Need to feed 22 people in air bnb for 12 meals

[bessaas]

Need to feed 22 people including 2 kids for summer.

We're having family stay in the UK for 4 days this summer. Everyone is coming in from abroad from really expensive places- Australia, USA, China, except my partner and I- for us its 2 hour drive.

I have rented an Airbnb which we are all splitting the cost of. Everyone is paying for their own flights.

We are however paying for all food as our contribution. Everyone is paying at least a grand for their flights.

We completely underestimated the cost of food. Professional caterers for four meals for four days have quoted £8k. We were originally thinking £1500 as a budget and feel we may have messed up.

The air bnb is 5 self catering cottages all grouped with separate kitchens.

Were thinking one professional meal catered. Three course. For that it will be £900. It was £850 for buffet so we thought may as well go sit down three course.

We are needing 4 breakfasts, 4 lunches, and 4 dinners total. Others can help cook but we are footing the bill. We invited everyone so it makes sense.

without giving away what were doing we will be onsite the whole time but not have a load of time to cook. So we can't have a plan that will take more than 45m from start to food on the table.

We have thought : continental breakfast all four days, sandwich platters for lunch. one lunch be sandwich platters and scones so 'afternoon tea' and bbq for dinner.

Are there any other quick and inexpensive meal options we can do?

We also looked at hiring a food truck but for so few people it was £25 a pizza.

Our butchers supplies a range of big pies, home made and with a choice of fillings, at £6 each. They also make and sell lasagne.

Fish and chips would be very expensive now!

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but some supermarkets (M&S and Morrisons off hand) do party platters.

Sounds like a massive, expensive, exhausting chore, especially if some of your guests have specific dietary requirements!
Pizzas, takeaways, even pre prepared meals from supermarkets might help.

Hi, I cook for large numbers, I think your challenge is making large servings for 22 in kitchens designed for 4. Meal prep at home is probably going to be your friend. I would do lasagna trays in foil where you can do a veggie and meat. Salad etc you can buy from Costco.
Next idea would be soups I would probably do two with 12 servings each one veggie one meat served with bread.
Barbecue is also good, veggie, beef and chicken burgers. You can pre-cook ribs in the slow cooker, then finish them off on the barbecue. Pre-marinated chicken thighs would be nice too with jacket potatoes.
Will you have help cooking it or is it you responsible for prep as well?

You need to go back to the group and eat humble pie.

Nice food (suitable for people on holiday) for 22 people for 12 meals is far too big an undertaking. It's an awfully long way to travel for frozen pizza or a ready meal. Meals for 22 people take time to prep and dinners aren't doable in 45 mins start to finish. Breakfast and lunch might be ok.

My experience of a large group on a self catering cottage was fitting the pizzas in for everyone - it took hours to cook them all.

Seemed like a good idea at the time!
OP make it more simple , pre prepared food - pies , pizzas, supermarket lasagne, jacket pots , M&S is your friend.

I would do:

Croissants for breakfast - you can bulk buy them frozen. Also bananas, apples and yoghurt.

sandwiches for lunch - everyone can make their own if you supply bread, ham, cheese, tuna mayo etc

Dinner
jacket potatoes plus various fillings and salad
Huge spaghetti bolognese- make the sauce at home, freeze it, then transport it frozen to defrost en route for the first meal
Risotto which you can make on site

Desert - big tubs of ice cream and tray bake brownies

Have loads of biscuits, crackers and cheese, apples, bananas and crisps available

I came across this recipe for 10 the other day. It takes an hour and can be scaled up

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta/mixed-veg-pasta/

This would be easy to prep. Give everyone a prepped chicken to put in their oven.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken/roast-tikka-chicken/

What is the oven situation? Are you all in the property with a huge oven or are you going to be running between smaller kitchens in different properties?

BBQ is the perfect option if weather decent, I would do two - one burgers / sausages and one with a big joint of beef and salmon.

Paella

Curry

I wouldn’t do pizza for 22 unless the oven is huge.

check very carefully what equipment they have, whether you need to bring anything with you eg serving platters etc.

If I paid for flights to the UK from China or Australia, and accommodation when I got there, I’d be VERY pissed off to see skimping on food! Please do not do cereals for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I’d be wanting a loaf of sourdough and wanky jam in my cottage, with whole milk and oat milk and tea and coffee and a bottle of orange juice. I’d be expecting croissants one morning, bacon sandwiches another morning. I’d want a former salad for lunch, sausage baps with fresh salad and home made vinaigrette and all the sauces, and I’d want a seriously good dinner each night: chicken or fish or meat, two vegetables, a carb, dessert, wine, baguette for mopping up. And plenty of snacks in my cottage and ideally a box of chocolates.

None of this needs to be overly expensive. Costco would be fine. I just would want to feel like thought had gone into making me feel welcome and comfortable and thought of. Sling me a four-pack of ready made cocktails
in a can to top of off and you’d be grand.

(One “interactive” meal/snack might be fun: bbq, ‘smores, build your own pizza, taco station etc).

Go to a farm shop and get pre made lasagne, curry, pies etc to bung in the oven. They’re always lovely.

9/22 guests are vegetarian and one exceptionally picky eater

There are 5 cottages with 5 small kitchens - one cottage is a 30s walk the others are clustered together.

Love this thread! What a dilemma.
OP do you intend to be stuck in the kitchen or joining in with everyone else? 3 x meals a day planning this fresh can all add up with a bit of of salad here, this & that extra.

Think cook shop / caterers are a good idea. Could a curry house do you a deal for one night? Cook (the shop) frozen meals one night. Tacos one night if you want to make an effort?

I think that the Nigella Lawson book Feast is about catering for a crowd. It is based around celebrations, funerals, that sort of thing, but it's all about cooking for lots of people. Might be worth checking out. I used to have a copy and I'm sure I made a big mushroom stew once from it.

Fried rice is another good one you can make in advance - easy to do veggie version of and meat version of, freezes very well. Burritos are excellent (someone already mentioned), also tomato gnocchi.

someone suggested soup (also very good idea) and don’t forget the good old curry. Either Thai or Indian. Super easy to make veggie or meat. Those big tinfoil trays are your friend, if you can make sure there is enough freezer space at your destination.

breakfasts, you could buy frozen ready-to-bake croissants and do overnight oats or chia? Very easy, filling and delicious.

Yes to bbq but buy in all salads

@RedLeicesterRedLeicester thank you! do you have a recommendation for salad buying?

Totally doable for far less than 1500 for four days

and to answer someone's question, everyone can help with prep and washing up. Initially they may not expect to but rationally leaving all that to two people is unrealistic and they are good people. There is a dishwasher and fridge freezer in each.

Also it's been really helpful to read what people would and wouldn't want for breakfast.

I would hate yogurt and croissants (happy to provide for others) but would love eggs on toast!

If anyone would like to share what they would and wouldn't want that would be really helpful

We do something very similar (34 last time) but everyone comes from (near) Europe or UK.

Each family is assigned to a "team" of ca. 6-8 adults for one night's cooking of dinner (usually people do most of it in advance and bring it), and also do the cleaning up that night. Dinner is always a veggie option, a meat option, sides and salads, plus at least two dessert options.

Each family is also assigned something from The List to bring, e.g. breakfast cereals, soft drinks, cheeses, baked goods for lunches etc.

Lunches are generally a lot of sliced baguette, big wheels of cheese, apples/celery/grapes, potato salad, homemade quiches, mackerel pate etc.

It works well, and anything left over can be shared out at hometime. Appreciate it's much more complicated with international travellers though!

Personally I would do a supermarket order to be delivered the day you get there (you'll need to arrive before everyone else, and then consider a top-up for bread and milk two days later. You might consider long-life milk, so it stay out of the fridge until opened.

For me, the main difficulty would be with prep/storing/logistics. You'll need to split the food between all the separate fridges and freezers but even if you provide each cottage with their own snacks and essentials, people will eat the prepared/"saved" food 😳

Very best of luck!

www.waitrose.com/ecom/shop/browse/entertaining/shop_by_occasion/buffet

Loads of stuff in the Waitrose site