CATERING ADVICE NEEDED URGENTLY- (FOR AFTER FUNERAL)

[noonar]

Hi. i'm doing the catering for my dear great aunt's funeral. have toyed with the idea of doing a proper buffet, but my brothers and i would like to do the food ourselves and but are in a panic about being out of our depth (70 people coming. no catering experience)

anyway, we are now doing:

-quality sandwiches, with really nice fillings
-crudites (mum's ideas- i'm not sure about this, tbh)
-kettlechips (sounds naff, but think will be ok with the sandwiches)

• homemade cakes on doilies

...all served on proper china, with proper linen and vases of flowers- simple hand tied bouquets

any ideas about what we could add to our simple sandwich buffet (savoury) that would require very liitle prep, and no actual cooking

olives, cubes of cheese? or selection of cheeses and biscuits

buy mini quiches and reheat, or serve cold?

sorry for your loss

Sorry for your loss. How about a simple savoury pie ie: a rectangle of ready rolled puff pastry with a layer or cream cheese and a thin layer of sliced tomatoes, sprinkle with fresh thyme and black pepper, drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 20 minutes. Cut into squares and let people serve them selves.

I think what you have described sounds perfectly adequate and don't think you need to add anything else. Sorry for your loss. xx

Every wake I have ever been to has always had the following spread

1 Sandwiches
2 Sausage Rolls
3 Selection of cakes
4 Tea/coffe

Some 'posher' do's have had soup, crusty rolls but the above seems to be the norm.

When my fil died we did a cricket tea, which sounds very much like your idea. Sandwiches, scones and jam etc. Simple but really effective. Sorry for your loss.

As suggested Quiches cut into wedges, sausage rolls, maybe pork pies cut into wedges.
Crudities are good for nibbling and looking as if you are joining in without actually eating, crisps are good too.
Make 1 round or sandwiches [per person (2 slices of bread) if you are grating the chesse mix with some mayo so it doesn't all end up falling on the floor and being trampled into the carpet. But do some sandwiches that don't have mayo for those who hate the stuff.
Small slices of french bread make nice finger sandwiches but can be fiddly to prepare.
But take note, the fancier the do, the more like starving animals the guest's will behave as they try to make sure they get 'whats there due'..... as if.

thanks all lots of friendly advice and ideas. i like the idea of scones...but for 70 people...thats a lot os scones. would i have to allow one each. i guess not all would have one.

may do quiche, but the funeral is early, and dont want to have to heat anything up on the day, due to lack of time. can you serve ready made quiche cold, without heating it first, or would it have that horrid 'fridgy ' taste, iykwim.

at my nan's funeral, we had mugs of veggie soup and ham/cheese on crusty bread, partly because it was freezing and partly because it was a fave of my nan's. seemed to go down well.