BBQs - Old Style

krlyr

How do you cut the costs when throwing BBQs? Any tried and tested cheap recipes?

We're throwing a BBQ for friends, probably at the end of this month, but want to keep costs down. I've got the good fortune of being able to order meat in bulk now so hopefully that will save some pennies (just awaiting a price list!) but some recipes that stretch the meat, some non-meat recipes that don't break the bank, and some money-saving tips for stuff like veggies would be great (e.g. chicken skewers - bell peppers seem to cost a fortune to buy fresh, but the frozen diced ones we use for fajitas and so on won't really work in this case)

pigpen

we did tuna skewers for veggies.

A large bowl of pretty colourful salad meant people wanted less meat. Crusty bread/baguettes/bread sticks and help yourself to butter, dips, sauces etc

I also stocked up on reduced cuts in the supermarket.. froze, defrosted and in marinade a couple of days before.

Loads of filling rolls (brown/wholemeal def. more filling)
ordinary frozen sausages means you can have more money for nice steaks.. lamb or beef or pork, Diced meat on skewers with large chunks of veg, whole mushrooms cut down on meat too.

HM burgers.. cheapish mince, egg, herbs, chili or herbs or tomato or cheese squished to a burger shape.. much nicer than frozen ones and again more filling as they aren't full of onion and cereal.

I usually get a large bag of frozen chicken breast and that gets diced and skewered too.. and drumsticks which I do in BBQ marinade and cook in the oven.

pulled pork.. cook lump of pig very slowly, when cooked shred it add BBQ sauce..

We catered for 25 greedy people for around £50-60 (I didn't add up the salady stuff so hazard a guess)

ciderwithrosie_2

Big bowls of hm coleslaw, potato salad and rice, cous cous or pasta salad are cheap to make and go down well at a BBQ.

A friend of ours did his own garlic bread by toasting slices of baguette on the BBQ then dipping in melted butter with mushed up roasted garlic in and chopped parsley.

corn on the cobs

Get some metal trays and roast some mixed veg

We use minced lamb, chopped mint, grated onion, sweet chilli sauce and spices to make lamb kofta type things. If you shape them into sausages or burgers, then microwave for a minute or so before putting on the BBQ, they'll be firmer and not fall apart when you try and turn them - can put them on skewers too. Bung in a pitta bread with salad and some sort of dressing.

Steve059

BARBEQUE SAUCE

This is a simple, yet versatile barbeque sauce. You can marinade things in it, cook things in it, dip things in it or put it on things.

Makes ~135ml or ~150ml

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of brown sauce
2 drops of Tabasco chilli pepper sauce
3 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

METHOD

Put the butter and sugar into a saucepan on a low heat. Melt the butter and sugar. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

Remove the pan from the heat.

Add all of the other ingredients. Mix thoroughly.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Add 1 tablespoon of mushroom ketchup at the same time as the other sauces. Mushroom ketchup is a runny brown liquid, obviously made from mushrooms. It’s available in supermarkets.

TIPS

This will keep in the fridge for 48 hours.

arbroath_lass

Accept when people offer to bring something. Even if it is just dips or salad. It all adds up (and people like to be involved).

Steve059

THREE BEAN SALAD

Makes a large bowl

INGREDIENTS

400g tin of borlotti/rose coco beans
400g tin of cannellini/white kidney beans
400g tin of red kidney beans
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of parsley

METHOD

Open the tins of beans. Put the beans into a sieve or colander and rinse them thoroughly under running cold water.

Put the beans into a bowl. Add the lemon juice, olive oil and parsley. Mix thoroughly.

Cover and put in the fridge for at least half an hour.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use dried beans, but these will need to be soaked and boiled first.

Use other beans, including sliced green beans or broad beans. You can use baked beans, but wash the tomato sauce off.

You can use black-eyed peas, which are really black-eyed beans, and chickpeas, which are also known as garbanzo beans.

Try to use three different looking beans.

Use extra virgin olive oil for preference, but normal olive oil will do.

Usefresh lemon juice for preference, but bottled lemon juicewill do. One fresh lemon contains about 2½ tablespoons of juice.

Use chopped fresh parsley for preference, but dried parsley will do.

Add a clove of garlic. Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces.

Add 2 spring onions. Wash the spring onions, cut off the root ends and leaves, peel off and discard any dried up or slimy outer leaves, then chop them into thin rings.

TIPS

The drained weight of a 400g tin of beans is usually 240g.

Parsley is reputed to reduce the wind generating capacity of beans.

redmike123

We always do a couple of trays of potato wedges of homestyle thick cut chips, they seem to go down very well.

pondskater_2

pigpen wrote: »

we did tuna skewers for veggies...........

Please forgive me if I have misunderstood this but vegetarians do not eat Tuna. Pescetarians do though

Was in Farmfoods yesterday and got a box of Linda McCartney barbeque vegi bits - two large burgers, two sausages and a couple of non chicken breast steaky things, for a quid. :j
Have not tried them yet though

curlywurly82

I would second home made potato wedges, simnple and fairly cheap to prepare, and season how you wish.

Together with a pasta salad makes some low cost options to fill up on so less meat is consumed.

You could also offer jacket potatoes with various topping. - chilli, cheese, tuna.

And ask someone else said if anyone asks whether they should bring anything take them up on it! (someone may bve willing to make a pasta salad for example, and someone else a salad, whilst someone else may bring dips or baguettes then that's quite a lot covered).

I'm sorry but I'm not sure what to suggest for vegi options

pigpen

pondskater wrote: »

pigpen wrote: »

we did tuna skewers for veggies...........

Please forgive me if I have misunderstood this but vegetarians do not eat Tuna. Pescetarians do though

Was in Farmfoods yesterday and got a box of Linda McCartney barbeque vegi bits - two large burgers, two sausages and a couple of non chicken breast steaky things, for a quid. :j
Have not tried them yet though

I am yet to find any McCartney product which is edible

And if they call themselves vegetarian so can I.. after 20 years with the XH eating fish... before deciding to eat meat about 6 months before he left which was incredibly annoying!

MrsAtobe

I've had halloumi cheese and veg kebabs before at a barbecue, they were lovely!