Catering for a tea at home after a funeral

floss2

OP, if budget allows, try to buy as much in as you can, so you don't have too much messing to do and can support your partner

nuatha

Disdisbiff wrote: »

I am going to be catering for the tea after my mother in laws funeral there wil be approx 60 people returning to the house (big house) can anyone help on how much food to provide for a finger buffet there are no vegetarians.

I have thought of doing the following foods:

Sanwiches egg mayo
tuna mayo
cold meat
cheese
Sausage rolls
Vol u vents unsure of fillings for these
Cocktail sausages
Chicken Drumsticks
Cakes (All HM) Banana loaf
Teabreads/ scones
Iced Gingerbread
small fairy cakes
Biscuits
Crisps
Peanuts

If anyone can suggest any other foods i could include it would be appreciated.

TIA
Biff

Sandwiches, I'd work on three slices of bread per person, cut sandwiches into quarters (triangles).
Unless you know that there will be a demand for tuna mayo I'd not do this.
8 hard boiled eggs with 120g of mayo will make 10 - 12 rounds (40-48 triangles, the filling can be made 48 hours ahead and kept in fridge, sandwiches could be made 24 hours ahead but would be best made on the day.
200g grated mild cheddar, 1 small onion grated, 1 medium carrot grated and 100g mayo will make 10-12 rounds. Filling is best made 24-48 hours in advance.
Cold meats, simplest would be sliced roast beef or ham (with pease pudding if your in the North).

In general for sandwiches, use a soft spread butter, spread thinly right to the edges of the bread (helps stop them going soggy) fillings should be a little on the dry side (for the same reason).

Vol au Vents are a faff, and filling too far in advance results in very soggy pastry.
Chicken drumsticks leaves the problem of what to do with the bones. I'd second the recommendation of goujons if you want to go this route (Iceland do some southern fried ones 15 for £1, turn them over half way through cooking to avoid the bottoms being soggy, I found they need an extra 4 minutes cooking time.)

Iceland do a 75 piece Indian party platter with 25 each of mini samosas, bhajis and pakora, the pakora are ok, the other two are really nice. They can be baked 24 hours ahead allowed to cool completely and then boxed - if they aren't cooled completely they will go soggy.

I'd second the recommendation to go for everything bite size.
I'd also suggest having an extra kettle (or two).

Bear in mind that the more variety of items you do, the more space you will need to lay out the buffet.

HTH and feel free to ask questions(especially if anything isn't clear)

ETA: I forgot to give figures for Sweet stuff.
I generally work on 2-3 portions per person, eg a scone, an apple pie and a slice of cake.
Unless you are making bite sized scones, serve them as buttered halves.

meritaten

Ive had to cater a couple of funerals at this time of year - and a big pot of soup was much appreciated! I served it in mugs with a chunk of crusty bread. The rest was very much as per your original suggestions.

forgot to say - I make Leek and Potato, its thick and warming and very cheap to make!
Recipe
Leeks and a little oil or butter to sweat them down with
Potatoes, peeled and cubed
water
milk
salt and pepper.
Exact quantities are difficult to say, lets say that if the veg reaches halfway up the pan then it will make a full pan of nice and thick soup!
Sweat the leeks till til soft then add the potatoes and enough water to just cover and cook them til soft - add a little salt if you wish at this stage.
I usually then just crush the veg with a potato masher and add milk until you get the desired quantity and it isnt too thin.
simmer for ten mins.
now either leave it 'lumpy' or used a hand blender or processor if you want a very smooth soup.
check the taste and add salt or pepper or both.

floss2

OP, sorry to ask, but is it a cremation or burial? As that may influence the requirements of those attending.

Patchwork_Quilt

In our family, cakes are more appreciated than the savoury stuff when it comes to buffets for the older generation.

I would second the suggestion of a hot water urn. Could you borrow one from church?

Other people may also want to bring something for the table. I would suggest you ask them to bring something that is ready set out on the plate so that you don't get an extra job heating it up/slicing it etc.

Hope the day goes well.

vikki_louise

We only had a small amount of people and just brought a platter of sandwiches from Costco and a cake. My parents went to a funeral which was also 'catered' by Costco and there was just so much more food than what people ate, we were given loads of cake left over. Although it must vary you don't need as much as would for a main meal during a wedding etc

msb5262

I'd give the cold meat a miss - expensive and not easy to eat. Also if you do cold meat, you need to provide bread or starch in some form, so that means cutlery.
I'd stick to sandwiches, small sausage rolls, cheese/pineapple or cheese/pickled onions on sticks and maybe some small celery chunks filled with cream cheese & a dish of cherry tomatoes.
That way it is really a finger buffet and really easy to manage.
If you decide to do fresh fruit along with the cake, you can make mini fruit kebabs using cocktail sticks...looks stunning and is delicious & refreshing.
HTH

Disdisbiff

Thank you to everyone who replied to my original post the replies were really appreciated and helpful.
Thank you all once again
Biff

hazeljane24

For my Mum's funeral we did the same - sandwiches (got the bread reduced in asda one evening and stuck it in the freezer until the day before the funeral when we made the food), pizza, cheese n pineappe and cheese and onion on sticks, indian party pack, goujons. My Mum was well known for her baking so the cakes I made were her signature Raspberry buns (her Mum's recepie!) and everyone thought it was a lovely touch. A few friends also wanted to contribute in some way so i suggested that they each made a cake for the buffett and that worked out really well too as saved me some time and money and gave everyone a choice of cake. For drinks we alsohad tea and coffee and then moved to the bar... We had over-done the food but for those who stayed and got merry they munched on it again later to soak up the alcohol so it fed a lot of people twice.

I hope everything goes as well as can be, it will be a tough day but it does get better. Take care.

P.S. I found keeping busy doing the buffett helped me. It depends on how much time you have, whether you are arty or whether you would even want to but we also did our own flowers, that is very time-confuming but if anyone ever fancies giving it a go we bought the oasis from ebay, flowers from a wholesaler and learnt how to do it by watching videos on youtube! For what we made we saved about £300-£400 off what a florist would have charged!