help ideas for party food.

kjz

any good ideas for party food without breaking the bank?would like to lay on a nice creative tasty spread without it costing the earth!

was thinking the obvious like sandwiches, quiche,sausage rolls, home made cloeslaw, homemade potato salad, aldi do delicious bread sticks.........then i run out of ideas a bit!

any good recipies for home made dips? or anything else?

thanks in advance!

Paige

How about a platter of veg sticks - carrots - cucumber - celery and cherry toms with dips such as 1000 island and garlic mayo. I would serve the dips in bowls with spoons in so guests can spoon the dips onto plates. I hate the dips that everyone delves into- uuuuuggggh. If you can you could make your own potato wedges and serve with bowls of salsa. They are cheap and filling. Also for hot foos Iceland do a really good supply of party foods in big boxes. They cost a fiver each and you get loads of food in them. Paige X

lil_me

Half sandwiches, they always look like more, half a bread roll with a topping, can slice in half again if needed.

Cheap cheese and sausages/hotdogs on sticks, always a fave here, we do ones with pineapple, cherry tomatoes etc on aswell. Cheese rolls aswell as sausage ones. Mini pasties sometimes for a change.

Lidl's had half price fruit & veg advertised last week so might be worth trying there.

I always do a flavoured rice and a flavoured pasta. Something like tomato & basil pasta or carbonara style sauce and a fruit/veg rice, morocan style with pine nuts and sultanas is my fave. You could do HM ones but you can also get cheap packet mixed ones. Always a salad bowl aswell.

Fruit always goes down well too, either as a fruit salad, sliced on a platter or whichever way, one catering company I have used just brings whole apples, pears, oranges etc.

Mini tortilla wraps, mini pitas (or ones chopped in half) filled, chicken drumsticks can be bought cheaply & usually a hit with the men when we do them, pin wheels (basically start with a strip of filo, add maybe cheese, pesto etc then roll up with a pin through) mini burgers (small bread roll topped with sesame seeds, mini burger made with mince, 1/4 of a cheese slice, sealed with a stick)

I think I have an obsession with sticks

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/food/mealideas/cookingforfriends/finger_food/finger_food_recipes.htm some more ideas

Pink.

Hi kjz,

There are lots of ideas that might give you some inspiration on these older threads:


Ideas for really cheap easy Buffet food please!!

FINGER BUFFET for my birthday party

Buffet Ideas

Christening Buffet ideas?

Help ! Planning small buffet birthday party for 17, NEVER done anything like this ? !

Pink

Irisheyes648

One idea which I can't recommend enough is to beg and borrow a couple of slow cookers from friends or relatives then cook

1. A curry

2. A chilli

3. rice

Put plates and forks out and a whole pile of poppadums, nann bread and tortillas and let everyone help themselves, in my experience of many many parties this is appreciated much much more than finger food............and also get everyone to bring a pudding of their choice to put on the table :T hardly any cooking a lot cheaper and no fussing.

merlinormartin

How about "devils eggs" ..... hard boil eggs, sliced in half ... with added extras!
http://www.deviledeggs.com/


enjoy your party!

patentgirl

Hi
For the last party we had I got loads of french sticks which I sliced and laid out a plate of cheeses, some pate, a tray of cold meats salamis, sundried tomatoes, pickles, humous and a bowl of salad and everyone tucked into what they wanted it went down well

vixtress

for DS's birthday i made 4or5 huge hm pizzas, (i made the bases in advance and froze them) i got a giant block of cheese and pack of cheap ham from iceland, they went down fantastically and cost hardly anything!!

ClaireLR

Hoping for some OS inspiration for party food :j

Basically I started work somewhere a few weeks ago and they have an office party for EVERYTHING! I want to make something to take that can become my "thing" . Most people take shop bought stuff in, and theres the usual sandwiches/scotch eggs/pork pie/sau rolls etc etc. Some people home make their food - one lady brings in yummy wraps and rice with assorted bits and pieces in, someone else makes lime cheesecake.

So I'm struggling to think of something original to make that won't cost a fortune (or to much time )

If anyone has any ideas I'd be really grateful, the last 2 times I've turned up with 2 cheesecakes from Mr T's, and they didn't really cut the mustard compared with some of the stuff my colleagues bought in!

paybacktime2008

Ainsley harriot spice sensation cous cous...add some finely chopped dried apricots, some sunflower seeds, finely chopped cucumber, tomatoes, peppers...anything really....lovely with some feta in....bascis feta is fine. It's lovely.

ClaireLR

Thanks, I had already thought about making cous cous to take!

Any other ideas please?