Ideas for a very large bbq

Bargain_Rzl

Try this thread.

It's even got links to a couple of other threads in it

falady

hi there,

Welcome to OS! You'll find loads of help here.

The first thing to do is work out what quantities of food, drinks and 'stuff' you will need....

burgers
sausages
meat
crisps
salads

alcoholic drinks
soft drinks
lemons, limes etc to put in drinks possibly? (obviously depends what you drink!)

paper plates
plastic cutlery?
plastic cups
serving bowls
paper napkins
etc

Then you need to work out where to get it all from.....

As a start, why not try your local butcher? I find ours is much cheaper for burgers, sausages etc and the food is much nicer and of better quality too - they make all their own.

Another alternative is to look on www.mysupermarket.com which has details of all the special offers in the 4 big supermarkets. You could see when there are offers on meat, sausages, burgers, bread rolls, crisps, drinks etc and stock up while the offer is on.

Meats and bread can be frozen, so if you have the space you can buy when the offer is on and stick it in the freezer until required.

If you are a member at costco (or know anyone that is and will do you a favour) i think they do meat, big tubs of coleslaw, crisps etc at good prices. They will also be good for alcohol and paper plates etc.

Good luck!

Ali x

Fluffy30

Hello!

I have looked for tips on here already but cant really find much?

Anyway! Im having a BBQ at weekend for a large group of friends (about 30 to 40) and was wondering if anyone had any hints tips or what to buy for such large number of people? Its just I never get the chance to really spend much time with my friends an this is a way of getting EVERYONE together (all guests asked to bring their own drinks).

I really only want to spend £50 in total (inc 2 large dispossable BBQ trays at £3.49 each from HB)

CAn anyone help my challenge?

I mean i have some spices ect to put on meat ect.. so that might help plus I am near HB, Aldi and Tesco if that helps suggestions.

Thank you in advance.

Usagi_2

You could make a decent potato salad - bag of new potatoes, cheapo jar of mayo, a few spring onions and maybe a pepper - should be about £2 ish? Coleslaw - shred cabbage and mix with mayo. Big iceberg shredded for green bits.

Do you have a friend or neighbour with a BBQ? You could borrow the BBQ and then just buy the charcoal, which would last longer / be cheaper than the disposables for what you get. Use screwed up newspaper and a couple of bits of small wood for firelighters, screw the paper up into really tight balls.

Last time I got loads of burgers it was from the cash & carry, 48 burgers for £13, they went straight on the BBQ from frozen, not sure about offers at tescos etc though.

You can cut up chicken into small strips and thread onto skewers along with chunky pieces of onion, coat in some spices. I usually get about 6 skewers per chicken breast.

Get out and see if you can still find elderflowers anywhere to make a cordial to drink. Or get cheapo lemonade and put into jugs with some chopped up fruit, lemons and oranges etc. People usually bring alcohol with them...

I did a BBQ and cooked 80 burgers, with buns etc and I reckon I spent just over £40, but like I say this was cash and carry burgers and we already had a big BBQ.

I got the buns from Mr T, 2 packs of 6 for... can't remember, but that was the best I saw. They have sesame and wholemeal.

zippychick

Hi Fluffy, there are loads of threads to offer you advice

Boring BBQs

Ideas for a very large bbq (I'll merge your thread with this one later)

Vegetarian BBQ ideas (money saving !) :money:

Fillers -

Pasta salad

Pasta bake & chicken pasta bake

Anyone got any rice recipes?

potato salad

Home made coleslaw

HM garlic bread


What about Spicy potato wedges and chilli con carne . home made oven chips?

Or easy chicken curry with home made bread ? In a slow cooker?

You may find other ideas in these threads

OS party food

Cheap easy bufffet food

Cheese and wine party MSE style

Pudding and desert recipes

Delicious cold desert

Cold dessert for 11 people?


I NEED TO LIE DOWN!:rotfl:

let me know if you would rather i move this to shopping and groceries , once it falls down a couple of pages

zIP

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

If it was me, I would stick to burgers and sausages (a few veggie ones), then cook up frozen sausage rolls (cheap), crisps, some sandwiches (cheese & egg as a veggie option), coleslaw, fried onions, ketchup, salad (lettuce, cucumber and toms) BBQ sauce, cheese slices (value ones), american mustard and potatoe salad.

People always offer to bring something, so take advantage of this and ask them to bring a pack of burgers or sausages or rolls or drinks etc.....I always do when am offered.

HTH

PP
xx

eamon

Personally I wouldn't use the disposable bbq's. They get too hot and you have no easy means of managing the temperature of the cooking area and they tend to cremate food astonishingly quickly. Also they will not be big enough for your needs. 30 - 40 people is a lot. Borrow 2 x decent large bbq's from your friends and also any fuel that they have left over, then buy more.

I'd be insulted if served up Birds Eye type burgers and cheap nasty sausages. Instead visit your local farm shop and buy decent sausages, burgers and , chicken (turn these into kebabs). To bulk out provide huge bowls of leafy salad & home made potato salad. Don't waste your money & storage space on burger type buns use pitta bread instead. They heat up in minutes on a bbq.

If you've never cooked on a bbq before now is not the time to start. You don't want to poison all your friends in one go. Have you enough plates, cutlery, glasses etc? Can your home cope with this number of people. Have you really thought this through? Can you even cook?

NiceGuyEddie_2

Tescos have an offer of BBQ meat at the moment, so you can get 20 beef burgers and 14 minted lamb kebabs for £10 and 8 pork and pepper kebabs for £5.

For BBQs with large numbers of people, I think kebabs are the way forward really as you can oven cook them which provides greater comfort over their safety and also means that you can concentrate on cooking the burgers properly on the BBQ. So to make the most of this, they have packs of diced turkey breast at 2 for £5.

Intersperse the diced turkey with tomato/mushroom/courgette/pepper etc. Remember to soak the ends of a wooden kebab so that they don't catch light!

Then I'd make the most of another Tesco offer, a 790g pack of chicken thighs + drumsticks for £2, I'd marinade these beforehand and again oven cook them.

The 6 packs of breadrolls are 2 for £1, 2 tubs of coleslaw for £1.38.

I'd do a potato salad and a pasta salad, there's plenty of offers on pasta sauces if you're short for time and stick to a pasta like fusilli which holds the sauce well.

Something I tried last weekend was savoury tarts - Tesco have frozen puff pastry sheets, 99p a pack and a pack has two sheets. Lay each pastry sheet on a lightly greased baking sheet, and just score a border along each side, about 1cm in from the edge and !!!!! the area inside the border with a fork. Then spread tomato puree over this area and top with vegatables + a cheese - I went for sliced courgette, mushrooms and mozzarrella on one and peppers, red onion, tomato + mozzarrella on the other. Add more topping than you think necessary as they lose moisture (and hence volume) when roasting, then chuck in the oven at 180 for about 15 mins, until light golden. These cost about a pound each.

Big bowl of salad, Aldi have salad veg in their Super 6 this week.

For desserts, ice cream and lollies, but you can't beat summer berries and cream

babyshoes

I would suggest you ask a few people to bring along starter type snacks or desserts.If people have eaten a load of snacks early on, they will be less likely to want seconds of the main meal. There must be a few friends willing to help out! At a BBQ, very few people actually eat a green salad as it is, so rather put the ingredients into separate bowls, and let the few who want a salad assemble it themselves on the plate, others can put the bits they want onto their burger. Rather concentrate on filling salads based on carbs - potato, rice, pasta, cous cous etc.

Also, even if people are bringing drinks, make sure you have some soft drinks available - it is very easy to underestimate how much you will drink on a hot day, and if your guests are coming by public transport it is difficult to carry lots of heavy mixers. Value lemonade, cola, fruit juice etc will be fine. Also fill your freezer with those ice cube bags, rather than buying ice.
A 'virgin' punch is nice too, and so easy. In a big bowl, put a tin or two of tinned fruit cocktail and any other suitable tinned fruit you happen to have lurking in the cupboard (include the juices). Next, add a load of ice, then various fruit juices (eg boxes of value apple, pineapple, grapefruit etc) along with a bottle of value lemonade. Taste, and adjust sweetness with cordial and / or fizzy water. The slight fizziness with the fruit is surprisingly refreshing, and goes a lot quicker than you think it will! If you want to add alcohol, use a bottle of sweet white wine or vodka for more kick.

To be honest, I think your aim of <£50 is a little low, unless you can get people to help out a lot! Let us know how it goes, and good luck.

red_devil

i would visit my local butcher and get some nice barbeque stuff.