Wedding buffet make-ahead dishes ideas please

VfM4meplse

Softstuff wrote: »

Pasta salad if you use a dressing rather than mayo freezes fine, as does rice salad.

The beauty of pasta is that it is so quick to cook on the day if necessary, and is easy enough to delegate this task.

My suggestion is similar, couscous with roast vegetables, which freezes very well but is also quick enough to make on the day. Otherwise, what about a bulgar wheat salad, again quick to make.

The item I would warn against is trifle, purely because it takes up so much space in the fridge which is already likely to be stuffed full on the day.

I would also urge that you under rather than over-cater, people never eat as much at a buffet as they would at a sit-down meal, and you'll be stuck with a load of leftovers that you can't re-freeze. As any cook will tell you, we love the sight of empty dishes!As long as there's enough drink, it should be fine.

Good luck.

purpleivy

VfM4meplse wrote: »

The beauty of pasta is that it is so quick to cook on the day if necessary, and is easy enough to delegate this task.

My suggestion is similar, couscous with roast vegetables, which freezes very well but is also quick enough to make on the day. Otherwise, what about a bulgar wheat salad, again quick to make.

The item I would warn against is trifle, purely because it takes up so much space in the fridge which is already likely to be stuffed full on the day.

I would also urge that you under rather than over-cater, people never eat as much at a buffet as they would at a sit-down meal, and you'll be stuck with a load of leftovers that you can't re-freeze. As any cook will tell you, we love the sight of empty dishes!As long as there's enough drink, it should be fine.

Good luck.

Also trifle looks really messy as soon as anyone has taken a spoonful out of it and the leftovers look soooo unappealing!

Pink.

Hi janeawej,

These threads should give you some ideas:

Wedding buffet for 150 people...!!!

Ideas for really cheap easy Buffet food please!!

Buffet Ideas

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buffet ideas for 100+ on a budget?

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Buffet Ideas

Christening Buffet ideas?

I think you're really brave doing your own buffet but if you look at post #14 in the first link addiscomber has given lots of good advice.

Once you've had more replies I'll add your thread to that one to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

plglaserna04

Casseroles, soups, lasagna, pre-baked bread are popular meals made in advance and frozen until the time it should be prepared. As it is a buffet, make more of the main meal since people will usually have seconds of the main course among any other dishes.

caitybabes

For the dessert you could do lots of meringues in advance and then have nice berries and cream/chocolate sauce on the day. My mum used to do a fab 'construct it yourself' dessert with meringues, cream, strawberries and crushed up maltesers. Yum! (and won't take up fridge space apart from the cream.

Agapanthus

Quiche can be made in advance and frozen. It always goes down well.

Salad can be washed and Coleslaw can be done a day or so ahead provided you don't put the dressing on. Put coleslaw in a bag and add a little water, then squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible before sealing and putting in the fridge. Drain the water off before adding dressing. Same for green salad, but don't squeeze that too hard!

Falafels can also be made ahead - and they're good if you have any vegans coming.

For dessert, chocolate profiteroles are always a hit. They can be frozen after you've put the whipped cream inside. They thaw quickly and then you can just put the chocolate sauce on.