If you had to make 40 filled rolls.

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I need to feed some volunteers, grab and go style. I'm thinking rolls, crisps, fruit and baking. I'm thinking average two rolls each. Let's say 40 to be on the safe side.

Don't want to spend an excessive amount, but do want it to be decent. Also don't want to get bogged down in faffy fillings.

What tips do you have?

What fillings and in what proportions?

Definitely vegetarians in attendance, possibly vegans. I'm not going to start taking orders.

If you're making the rolls in advance, I wouldn't add sliced tomatoes as the rolls will go soggy. Ham sandwiches are wonderful but as well as being unsuitable for vegetarians and vegans there may be religious issues for some volunteers, so I'd avoid ham. I would actually not use meat at all, to avoid the risk of running out of vegetarian options, keep costs down, minimise need to refrigerate between making and eating. I'd also avoid raw onion if you're all working at close quarters together after the lunch.

Egg mayo and cress/watercress
Grated cheese and chutney
Hummus and grated carrot, maybe a bit of shredded cabbage too for extra crunch
Maybe smoked mackerel pate and cucumber

Ooh that's good to know, we've ordered some for my DD's birthday party on Saturday!

Coronation chickpea
Cheese and caramelised red onion chutney
Egg mayo with spring onion
Ham salad.

Muffin - quick and easy to make
Flapjack - very popular

Fruit, not too big.

Thanks everyone! Sorry I was flat out since I posted. All suggestions very much appreciated. Some of you clearly have a very different idea of what constitutes a faffy filling. Maximum faff would be cooking off a batch of sausages.

I feel like tuna mayo is going to get pricey, maybe cheaper to buy a big tub of tuna mayo than tins of tuna and a jar of mayo?

I'm liking hummus and carrot/pepper.

Surprised cheese is not selected often.

I was going to do a couple of loaf cakes but I'm re-thinking that now.

Bread is important. Why has no one mentioned the bread?? Mix of wholemeal and white, or maybe wholemeal, granary & white. I don't like white bread <boak> so would feel put out if only white bread were available.

If you garnish with salad, I will literally hoover all the salad up (nobody else barely touches it).

Who are your volunteers?
At work humus would be ok but in my local area, people would not like humus. Ditto cream cheese & a lot of these other exotics. Would not be popular 'round 'ere.

I'd be revolted to find sweetcorn in any of them, myself.

Nobody eats egg in my experience, anywhere (!!)

1. Chicken or turkey, 2. ham, 3. cheese, 4. something for the vegans, is my best suggestion. No mayo. I love mayo & dislike butter or margarine as spreads, barely tolerable when margarine/butter contaminates my sarnie, but most people expect & prefer opposite.

If it were me I'd do cheese and chutney (always disappears off the buffets at work) and ham, mustard and tomato or beef, tomato and horseradish.

Loaf cakes sound good - cling filmed slices?

Please stop can everyone threatening to put chutney with cheese - ruins a perfectly good plain sandwich.

I’ll eat all of the chutney and cheese 😁

Hummus is too claggy to be anywhere near a sandwich, and tomato and onion sound rank.

For ease, go for ham and cheese. Possibly tuna or egg mayo where you can make a bowl and then make up the sandwiches.

Vegans are rarer than you think - don’t make vegetarians put up with a weird and shitty vegan option instead of a good cheese roll!

Buy big packs of rolls and then slice and fill them before separating them. It's so much faster.

I wouldn’t eat any of those apart from the last one and DD wouldn’t eat any
Need to go a bit more basic unfortunately to please everybody

My main thing would be keep it simple and then have sliced tomatoes, cucumber etc on the side so people aren't put off. So I'd go for 10 each of 4 of the following:

Cheese
Ham
Beef
Tuna mayo
Egg mayo
Greater carrot and hummus

What is a 'grab and go' lunch? A buffet or individual paper bag lunches?

If individually bagged, and with people who know each other, I'd do a random selection of fruit - apple, banana, easy peeler; different flavours/ types of crisp; selection of wrapped biscuits/cereal bars.

Individually wrap the rolls (cheese & ham, chicken tikka, hummus).

People can then trade/swap amongst themselves.

Don’t use margarine!! At all!! Ruins any sandwich. I’d go for 50:50 bread rather than white or granary as most people will eat it. Go
plain- no chutney or onion etc or have it on the side if you do serve it. Bags of plain crisps. Little packets of biscuits or cereal bars. Fruit. Jugs
of water or squash.

What sort of an animal eats eggs sandwiches in public?

If you add extra "bits" to the plain sandwiches, be prepared for some people to eat extra cake, crisps and/or fruit.
All the mustard, mayo, chutney suggestions would leave me not eating a roll. Yes, I know I'm fussy, but please can you have something without "sauce" added.

Personally: cheese, ham, a vegan suggestion, and ??? Are there kids too? Many of them would go plain too (mine excepted!)

Yes to buying rolls still stuck together, and making the sandwiches 6- at a time before cutting along the joins.

The same one who also eats tomato and onion

4 tins of tuna are £3 in Asda. Mayo - economy style probably a pound. You could do them all from that! Obviously don't. Don't ruin them either with sweetcorn. Bleugh.
Definitely cheaper than packs of ham.

Just go for a soft white roll if grab n go.

If salad, then encase all with iceberg top and bottom to avoid soggy.

I'd go egg mayo
Tuna mayo
Cheese and pickle/cheese and onion.

I'd only make a couple of vegan, or even take some salad and hummus with you to knock up in case there are any.

Or cook a load of pizzas and send those out wrapped 🤷

My favourite sandwich is coleslaw and jalapeno. Thank you!

@WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter I was about the say the lack of cheese and onion is an outrage!

It was a work favourite for me from the trolley and I didn't care who I offended with the big round chunks of raw white onion!

@WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter
No cricket tea is complete without them!

Nobody eats egg in my experience, anywhere (!!)
Egg mayo is my favourite sandwich! I'd turn the tuna down though.
I would do more vegi, and vegan than meat as don't assume the.non vegis will want go eat the meat/fish

It's just not cricket!

I wouldn't know about that.

I'm suspecting OP's head is well and truly done in now though.

Top tip - don't grate carrots, it takes ages, is boring and the potential for injury is quite high.

So nothing for the vegans