Festive potluck ideas

[riffraffroff]

Need to take a few things into work for our Christmas "party" 🙄

Must be portable and edible cold. All the basics are already taken by other colleagues - I'm all out of ideas

A few Christmases ago, a colleague brought some proper Indian savoury snacks - samosas, etc. Now they were amazing because he went to an actual Indian bakery/snack shop to buy them, but I think store bought/homemade would be equally fine. Potato/pea samosas are also vegan, depending upon the pastry you use, so ticks that box too.

I recently made some nice goats cheese and chutney mini 'sausage rolls' that were nice and easy to make with store bought puff pastry. Both of these could be served room temp.

Also, I really appreciate some vegetables in a work potluck lunch. A plate of cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, mini carrots would be easy to throw together. A few years ago, someone just brought bags of those pre-cut carrot sticks and those went down well with dips.

Savoury or sweet? I'm not sure what Christmas "basics" are but assuming mince pies and the like. Few ideas I would consider

Cheese board with bread selection
Mixed nuts/fruit
Truffles
Crisps and dips
Pate

Next level potato salad https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/next-level-potato-salad

These are quite a lot of work if you make the pastry but unbelievably good. You could easily use ready-made pastry. https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/vegetarian-recipes/vegetarian-sausage-rolls

Once baked they don't really need even to be in the fridge.

Or - much easier - platter of fruit? Might be appreciated as a contrast to the normal buffet offerings. Satsumas, apples, ripe pears*, small bananas, anything else that you fancy.

*If you can achieve the miracle of getting them at exactly the moment they're ripe but not over-ripe - about 5 minutes long, in my experience ...

FANCY SAUSAGE ROLLS. Of course, why on earth didn't I think of that. Token carrot sticks to break up the beige, also great idea.

Pork pie
Scotch eggs
Falafel

If you can't be bothered to make anything yourself.

Chop chicken breast into chunks and marinate in a yoghurt and tandoori mix. Cook the chicken on a baking tray and leave to cool. Thread on a cocktail stick with ribbon of cucumber. Serve with mini popodoms and s bowl of mango chutney. This is my go to and its always popular.

Falafel, crisps, pretzels (aldi do festive shaped ones) a Christmas cake

If you feel like baking, Nigella’s Parmesan Shortbread Wafers always go down well and are a bit different.

Oooh, I think I'll keep this one for myself