Sandwiches for a party - tips please

[kiwidreamer]

I have 10 adults coming to DS's birthday party that I need to feed, I'm getting freezer to oven nibbly things plus crudites and dips from Costco and, after looking at M&S and Waitrose prices for a tray of sandwiches I've decided to make my own as I'm sure I can manage at waaaaaaaaaaaay under the £19 they charge for 24 triangles... six regular sandwiches!!!

Any tips on how to prepare the sandwiches so they stay nice, I'm guessing I'll have to get up early on day of the party to make them but they will still need to go in the fridge (lunch at 12), will clingfilm keep them fresh and keep the bread from drying out?

I think I'll do chicken/bacon/mayo + roast beef + smoked salmon and cream cheese. The kids are having mini rolls one with cheese and one with ham and I'll do extra's for the toddlers.

wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge, they'll be fine. But Costco do trays of sandwiches too....

Or make the fillings and let people do it themselves

Cover with ever so slightly damp kitchen paper and clingfilm straight after theyre made and keep in the fridge until you need them. I wouldn't recommend leaving them over night though.

Think about Nigella's marmite ones unless you area marmite water. I do those, smoked salmon (using Tesco salmon pieces, cheaper) and also cucumber. Veggies happy and not expensive.

If you want to look posh, make them as open sandwiches.

Agree tips.

Old fashioned per cling film method would be to cover them with a damp tea towel and keep somewhere cool.

I used to do sandwiches for catering. A (new) slightly damp j cloth was the covering of choice.

If your going to costco you can get sandwich platters made up from there. We ordered ours over the phone 2 days before as we wanted 8 platters but when we picked them up they had loads ready made.

They were about £15 for 48 triangles and have loads of choices of flavours, they did one which was smaller for £9.99.

If you havent got one they also do personalised birthday cakes for £12 which are lovely

I read on another thread recently that the costco sandwiches werent very nice, how did you find them babydust? I'd need to collect them on Saturday afternoon, party on Sunday, in your opinion would they still be ok overnight?

bumping - would like to know whether Costco sandwiches are ok or not for future reference

Remember to make some veggie ones :)

They were great, we got ours saturday afternoon for my sons christening on the sunday. They do about 7 fillings if i remember and you pick which ones you like. If you get the big platter they wont fit it a standard fridge, so you will need to put them into smaller trays. We had prawn, turkey, beef n mustard, cheese n onion, and egg. They put some salad on the platter too which made it look really nice on the table.

All 8 platters were eaten and everyone was saying how nice they are. They also do wraps platters/fruit platters/sushi platters too.

I would definately get them again, we got everything for the christening buffet from there are werent disappointed with anything. They do a box of really nice mini 36 quiches too!

When I used to do cricket teas it would take me about an hour to assemble the sandwiches. Cricket tea is for around 25 people when you take into account scorers and guests.

I would make fillings, coronation chicken and egg mayonnaise earlier in the day.

Then cut up cucumber, tomatoes and shred lettuce, make sure the butter is spreadable.

I would calculate how many triangles per head (six for a cricket tea) and then work out how many sandwiches of each filling I would make.

I would normally do nice ham, some with salad, some with mustard, coronation chicken, chicken and bacon, and chicken and salad, and egg mayonnaise, and emmantal and tomato. I think roasted Med style veg and hummus would be a nice addition.

I always did around two thirds white bread to brown. An average loaf of bread has twenty slices so makes ten sandwiches, or forty triangles.

It is cost effective to make your own, if you take quality into account.

Have fun!

Sorry I got a bit carried away. What I meant to say is that if you time it right you can just double wrap the platters in clingfilm until serving time.

or you could use those reusable sandwich wrappers