Ideas for really cheap easy Buffet food please!!

zippychick

ive merged this with our main buffet thread

Zip

susyrosy

Hi - I'm useless at searching this forum, but I wondered if anyone has any cheap quick easy delicious tasty (want it all, I see) finger food ideas, please? So far, I've got potato salad - not strictly for eating with fingers ..

Help and thanks!

jbreckmckye

Simple options include:
- chicken wings or drumsticks (cooked in the oven with a marinade)
- pieces of cheese (doesn't get much easier)
- hard boiled eggs
- sandwiches
- frozen canapes (not especially glamorous, but very cheap and easy)
- toast and pate
- quiche
- homemade pizza, cut into squares (you can buy a pizza mix and a mozzarella ball for about £1)
- potato skins
- olives
- cured meat slices (eg salami)
- cold roast meat wrapped in Yorkshire Pudding slices (has to be served fresh, though)

Is there a particular theme to your party?

susyrosy

Thanks! AND I've already got some eggs ..

Cucumber sandwiches are also going to feature.

Seakay

Make rusks to put tasty morsels on as they stay crisp for longer than biscuits or toast. As a rule of thumb allow 4-6 canapes per person at a stand up drinks party, but you know the appetites of your guests best!

Cut the crusts off thick sliced bread (white or wholemeal) then cut each slice into 4 (or cut out circles with a pastry cutter but try not to compress the edges too much). Put the slices on a baking tray and bake in a cool oven 250 Fahrenheit/125 centigrade or gas mark ½ for an hour. Turn the oven off and get one rusk out to cool - if it's not as crispy as you'd like give them another half hour and check again.

These can be use as a basis for any savoury spread, sandwich filling or finely chopped salad and you can prettify or not as you choose.
eg, liver pate topped with chopped parsley, a squirl of primula from a tube or a spread of cream cheese topped with two or three prawns, egg mayonnaise with a sprinkle of chopped crab sticks and a grind of black pepper - anything you fancy!

I wouldn't use tomato slices, they really do get overly juicy very quickly, but if you want to include them then I'd halve cherry tomatoes, scoop out the middles (keep for tomato sauce or juice) sprinkle with salt and leave upside down to drain for a couple of hours and then use the tomato 'mini bowls' to fill dollops of savoury spreads or dips

cutestkids

Sausage rolls
Cheese and onion rolls
Mini samosas
Mini spring rolls
Mini scotch eggs
Crisps
Veg sticks
Fruit platter
Cheese platter
Crackers with pate, Cheese and butter for people to make themselves
King prawns with chilli dip
Breadsticks
Mini scotch pancakes with a little cream cheese or creme fraiche topped with salmon trimmings.
Bowls of nuts
French stick sliced up for people to add toppings to, butter, pate, cheese, meats
Olives, pickled onions,cherry tomatoes, gerkins etc

Teg-Rem

things on sticks!!
any combination - how about a revival of the good old 70's thing, ham and pineapple?? etc etc
hot dogs cut up and put on sticks
akka prawns, scampi etc. with pickles etc.
veggie stuff or fruit kebabs

the possibilities are endless.

Owain_Moneysaver

You need 'containers' so the food can be picked up easily, and toppings.

Containers can include:

pastry - tartlets, individual pies, vol-au-vents
bread - fingers/rounds, mini pittas, flatbreads eg naan
vegetables - tomatoes, celery sticks, potato skins, halved baby jacket potatoes, edible leaves, anything that can be stuffed or topped
meat - slices of ham etc can be rolled into a cylinder, filled and secured with a cocktail stick
cocktail sticks - cubes of anything on sticks in various combinations

It's nice to have a selction of things that aren't bread or pastry based as they can be quite heavy.

Soworried

I bought a 60pk of cocktail Lincolnshire sausages today for just £1 at tesco. They would be great fried in a teaspoon of soya sauce and honey then sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Actually, I bought a lot more than 1 pk. :rotfl:
Herons also sell a pk of puff pastry for just 66p. Roll out and slice into strips, top with cheese and a pinch of dried chilli.

susyrosy

Well, I had the garden party yesterday and it was tremendous fun!

I ended up with mainly veggie stuff, as I knew there were several veggies coming along. So: roast pots with garlic and rosemary; pot salad; mackerel pate; salsa and refried beans dip; couscous salad; a couple of tiny reduced quiches; baguettes; cheeses; bread sticks; cucumber sandwiches; scones, cream and jam; two fruit cups, one with wine, one without.

People brought: loads of cupcakes! And masses of wine (they're the sort of friends to have ...)

I know it wasn't entirely finger food, but paper plates and plastic forks, knives and spoons, and plastic glasses made it easy. I reuse the plastic things, as I have three BYO parties here a year. There was so much food, some people took doggy bags away with them, thank goodness.

Thanks for all the suggestions!