DIY evening buffet. How much per head?

marywooyeah

Firsly I am shocked that someone would pay £220 for sandwiches!!!:eek:

Secondly, the menus look really good, although I couldn't help thinking that some stuff eg breaded chicken, sausage rolls could be cheaper from iceland rather than tescos, which should reduce the price a fair bit overall.

The silver platters and cutlery and stuff would probably be cheaper in wilkos too. Otherwise they all look yummy!....hungry now lol

MrsDrink

marywooyeah wrote: »

Firsly I am shocked that someone would pay £220 for sandwiches!!!:eek:

other way round. She's getting 220 sandwiches for £89.

vesper

Haven't actually done a wedding buffet before, but I have done plenty of other buffets. I tend to get a lot of my stuff from Bookers Cash and Carry. I think the last time I did one it cost £80 for 50 people and there wasn't a single scotch egg in sight! Everything else came from Icelands. That all included 5 platters of sandwiches, quiche, prawn vol-au-vents, hot sausage rolls, cut ham, gateaux, pasta, new minted potatoes, potato salad, scones with cream and strawberrys and loads more I can't remember. That covered a pool table, two small tables and two 4 foot tables.
Most of the time I cater for cricket teas which tend to be more of the cold pizza, sandwiches, fruit salad, salad, pasta, cream cakes, gateaux, chinese nibbly bits, ie a more standard buffet, including hot drinks that comes to £30 for 30 people. That tends to come more from Icelands.

I was planning to do the evening cold buffet for my wedding, but have been persuaded to get someone else to do it for me, but myself and my partner are doing the hot food in the afternoon of jacket potatoes, with about 5 hot fillings!

Giggle

For my friends wedding we did hot pork rolls and stuffing for the evening i didnt think they would go down very well but people couldnt get enough of them. we where lucky to be able to use the kitchen of where she had her wedding

marywooyeah

MrsDrink wrote: »

other way round. She's getting 220 sandwiches for £89.

well you can see why i was shocked lmao!

MrsDrink

Oh also - one thing to consider if you are doing your own buffet is storing it all to keep it fresh before you use it, and after you've prepared it so you don't poison your guests. I've found someone who is redoing their kitchen so I'm taking their fridge and separate freezer off their hands. This all needs factoring into any budget.

jojitsui

MrsDrink please feel free to carry on "monopolising" I am very impressed with how organised you are and am saving your list so I can have a little lend

Scotsbride

Mayflower10cat wrote: »

They both sound like lovely spreads!

Very glad to see a lack of rice salad on both - so very easy to get into trouble with rice. Having had food poisoning from reheated rice on holiday one year, and then reading in our parish mag how the Vicar's retirement outdoor buffet was spoiled by lots of the guests being very ill after eating... you guessed it!

Just a little presentation tip; add small amount of garnish materials into the budget, nothing too exotic, but it really 'lifts' the look of the whole thing. e.g; some prettily sliced lemons if you have smoked salmon nibbles, lots of sprigs of parsley to adorn meaty things, sprigs of mint/sprays of redcurrants/borage flowers for puddings (ask around, any keen gardener you know may well have herbs/fruits for free) and for the cheese board, see if you can find decorative leaves to cover the platter with (vine leaves if you know anyone with a grapevine or decorative vine in the garden.) Also, if you chuck some glittery streamers over the table it adds to the party feel!

Hop you both have a lovely day!

TIP: if you want herbs for ganish you often get more for your money if you get them in garden centres and after you've taken what you need plant them in a sunny position in free drained soil and you'll have more for next time you need herbs!

MrsDrink

Scotsbride wrote: »

TIP: if you want herbs for ganish you often get more for your money if you get them in garden centres and after you've taken what you need plant them in a sunny position in free drained soil and you'll have more for next time you need herbs!

Or just feed them to my Bunny - he loves them!

jojitsui

cucumber cut into slices topped with flavoured soft cheese!! Had it in a work buffet and it was lovely! That would be really cheap to make and it looked very pretty