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.

As all of them have kitchens I'd consider prepping the food before the trip in large disposable trays (e.g. lasagne, traybake) fridge/freezer them if possible, take with you. Take some disposable trays and breakfast stuff like bacon, sausages, veggie alternatives. Put in the trays in the various ovens, people can assemble own breakfast sandwiches out on big table. As long as you stock each kitchen with sandwich components, crisps etc people can make their own as they want.

Do you have to stay on site and maybe do a meal out at local pub together?

i agree with scaling up normal family type meals. Its amazing how you can make even ordinary type things seem fancy and amazing with small touches.....set the table - cutlery, glassware, candles etc. Wine with dinner. Music in the background and low lighting. Add on finishing touches ala Masterchef eg edible flowers, watrecress, pea shoots etc to garnish, good bakery bread on the side, olive oil and balsamic on the table....big leafy salad to share for starters. All of this and then just serve your hearty home style meals - pizza, lasagna, Irish stew, roast chicken etc etc

This is what I was going to say. Don't know why it's necessary to do all meals centrally.

@MeAndLicorice, sorry, yes make them, keep in fridge, (wrap well with a whole foil sheet on the bottom.) But heat water in a pan let them sit over water in oven proof plate or pan, covered in foil, not in the steamer as they probably get wet & soggy

We don’t have such a range of ready meals here so we’d do cereal and toast in each house for breakfast with BBQ breakfast of bacon/eggs/sausages etc one day. Lunches we’d do bread rolls with options of ham, cheese, salami and lots of salad and everyone makes their own. Dinners we’d bring big dishes of lasagne, chilli and curry.

I’ve made this before for breakfast for large groups. I used new potatoes so no peeling
realfood.tesco.com/recipes/full-english-traybake.html

Thank you @cooldarkroom I’m going to try that!

I didn’t say full English breakfast. I said scrambled eggs and bacon. Quite specifically. Yes I could definitely scramble 44 eggs and cook 44 pieces of bacon for breakfast

Yes to your continental breakfast (but maybe full cooked English on one of the days) and for lunch sandwiches, quiches, green salads, maybe pasts salads. For dinner (these would need minimal prep):

• Pizza and salad - get an Ooni pizza oven. Cooks a pizza in 3 minutes, and the only prep really is the dough (or buy ready made)
• Fish & chips - one of our friends does fish & chip Fridays with usually 20+ people, she uses 2 fryers - one for the chips, one for the fish. Mushy peas and chip shop pickled onions for the full authentic experience
• BBQ
• Mexican? Fajitas/tacos/enchiladas/chilli with nachos and margaritas. Easy peasy😂

This is an excellent list and also makes my point about asking beforehand. If you were all going to be eating breakfast together you could probably buy 2 pots of each (jam/honey/nutella etc), and book a Tesco delivery at the end of day 2 to restock on the ones that people had finished.

But if there are 5 separate houses, then 5 separate pots of each of all of those items will mean some are vastly over catered (you could easily find no-one wants peanut butter for breakfast) and still you will run out of some things, because if everyone wants jam then one pot per house won't be enough.

The more you can ask for preferences beforehand, the more generous you can afford to be on quantity and quality of things people actually want to eat. The more variety you offer, the more waste you will have and the greater the risk that there isn't enough of one particular item.

This is a really good point especially with jet lag people will be up and hungry at different times so I would definitely think that putting breakfast things in each cottage would work better. Your still taking on the cost then but everyone can eat when they want

Costco pastry platters, decent bread, eggs, butter, jams and spreads for each kitchen. Everyone can do their own breakfasts in their own time then.

lunches - go for help yourself stations - baguettes, jackets, wraps and pizza - loads of fillings and toppings and a different 'vessel' every day.
For dinner
BBQ
Mexican
Indian
Italian

I’ve ended my Costco membership because of Trump, but this is exactly where you need!!
their veggie provision is a bit shit so you might need to think on that one.
big pizzas, four of the lasagne, trays of croissants, biscuits etc. they do big salads, their little rolls in bags are great, pre cut ham and cheese, for lunches or snacks.

bacon, egg, sausages in a roll and croissants for breakfasts

Curry’s are easy to scale up, if you’ve got a slow cooker that’s great for keeping stuff warm like rice, mash potatoes even hot chocolate
bbq one night

from scout camp experience, do not under estimate snacks, crisps, and fruit. Cheese and crackers is always a great evening snack thing.

I think you need to start with the practicalities. Ie:

• how much fridge and freezer space do you actually have and where is it? Consider borrowing, buying or renting a bigger one, is this possible/allowed?
• how big a pot or pots would have to be to cook pasta for 22. It would take forever to even boil the water! Is the wiring up to snuff? Do you have big pans and do they even fit?
• Ditto toast. And kettles. These are power-hungry procedures. Plugging in a load of toasters and or kettles will probably trip the power. Can you get an urn or airpots for hot drinks?

Honestly, if you all want to eat together, doing a load of pre-prep and bringing pre-made components that only need putting innthe oven will be easiest. So lasagna and pasta bake, not pasta cooked innthe moment on the hob. Pre-made breakfast burritos , or sausages ovened in rolls, NOT a full English cooked on the hob. But for this you'd need fridge and freezer space!

The other things are generous portions of fewer things looks better than small amounts of many things. And is easier.

Finally - add in morning and afternoon tea, even if only bought in doughnuts, or cakes, or biscuits. This will take the pressure off other meals. And have a snack box, with fruit, crisps, drinks, bars for people who need to snack all day long. And some sweeties, in wrappers.

Sounds like an almighty challenge and a nightmare, financially, mentally and physically! The whole visit is completely dominated by food, and after clearing up from the first lot, along comes another load to prepare. Will the visitors ever manage to go sightsee and do other activities? Some great food ideas on here, though, and I’ll be interested to read the OP’s post after the visitors have all gone home!

Easy things to scale up are:
pre made lasagna and salads

steam or roast baby potatoes, roast Mediterranean vegetables and roast chickens or chicken joints (could do some as Greek lemon/garlic & some plain to cater for preferences)

2-3 big pots of curry (the same, or different ones) with 2-3 big pots of rice, a pile of puppodums or naans, and some bowls of chutney, raita, diced tomato/onion, sour cream or yoghurt (for cooking for any sensitive tastebuds) as sides

Mexican night of fajitas or tacos with all the sides

could a BBQ or other buffet style meal work another night - chicken wings and ribs in the oven, sausages, a mix of burgers/prick chops/lamb chops/chicken portions/kebabs with meat chunks and veggies etc and a few bowls of different salads work another night? You can mix lots of different flavours that way to suit lots of tastes, and keep some plain.

you can add bowl of green or mixed salad and crunchy French breakfast (part baked may be useful) to all of those for people who are less adventurous

Breakfasts - perhaps do a batch of diced fruit one of the earlier mornings (can be eaten as snacks other times), but maybe do a breakfast pack for each house of a couple of cereals, couple of jams, butter, tea/coffee, milk, juice, etc.
One morning could have bacon sandwiches (cook in oven), another could have a couple of pots of scrambled eggs with toast, another fried mushrooms on toast…etc.

Buy in quiches for 1 lunch, another day of sandwiches, one morning you have time to dice the veg do Spanish omelettes, and more sandwiches.

My inclination would be having salad bowl and crusty bread at each lunch and dinner. Bowls of nibble things like olives, hummus with breadstick/carrot sticks, crisps…can also help while cooking is going on or as sides to fill in gaps.

if lots of kitchens, maybe allocate 1 to be salad making, 1 to be veg cooking, 1 to be main item cooking, 1 in charge of sides etc for each meal. Spreads out the helpers too, so easier to work around each other. And if you have limited prep time, are there things you can do ahead - like pre-make the curries/lasaganas, buy ready made, or even prep the veg/marinate meats at breakfast time or while someone else washes up from a meal, to be bagged up in big ikea ziplocs (they do a big size as well as regular size) for use later?

Also think of allergies or specific dietary needs now, especially in case you need 1 kitchen to stay gluten free or anything. And also food preferences (like limits on spice levels).

I would stock each cottage with a food hamper for breakfast/lunch, so milk/tea/coffee, eggs, bacon, bread, butter, jam, sauces, ham, cheese, salad , quiche, etc.

Everyone makes their own breakfast and lunch.

Then you all get together to cook the evening meal, each cottage can cook something that you have provided, so nice ready meals, or pizza, or jacket potatoes with various fillings

What am I missing here? MAGA has a boycott going against Costco, do you mean you’re a Trump supporter so now hostile to Costco?

From catering to 25 hungry Cub Scouts and their leaders over the years…definitely go with more slightly smaller pots than fewer massive pots to cook and reheat things if you have the pots and rings - big pots take a lot longer than you think to heat up.

Make use of kettles to get water boiling initially with just a small amount of cold in each pot on the rings. Fill up with the hot from kettles.

Be methodical - one person does 1 job and moves it along a production line. So think about the order you need things done and how person B can start their job as person A give them 1 element, and person A can go on to do something else (that might be needed by person C)…
For sandwiches, butter plenty of rounds of bread first, then do the fillings. It might work best to put stacks of buttered bread and plates/bowls of possible fillings for everyone to make their sandwich of choice quickly, grabbing a piece of fruit from 1 bowl, chocolate bar from another and bag of crisps from a box as they move down the line with their plate. Set up the drinks in a different area to allow free flow of people and help them keep moving to the next station (not all stand chatting at the end of the sandwich bar blocking it up).

Have multiple jugs of milk for tea/coffee, some people will want sugar, some will want salt and pepper…you might want to get 1 big bottle of ketchup but put it in a few smaller bowls scattered around, or a few small bottles may work best. But as adults, you probably want a few different condiments, salad dressings etc (we just need ketchup, and brown sauce for 1 leader…but at home we use mustard, mayo and peri Peri a lot too…)

OP I don’t think you have mentioned drinks but do factor them in because when I did a similar thing ( though fewer people and shorter time scale) drinks were very expensive, and that was just providing tea/ coffee, soft drinks, beer and wine, not spirits and mixers. I would say that you will provide each cottage with tea bags/ ground or instant coffee and a couple of cartons of milk, but that you won’t be providing any soft drinks or alcohol apart from at the catered meal when you will provide wine.

I would also offer to book a meal at a local pub for a weekend lunch, but again ask for others to cover the drinks.

Why can’t you go to a restaurant one day or get a takeaway?
wont any of the families be going out into local areas and therefore eating lunch out?

I can’t work out what would be a “holiday” but means you can’t leave site and only have 45 mins to cook!

All the catering ideas have been covered. I would ask each cottage group what breakfast stuff they want getting in.

Forget three course professional catering. They will be wanting weddings or conferences.

Get meal ‘entertaining’ deliveries from Waitrose or M and S or Cook. The standard will be consistent, reliable and reasonable.
Perhaps eat out one or two nights ? I mean pub grub. Relaxed rather than formal.
Fish and chip during the day ? Snack option for evening ?

Just avoiding (or attempting) anything American since Trump piped up about our troops.

hadnt heard they’d upset MAGA. What have they done to upset them?!

can I get my membership back?!

This just sounds bloody awful