30th birthday weekend- how do I cater!!

njh82

Hi I am organising a 30th birthday for my other half. We have hired a house for £79 a head for three nights...my concern is catering. Its a house with one kitchen and huge dining so not individually self catered. I though for the saturday main evening I would simply get a hog roast---had NO idea how ££££ they are and feed 100 when we only have 27.

I want to have a 'do' on the saturday but fri and sun would be more low key--- any suggestions? feeling at a loss

sarah*a

Big bowls of pasta with a sauce, salad and garlic bread on the friday.

If you can afford one go for a half hog on the saturday - some friends of ours had one at their wedding and it was mmmmm good

Then you'll have lots of lovely pork for the sunday - hot pork rolls, salad etc

njh82

can you get half a hog? didn't think about that---plus like you say good for left overs. I like the pasta and sauce idea too...thanks

missworks2jobs

Get a bag of potatoes you can make potato wedges and also jacket potatoes on the BBQ with your hog roast! Also if you make jacket potatoes, scoop out the middle and mix with some cheese/meat/herbs/veggies/tinned tomatoes/passata you have yourself some filled/stuffed potatoes! Very filling and you can get a lot out of a few potatoes.

Popcorn - good for nibbling on, dirt cheap if you buy the kernels from health food shop or supermarket, all you need is a pan with a lid to pop it in and a few spoons of oil or a popcorn maker. If you're doing it in a pan you can add flavouring such as cinnamon or to some sugar and toss the popcorn in that. I've known some people drizzle honey or golden syrup on it.

Tins of sweets - if you have any xmas chocs left (quality street, roses, celebrations etc - individual wrapped ones). chuck them all in a big fruit bowl for people to pick at.

Fruit kebabs, a couple of different melons i.e. honeydew & galia or cantaloupe (orange one) from a market/greengrocer should cost you about £1 each. chop them into slices & then cube and chuck on bamboo/wood skewers available from garden centres/ebay/craft shops/lakeland etc buy a bag of red & green grapes (again cheap from market or somewhere like lidl/aldi) and interspace between the melon on the kebabs. Stick in a vase and they look quite funky on a buffet table - they will also keep for a while whereas banana/apple goes brown and if they're in a vase any juices will run down the sticks into the vase and collect so people dont end up dribbling it down their party frocks when they pick it up.

Iceland/farmfoods/heron/costco are good for sausage rolls - everyone eats sausage rolls.

I agree with the pasta idea, or a recipe we used at one of the diet clubs I went to involves making one of those packet pasta & sauces up, adding some veggies (onion, peppers, mushrooms whatever you like) chuck it all in an oven dish and mix with about 3/4 beaten eggs and bake in oven for about 15mins or until the eggs are solid. The pasta & veggies will set together into a kind of quiche with the eggs and you can chop it into squares and serve cold if you want. Very filling very tasty esp if you use one of the cheesy packet pastas.

bags of own brand nachos/tortilla chips (about 70p), jar of own brand salsa/dip (50p) chucked in an oven tray and some grated cheese over the top - voila tasty hot nachos just like the mexican restaurants! Throw on some chopped fresh chilli or jalapenos if you like spicey.

pickled onions - vegetarian & diet friendly, own brand supermarket or ones from costco etc are cheap as chips.

washing up bowl punch - just like the students make. Some cheap supermarket spirit (whatever your favourite is), a bottle of wine (whatever you have left from xmas) some orange-ade/lemonade/tropical punch again supermarket own brand whatever will go well with your spirit/wine of choice, loads of ice and if you want chuck in some tinned orange/grapefruit segments.

Ask guests to bring a bottle (chances are they'll have loads leftover from xmas too).

So there's loads of few things from a bag of potatoes, some fruit from the market, some packets of cheapo pasta and some eggs nibbles and some hot fingerfood.

Hope that helps!!!

njh82

Thanks- brilliant ideas there- I shall get down to my local market and start planning!!!!! xxxx

wik

Some friends and I (about 20 of us) have weekends together a couple of times a year - and we have found that the best thing to do on the friday night is jacket potatoes - so handy when people are travelling from all over the country and arriving at different times.. so we do a big dish of veggie chilli, beef chilli, bolognaise, a pan of baked beans, coleslaw and cheese and some salads...

on the sat night - if its summertime we have a bbq, or a cold buffet... The last one i hosted was in winter - so a couple of weeks before i bought some chickens when on special offer, and made a casserole and froze it, I also made a huge veggie lasagne and froze that, along with a beef lasagne. then defrosted, cooked a big bowl of rice, and some garlic bread and salad....

Good luck
wik x

Amanda65

Instead of a hog roast on saturday night, why not just slow roast two or three large pieces of belly pork in the oven during the day and serve with rolls, apple sauce and stuffing - very similar to a hog roast but cheaper and not as much waste