etc. Costco do some nice cakes but once you factor in the joining fee (about £25 ) it may not work out such a bargain.

When do you need to know by? I go about once a week, so could probably tell you before the end of the week. I find costco far cheaper than supermarkets, but not on everything so am ruthless about what i buy.

That would be great littleducks thanks. The christening isn't until June. I basically need to know how much a sandwich platter is and how many quarters it is. Sainsburys are £10 for 24 quarters but this means we would need to buy 16 if everyone on our guest list had 4 quarters!
I agree frankie4 that marks food is lovely but would be very pricey to feed all our guests unfortunately.

I have eyed up the sandwich platters -but didn't take much notice of the prices. Although I am tight - and would make my own sandwiches for a party anyway.

The cakes are great though. I often make a trp to pick up a big chocolate fudge cake and a carrot cake. They are about £8/£10 or so - but are absolutely huge. And delicious!

I agree wtih frankie. They aren't actually very big and are pretty expensive. Def nowhere near 24 sarnies, I think Sains would be a lot cheaper. Do you really think you need to allocate 4 sarnies each too? If you have other snacks too it seems a lot.

THe cakes are good, and snack stuff, sausage rolls, mini sausages if you wanted to do all that. But I don't think it is worth paying the joining fee jsut for one party.

Ok thanks ladies. I would prefer to make my own too as think I'd save much more money that way but trouble is I'd have to make them the day before which is then the problem of storing them overnight as wouldn't fit that many in my fridge!! Arrghhh such a stress!! I wasn't sure about 4 quarters either but lots of people said that is one full size sandwich which most people would take! I thought if I padded it out with sausage rolls, crisps and salad then they wouldn't need 4 but then dh said what if some took 4 anyway and there then weren't enough left for others!! I hate organising!!

Have been a Costco member for many many years and totally rate Costco BIG TIME. But..... cheap? no, not really. Their stuff is top top quality. You can get almost anything. they make a huge huge cake for £10. They have gammons, meat, dips and pickes, cheese and all sorts of bits that mean you could make up a buffet, to DIE for. but not really cheap. much cheaper to get stuff from lidl, bookers etc. And their sandwich platter is not that cheap really.
which costco will you buy from? Watford or Reading is fab. But i really think you ned to have a look before you make any furhter decisions. I would take you myself, if you loved near me !!

Thanks for the info Oblomov and for offering to take me (very kind). However, the nearest to me is Birmingham. I think at the moment I am swaying towards the supermarket route, with my thinking being that the £30 joining fee for Costco would actually prob pay for all the soft drinks for the party from somewhere like Aldi or Lidl. I think the Costco cakes would've been great as wouldn't need freezer/fridge space day before as could collect on morning and would feed a lot. However, I now thinking of hitting somewhere like Asda the day before and buying a load of their muffins,donuts etc which also wouldn't need fridge space. Do people think it would be ok to offer these to guests as a dessert? I'm also thinking of making the kids a separate buffet table of sandwiches, crisps, fruit etc as this would bring down the amount of adult sandwich platters I'd need to buy?

I think both the kids and the parents might be slightly miffed at a separate children's buffet, the kids are def going to be eyeing up the adults food if you do that! I really dont think you need four sarnies per guest neither, if you are including kids in that 110 I would aim for 2 or 3 per guest.

I think the desserts sound fine.

I don't know the exact prices but I do know that Costco sandwich platters are cheap (cheaper than Sainsburys) but without fail they've always been so bland and so dry, they virtually curl up immediately as soon as the wrapping is off. I think their wrap platters are better, but I'd avoid the sandwich platters - crap fillings and dry. Cakes etc are good and cheap - perhaps you could do a mixture of Sainsburys and Costco.

Mum and dad got Sainsburys sandwich platters after getting sick of shit Costco ones and the Sains were lovely.

Why don't you not bother with sandwiches and have lots of bread rolls and fillings like sliced ham, sliced cheese etc so people can help themselves? And lots of other yummy buffet food like mini sausages and so on?

I would go for the sainsburys sandwich platters as my SIL had those and they were nice. The children probably won't eat many sandwiches, will probably only take one each. Buy mini sausage rolls, cocktail sausages, cut up French bread and slices of cheese, carrots and dips etc. at a buffet people do not always want a big slice of messy cake so get small chocolate brownies, caramel squares etc. they do these in sainsburys too.

I really dislike Costco, we joined and went once. Yes, the carrot and chocolate cakes are huge but all that frosting, bluegh! God knows what they make it from but it's not butter.

I would do Sainsbury's sandwiches and Aldi snacks, also would family members bring desserts to keep costs down?

I think that 4 quaters per guest is far too many. if you're providing a variety of food, then there will be no need for people to eat that many sandwiches. also dividing the buffet between children and adults is really not necessary, and seems like far too much hassle as you will need to ensure that each buffet has sufficient to cater for each group and at the same time factor in the real possibility that kids may eat from the adults buffet and vice versa.

I will be christening my son on 10th June and have just chosen a menu which will be fairly cheap and quite filling as I'm catering for 65 people. I 've chosen to do fried chicken and fish, veg, potatoe salad, green salad, macaroni and cheese, mini baguettes, sausage rolls,prawn and sausage skewers, stuffed eggs, crisps, nuts etc. and for desert Im just going yo have the actual christening cakes. that menu hasnt worked out expensive and I could do most of the prep the day before.

hope this gives u an idea of other food options

Also at sainsburys, I bought a few packs of walkers extra crunchy share size packet of crisps they were buy one get one free and are normally £1.99 per pack. so it worked out at £1 per pack which is a bargain and cheaper than costco!

Costco overall usually has the best price in everything but that isn't the only reason I order from them. Their sandwiches are moist, made with croissant rolls and just taste better than everything else anyone has brought in for partys. It doesn't mean they don't have competition somewhere, but I tasted the catered, the Subway, the grocery store platters and they just seem to be lacking something compared to Costco. I'm open to new suggestions or better market orders but since I get this job more times than I care to admit I'd have to say Costco is a safe bet.

I actually bought a platter of sandwiches from Costco back in the summer (for an afternoon tea for a wedding anniversary) - I am pretty certain it consisted of 48 quarters for £15 and you could choose either white or brown bread and up to four different fillings. The platter we had was excellent: plenty of filling and the bread was lovely. As officepartyplanner said they do all sorts of different types including wraps. I will be going before Christmas, and if you want me to pick up a leaflet, pm me and I'll send you details.

You need to also go to an Indian takeaway/cafe and ask about samosas and dips. We are also in the
Midlands and round here they do vegetarian samosas for 10p each and meat ones for 20p each. Bit of salad and some sandwiches then it's a lot cheaper.

I too have tried and tested different "self-catering" solutions and have come up short, which is never great when you want to wow your guests. Have any of you considered using The Platter Company - These guys deliver to your door or the location of your event. Superior quality, fine service and beautifully presented. They have got huge amount of great feedback and I can personally recommend them too. I have attached a link - www.theplattercompany.co.uk/ hope this helps!

Morrisons platters are cheaper than Sainsbury and if you buy three or multiples thereof you get them cheaper. They do sandwiches, open rolls and also Ploughman's platters with cheeses and pork pie etc.

Had them for my DDs birthday and they were brilliant. Four per person is a lot though. Our party was mainly adults and we went with three per person and still had leftovers. If you tell Morrisons how many you are catering for and what else you are doing they will suggest how many you need.

We sometimes get the wrap platters in the summer and have them for dinner. The wrap platters are about £8 and I think you get 16 in them, 4 turkey salad, 4 roast beef salad, 4 cheese savoury and 4 ham salad.

They are yummy but you would probably be cheaper just making sandwhiches.

If you go to the café bit though you can buy a hot takeaway 18 inch pizza for £8ish, that might work out cheaper for you as well if you were to go to Costco and done it on the day.

Zombie Thread. The sandwiches will be well eaten by now.

Wow, didn't even think to check the date on a thread about sandwhich platters!

I guess Jennifer works for the platter place then? And FWIW they look really over priced, £3 for a packet of doritos!?

I read it all, and got confused by a poster saying she was going before Christmas and would pick up a leaflet.

Guessing the same about Jennifer.

Morning ladies. You guessed correctly. I joined them very recently as a result of being so impressed with who they are and what they do. Maybe my passion for the product and service got the better of me. Sorry if you feel duped :-( The food platters are soooooo much better than the supermarket option and it pains me to her people paying for inferior products and service.

Apologies from an over enthusiastic mum! x