Please help! Need impressive lunch on a budget

squidgychesspiece

As you can see from my sig. DH and I are in horrific debt. We had our LBM this month and as a result are cutting back drastically!

The problem is, we have DH's parents (who know nothing of debt) coming for lunch at the weekend. They are quite well to do so can hardly do turkey twizzlers :rotfl: Need to come up with an impressive 3 course lunch I can do on a tight budget. Any suggestions would be great!!

Squidgy x

Nottoobadyet

Easy. Do they have any big likes or dislikes?

Course 1: Soup. Pumpkin or butternut squash or pumpkin are easy and pretty cheap, alternatively do lentil or carrot and coriander. Make loads and freeze for future meals.
Course 2: Veg main, shakshouka (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4017839) looks very impressive but is easy and cheap, and yummy served with crusty bread. Could also try a pasta dish (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1084/pumpkin-and-sage-spaghetti is a favourite round mine)
Course 3 - Apple crumble

Fruball

Smoked mackeral pate with melba toast

1 pack cheapo smoked mackeral mixed up with value soft cheese and some lemon juice, black pepper. loosen if necessary with a little milk. For the toasts, pop sliced white bread in toaster until 'just done' leave for a few mins to cool, then take a bread knife and slice thru the slice, so you end up with 2 very thin slices of bread, cut those across into quarters - pop under the grill briefly just before serving - they curl up and look great! Easy and cheap to practise before the weekend too.

Chicken casserole (can use whole chicken legs to keep cost down - I recently bought 6 for £2.30!!) with rice and a green veg, like brocolli.

HM cake or scones with jam and cream for dessert.

BitterAndTwisted

Thinking "impressive" isn't the way to go unless you are a really competent cook with a huge repertoire of tried and rusted recipes to hand. I suggest you think something like "homely, delicious, well-made" instead. Making people feel welcome doesn't need to mean expensive or unusual ingredients presented as if you were in a five Michelin-starred restaurant and trying something new when the results are important to you is the quickest way to a coronary I can think of.

What are the recipes you make well and would have the most confidence in? A beautifully laid table with fresh flowers, your best linen, china and glass-ware can goe a long way in persuading others that the food and wine is second-to-none.

Oh, and have a think about courses you can prepare ahead of time so there's a minimum of last-minute high-stress faffing about.

lostinrates

Aha, this is something i am good at!

I usually go middle eastern or italian for this sort of thing....for a crucial reason, a lot pf very beautiful lookilng food low on meat content but high on 'vavavoom' so cheap to prepare.

For example, if italian a neautiful risotto or simple pasta dish followed by a meat or fish course and pudding, or serve a big rissotto and pasta and have an antipasto starter.

If middle easter imo its even easier for me, and i would tend not to do a first course but one bountiful and glorious table of savoury treats, again relying a lot on vegetarian things, like stuffed aubergines and abergine dips, and one main meat dish.

RuthG

I often do a pasta dish if company's coming. I dont know if you have ever looked, but a pasta dish with salmon and tomato at a restaurant uses very little salmon and you can get it quite cheaply if you go at the time they are seeling stuff off at lower prices. I would add onions (chopped), peppers (also chopped) and maybe peas to the mixture for colour. The bulk of the meal is then pasta. If you are having a starter and dessert too, then the main course doesnt need to be expensive or particularly full of meat/fish etc.

floss2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Thinking "impressive" isn't the way to go unless you are a really competent cook with a huge repertoire of tried and rusted recipes to hand. I suggest you think something like "homely, delicious, well-made" instead. Making people feel welcome doesn't need to mean expensive or unusual ingredients presented as if you were in a five Michelin-starred restaurant and trying something new when the results are important to you is the quickest way to a coronary I can think of.

What are the recipes you make well and would have the most confidence in? A beautifully laid table with fresh flowers, your best linen, china and glass-ware can goe a long way in persuading others that the food and wine is second-to-none.

Oh, and have a think about courses you can prepare ahead of time so there's a minimum of last-minute high-stress faffing about.

I agree with B&T - prepare ahead, make dishes you know are tasty & smarten them up with a posh table setting.

How about a soup to start, with some fresh bread? There are lots of cheap & tasy recipes around. This can be made the day before and one advantage is that it will fill hungry kids (or adults!) up a bit so they don't want huge servings of the next course!

Then what about roast chicken, with new potatoes, fresh veg and gravy for your main? Simple, homecooked food Free range chickens are very reasonably priced from Aldi, as are new potatoes & veg - and you can plug the fact that it is FR, thus gaining brownie points on the shopping as well as saving money!

Finally, fresh fruit salad for dessert - this is best made the evening before so the flavours mix together. Aldi have apples, cherries & melon on their Super Six this week I usually buy a tin of sliced peaches, a tin of sliced pineapple & a tin of mandarin orange segments (all in juice) and use them as the base with the juice as the "gravy". Then I add a couple of thin sliced bananas, a chopped apple, some halved grapes (any colour) and then if I have them some strawberries, chunks of melon or stoned cherries. I generally add a good glug of cooking sherry to the juice too, which makes it taste really srummy Serve in a nice glass bowl if you have one.

Hope that inspires you!

P.S. Please remember that you don't need to buy a whole bunch of grapes, or punnet of strawberries or even a whole bag of apples - just buy small bunches or single fruits to keep your costs down.

squidgychesspiece

Thank you for all of your replies. I like the idea of doing something I've done before as I am definitely not a 'competent cook' :laugh: It didn't seem special but perhaps you're right, homely would be better! It's the first time in all our years of being together that they will have visited for lunch and I'm hoping to gain some brownie points with the MIL!!! _pale_

I love the soup idea and I've been breadmaking this week so will be able to do a fresh loaf to go with it - what a great idea! Floss2 - I never thought of just doing a traditional roast but even I can manage that and Kittycats pudding sounds yummy!! I might do the fruit salad too.

Plus I'm thinking I can make the soup the day before and just reheat? Perfect plan! Thanks again all

floss2

squidgychesspiece wrote: »

...Plus I'm thinking I can make the soup the day before and just reheat? Perfect plan! Thanks again all

Yes, which means you won't have to slave over a hot stove all day!

sistafromanothermista

What about going 'italian'? DH mother is 'well to do' too and this always seems to be a winner when she visits.
Bruscheta (sp?) to start
Meatballs with pasta topped with grated parmesan
Tirimisu to finish (we normally buy this though:))

squidgychesspiece

Sista that was my other thought as tiramisu is DH's all time favourite pud Definitely some brownie points there Decisions decisions!! I realise I've written 'at the weekend' in my post but actually meant next weekend so still have a bit of time to get myself sorted thank god!