Ideas for really cheap easy Buffet food please!!

Hi

for our DS and DD christenings we didn't have much money some of the things we did were

potato wedges (bought bag of potatoes), cut into wedges put some spices on (some without for wee ones) some oil, and bake in oven

Plates of cold meat and rolls beside them for bigger people to make up own sandwiches as well as ready made for kids

tomato salad - tomatoes with olive oil and salt to dress, mozzarella if you have it - unfortunately ours was hijacked by a 3 year old who ate pretty much the lot

hm sausage rolls.

sausages on sticks just cause I wanted them

mini quiches - I baked the quiches in cup cake trays. I think in the end people ate less because the cup cake size is way smaller than a slice of quiche (even 2 or three are smaller) and people don't realise.

I did make a full size spanish omelette (tortilla) with potatoes and peppers and this helped fill people up.

english muffins cut in half to make pizzas with tomato sauce cheese and onion on them

chunks of cheese and abowl of pickled onions

a greens salad, potato salad (basically I bought a big sack for 3 quid and did as much as I could with it.) and good old pasta salad (pasta with some peppers, mayo and kidney beans(cooked)).

Roast potatoes - cause every one loves these, do with some rosemary and they look really swanky even though it's still just roast tatties.

Trifle and fairy cakes for afters

Most people actually thought we'd bought the catering in or else it was ready meals. I think they thought this was a complement - honestly I was insulted until my mum explained to me that home made is "downmarket" to a lot of people.

Hope you have a good time

and TBH - the food isn't the biggie! Most people don't expect a feed. If you put the same thing on several plates IYSWIM then it looks like more.

For later occasions - and I have a 2yo party coming up too (dreading it already) - I've just done big servings of lasagne, curry etc and let people get on with it. Depends on your audience tho.

(and I just accept that there will always be someone who isn't happy - generally my MIL for me:rotfl: I've haven't given up - one day she'll say somethings nice. Probably when I serve pease pudding! Never in the field of human conflict....)

I bake small ish potatoes, scoop out the middle, mix with a little cheese, salt pepper and anything else that takes my fancy, refill the skins and then put back in the oven for 10 mins. Dead cheap and really tasty.

Hi
blinis

cut out some shapes in some white bread/toast you can top these with anything cheese chiva and mayo, egg mayo, cream cheese and cucumber, salmon etc

Quiche - you can do these mini in bun tins

sarnies

tortilla chips and dips

friut bowl

fruit/choc cake cut it into cubes and pop into paper cases look homemade

crudites - chop cucumber, peppers, mushrooms, carrot into sticks, make a garlic mayo with 1 clove garlic to a tablespooon of mayo and some lemon juice or do paprika and garlic and mayo

Nat
xxx

I have tried to collate some of the ideas I have found both on this thread and across the web for my own wedding. I thought I'd share with you the list I've come up with:

SAVOURIES
Baby Roasties
Bread Sticks
Cheese Board
Chicken Nuggets/Strips/Goujons
Chipolatas/Cocktail Sausages
Crackers
Crisps
Crusty Bread With Butter
Garlic Bread
Honey Mustard Chicken On Toasted Brochettes
Meat Platter
Onion Bhajis
Pigs In Blankets
Pizza
Pork Pies/Gala Pie
Prawn Toasts
Quiches
Ritz Crackers
Samosas
Sandwiches
Sausage Rolls
Scotch Eggs
Seafood Sticks
Spring Rolls (Vegetarian And Meat)
Vol-Au-Vents

DIPS & STICKS
Carrot Sticks
Cheese And Pineapple On Sticks
Coronation Chicken
Crudites
Dips
Doritos
Ham & Apricots On Sticks
Kettles Crisps
Nuts
Pate
Philledelphia Cream Cheese
Pringles
Tortilla Chips And Dips
Vegetable Sticks And Dips

SALADS
Chicken Caesar Salad
Coleslaw
Mixed Leaf Salad
Pasta Mixed With Chicken/Ham/Sweetcorn & Mayo (Chilli Powder Is Nice)
Pasta Salad
Potato Salad
Prawn & Cucumber Salad
Rice Salad
Savoury Rice
Tomato And Cucumber Salad
Tomato, Basil And Mozzarella Salad
Tuna Mayo & Sweetcorn

SWEETS
Cheesecakes
Chocolate Brownie Cake
Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
Chocolate Mini Rolls
Doughnuts
Eclairs
Fairy Cakes
Fizzy Jelly
Fruit Salad
Fruit Trifle
Gateaux
Grapes
Jelly And Ice Cream
Profiteroles
Raisins
Rice Crispie Cakes
Satsumas
Scones With Cream/Jam
Strawberries And Cream
Wedding Cake

How about making a rice, tuna and sweetcorn salad. Cook the rice add the sweetcorn, mix the tuna with mayo and mix it all together, season. You can do the same with pasta. It always goes down well in our house. You can make a salad quite cheaply and quiche as well , pastry is so easy it just takes time.
Remember kids will not eat too much(half of it will end up on the floor or in the bin) . I made cup cakes, chocolate crispies, chocolate birthday cake, cocktail sausages, crisps different types , cheese on sticks, carrots chopped into sticks as with cucumber. You could also do tomatoe and mozzorella salad. Go to Aldi they really have some great food there and it is cheap.