Can anyone help me with ideas for a CHEAP barbeque for 20, including an assortment of vegetarians, muslims and pregnant women?

[oranges]

Can I do this without spending a fortune? Some people won't eat pork but I can still have sausages etc for others. I would like free range meat where possible. Oh, and I need to be able to order it on an online shop. Tesco or Waitrose.

And what should I get to drink? I'm assuming people will want beer and white wine, but shoud I get red too?

Friends can help out with salads and side dishes.

why not get friends to bring the alcohol and you provide the salads?

The alcohol will cost more than potato and pasta salad.

Get your veggies from Lidl if you can as cucumbers are 34p!!

Kebabs veggie and meat
Sausages
Burgers in rolls
Hot dogs in rolls
Lamb and mint sausages
Butterfly chicken breasts marinated

Pasta salad
potato salad
rice salad
green salad

Plenty of french bread

Non alcoholic cocktail - St Clements - which is bitter lemon and fresh orange juice

Pavlova
Ice lollies for the kids

Thank you! friends will bring booze too - I just wanted to get some in to kick things off. Can you do chicken on a barbeque? I've never dared! I'm trying to not have to pre-cook things in oven if possible.

I'm trying to estimate how much people will eat. Always seems to be way more than what they would eat at a dinner.

if you want to keep it simple get some veggie burgers, spicy bean burgers are very nice. most people will be happy enough with that if everyone else is having meat burgers and sausages.

if you want to do something a bit more adventurous you could grill salmon or other fish, or do it in foil.

also, corn on the cobs go down well.

will your muslim guests be happy to eat the meat assuming you aren't buying halal? if not you may need to consider catering for enough veggie options for them too.

Muslim guests will happily eat non-halal meat. They just want to avoid pork. Will "proper" posh burgers and sausages work out cheaper than cuts of meat? I can't make burgers myself so will have to buy them. Happy to make marinades etc though for meat. And can you recommend any veggie burgers/sausages that won't fall apart?

Veggie bean burgers always seem to fall apart ime so it's best to look out for ones made from Quorn or soya (ditto sausages)

Do you have a large barbecue?

No! Was thinking of getting a small dispoable one for the veggie stuff, and doing meat in batches on other one, which is a medium sized charcoal burner. We'll have plenty of volunteers to mind it.

Vegi kebabs are one of my faves.

(Musrooms, peppers, onions, courgette etc and chunks of halloumi marinaded beforehand in a bit of olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper)

Get some chunks of chicken breast from the butcher, smear with wholegrain mustard or maple syrup, wrap half a rasher of bacon around each piece and skewer. divine.

Also do some baked potatoes and wrap in foil then keep them warm in the oven, lay out cheese, coleslaw etc.

Maybe even do a pot of chilli and keep that warm, I always find people want more food than can be barbecued.

do you want free range for ethical reasons or because you think it tastes better. If it's because of taste don't bother buy cheapy chicken drumsticks and just smother them in marinade.

With vegie burgers I find they don't fall apart if they only get turned once. Meat burgers I probably turn 5/6 times during cooking, vegie burgers get cooked for as long as possible on one side (till you think they've been cooked too long, then turned once and cooked again for a long while, then served. The less handling the better.

Chicken drumsticks, adequately cooked, in view of the pregnant contingent. Lamb or beef burgers. Aubergines, mushrooms and courgettes grilled on the bbq- we often do them on sticks. Fish? Salads. You can do fresh sardines quite cheaply.

whole rainbow trout are cheap, as fish go. If you put a bit of thyme, lemon, oil in the cavity of the fish then BBQ, its quite quick and delicious and serves 2/fish.

A good butcher will make you some beef sausages (might need a couple of days notice though) - that might simplify things, rather than having pork sausages.

Keep it simple and don't have too many options - have some fish, beef sausages, vege kebabs, and then salads and bread. I think there should be plenty there to suit all your various guests.

Rainbow trout is a really good idea. Some really good suggestions here. Its sensible isn't it, to have lots of three or four things than a vast choice? Do I really need puddings? I was going to have chocolates and baclava if people wwant to niddle on something sweet, but i thought barbeques weer all about the meat?

Spend your budget on quality meat, and do everything else ultra cheaply. Don't buy loads - just enough for everyone to have a couple of things each. They can fill up on the cheaper stuff.

Do some big cheapo salads - pasta or rice or chickpea or cous cous based.

Get lots of (cheap) bread rolls.

Buy value veg and make roasted veg skewers. Halloumi skewers also good for veggies.

The only thing I'd add is that non-veggie people tend to like veggie food as well as meaty stuff so make sure there is a bit extra for them as well. Also, I find it much easier to do lots of three or four things as you suggest, rather than having lots of choice.

For the last large BBQ I did for 40 odd people:

• vegetable skewers for both meat-eaters and non-meat-eaters (mushrooms, baby potatoes, shallots, corn-on-the-cob, courgettes, aubergine, halloumi etc)
• trout in foil (pretty much as astophe described)
• boneless marinated thighs (started off in the oven to make sure it is cooked through)
• a load of chipolatas for the kiddies with extra for adults (but didn't bother with burgers (the cheap ones are horrible and the good ones are too expensive))
• baked bananas for desert

Then I just served this with lots and lots of salady things and good bread.

Even when there has been loads of meat, etc, I still find lots of people want sweet stuff afterwards.

For puddings for large BBQs, I make a huge batch of brownies and put out a platter of fruit. If I have time, I make a pavlova and a key lime pie beforehand.

I rarely bother with burgers when catering for parties, but just do good quality sausages, chicken, kebabs and various salads - green, couscous, potato.

DH always thinks it's easier on me to do a BBQ because he does the cooking - but I have shopped, marinaded, and made salads and puddings and he has turned the meat over on a gas BBQ.

we like veggie skewers with courgettes/red onion/mushrooms/tomatoes etc.

large flat mushrooms play the role of burgers very well with buns/salad etc

we foil up spuds and bake them in the firepit/bbq, then stuff them with a mixture of cheese and spring onions and basil

also for pudding you can unzip banas and stuff in chocolate/raisins/cinnamon/honey, then foil them and bake - eat out of the skin with a spoon

also I usually do a big bowl of cold couscous or pasta, with pesto/a few finely chopped veggies (you could use peas/sweetcorn/onions/cucumber/chives/whatever you like

why would a veggie expect to go to a barbie? isn't the word synonymous with 'meat'?

you are all making me drool....

foxy? Ya think?
bbqs are not primarily about food, more about socialising outside IME. Why, even veggies like a party

barbeques mean meat on the grill, first. the socialising can happen w/out a barbeque.

this is someone who has been known to make barbeque in Feb, in the NorthEast so no one would be socialising outside I tell you.

i don't think the veggies are 'expecting' to go to a bbq so much as they've been invited, by a friend, who wants to serve up some nice food for them. not exactly like they're gate crashing the party and spoiling it with all their quorness is it?