Preparing party a week early?

[vvviola]

DD2 turns 1 at the end of the month and we're having a buffet lunch/party for family & friends. A small enough thing, but I'll still need to prepare food etc.

The things is, I'll really need to prepare as much as possible the weekend before. I'm at university 3 days a week & the party will start early enough on Saturday. I will be able to do some prep on Friday but:
MIL will probably come up to stay on the Friday (she'll be practically on the doorstep when I get home from lectures). She's lovely, but I won't get the time/space to do much cooking when she's here.

Some family members have kindly offered to bring things, but as DD2 & I are dairy/egg free, I'll need to cook as much as possible myself, so I know it's safe to eat.

So - any advice on how to do as much as possible the week before? Any (wintry - we're in the southern hemisphere!) recipe ideas? We've loads of freezer space, but not a lot of fridge space.

Thanks!

Depends on whether you want to do nibbles or something more substantial really. Personally I would do either a big chilli or a couple of curries and freeze them, then you just have to do the "extras" -rice/breads or tortillas - on the day. Nibbles are actually more of a pita to prepare in advance.

We're enjoying the lovely Sydney Winter sun but dinner is definitely Winter food. I've got Jamie's Empire chicken and Bombay potatoes in the oven as I type!

Yes, I think you are right that nibbles would be really hard to prepare that far in advance.

So, I guess a chili/curry type thing would be the best idea. But I suspect there will still have to be some nibbles too.

And the cake. A dairy and egg free cake. (Which I'll have to ice the night before... Joy )

Cake can easily be made and then frozen, then just take out freezer fri after lectures and add filling sat morning

Muffins work best though as smaller. Carrot cake muffins a hit here, just add a dairy free butter frosting on day if you want

Food wise large trays of maybe lasagne or moussaka work well, can be taken out of freezer night before and just popped in oven to cook

Lasagne would be my usual option - but the thoughts of having to make it dairy free (and inflict that on the guests) or make two seperate ones just so that I can eat really doesn't appeal hugely. And I suspect dairy free lasagne isn't the most appetising

But that's interesting about the cake - hadn't thought of freezing it. That would certainly take another layer of pressure off.

Dairy free lasagne is fine. You honestly don't taste the difference. I have used the kara coconut milk to make a white sauce and you can get dairy free Parmesan to sprinkle on top

Beef bourgonion ( spelling!)- easy to freeze and can make rice/ vegetables in side dish v quickly on day

How about a bbq? You're bound to find some bloke will want to take over cooking the meat, so you can just chuck potatoes in the oven and prep some sald

A barbecue would be lovely, but we're in the southern hemisphere so the weather isn't quite ready for that yet.

Although that does remind me that I haven't seen our barbecue since we moved. I'd better ask DH where it is!