Quick, easy to prepare Christening Buffet foods on a budget

[karen99]

Hi all, please can you help. I'm really stressing about ds' christening next weekend and have to come up with a small buffet for about 35 people. Need some ideas... stuff I can make the night before.. what do people really eat.. what's worth buying and what's worth doing myself... etc. etc. I will have the help of dm and mil but only a small fridge to store pre-made stuff in.

HELP!

[Ameriscot2004]

Sandwiches, sausage rolls, mini-sausages, chicken nuggers plus dip, crudites plus dip, crisps, bite-size fruit, mini-baked potatoes with sour cream filling (or bought dip).

Then you can get a lot of cheap party food from Iceland, including things like quiche.

For salads, you can do potato salad, some kind of rice salad, a green salad, pasta salad. Then some sloppy savoury food, such as coronation chicken, tuna mayonnaise etc.

Not to forget the French bread.

[karen99]

Ahhhh, ameriscot, thank you so much.

I guess it looks like I should buy the finger foods and make the salads and sandwiches. Just have no idea how much it will all cost. Don't usually shop in Iceland so that's a good suggestion. Will try and get there tomorrow to sound out prices.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated

[athomemum]

My suggestion is keep it simple. I go for food that will satisfy people's hunger rather than gone in a flash.
In winter I like hot food - is this possible?
Nigella Bites - slow roast shoulder of pork - you put in a low oven for ages - very little to do & serve with good size bread rolls (baps where I come from) & poss apple sauce - very yummy & filling.
Jacket pots & various fillings is another option (chilli/cheese/tuna) - depends on your oven space
For pud - pavlova is easy & always impressive (make or buy base & fill with whipped cream & fruit - frozen rasps are my favourite).

I always try & go for a few things that are good, rather than lots of small things, which can be fidly to make & are not as impressive.

Good luck & enjoy it

[codswallop]

i WOUDL DO A BIG HAM AND SALAD AND BAKED SPUDS.
and not do it in caps!

[Juliehafrancis]

If you are doing hot food (which I think is a great idea especially in December) then how about something like Chilli/Bolognaise/Lasagne with lots of salad and french bread?

[jenthehen]

We've recently had a christening (dd) and joint 3rd birthday party (DS). We catered ourselves and kept it very simple. As we have a large family I took up offers of help from my sister and aunties who each did a salad bowl. None of them seemed to mind at all and it made it feel like a real family occasion. We had:

curried rice
pasta salad (3 different types! keen aunt!)
potato salad
green salad
soft rolls (local bakery)
individ butter portions (Costco)
sliced ham
sliced beef
mini quiches
sausage rolls (last 2 served warm)
pork pies (local deli)

For pud we had warm apple pie and pecan pie with squirty cream (all of the above from Costco)
It all went extremely well and any leftovers were quickly shared out amongst the families.

For the children I had prepared "Happy Meal" type boxes with simple sanwiches, fruit shoot, cheese strip, raisins crisps etc

We hired the local village hall, the kids ate theirs picnic style on a rug and it all went well.

Soft drinks and tea went much better than alcohol.

hope this helps

[soapboxingday]

If you want to do 'posh canapes' on a budget then here's a couple of ideas!

1. Buy a couple of packs of baby potatoes. Bake them in the oven and when cooked spilt open and fill with boursin cheese (or tuna mayo).
   
   
2. Buy a couple of packs of frozen yorkshire puddings, mix 2 tsps horseradish sauce with some lightly whipped cream and fill the hole of the pudding with it. Grill one sirloin steak and when cooked slice it very finely and them put the slices of beef into the yorkshires!
   
   
3. Buy 2 ciabatta breads, slice thinly on teh diagonal and toast lightly. Rub with a raw garlic clove and then leave to cool. Meantime put a tin of chooped tomatoes in a pan with some olive oil and chopped garlic. Boil until it thickens. Spoon this mixture over the ciabatta and then top with some herbs and parmesan if your budget will stretch that far!
   
   
4. Buy a pack of croustades from the supermarket and fill them with some of the sandwich fillings you can get. The egg mayo one works very well with a sprinkling of paprika over the top. Tuna and mayo works well too!
   
   
5. But a pizza base and cut circles out of it with a pastry cutter. Make mini pizza by topping with pizza sauce (in jar from supermarket) then putting grated cheese and any toppings you want to add on top!

[karen99]

Thanks so much for these ideas. You are all great :)

[woodpops]

I made a sandwich cake for ds christening and it went down really, really well. You can also make it as bif or small as you like and it looks quite impressive! Get's people talking as well as most have never heard of them.

[frogs]

Easier to eat than pavlova are meringue nests. Make as for meringues, but make a dent in the top of each one with the back of a spoon before baking. You can make these as far ahead as you like, they'll keep for ever in an airtight tin. You can use golden caster sugar for a slightly off-white effect. But don't try using shop-bought meringue nests, they taste like polyfilla.

Then on the day you spoon whipped cream into the dent in the meringue and top with some kind of contrasting coloured berry (raspberry, or sliced strawberry). Incredibly easy, and for some reason they really impress people.

[nailpolish]

karen - phone the local bakers shop and get them to do it. they will even deliver.

i did this for dd1's birthday and it was not expensive. it was delicious too. then you can stop worrying and enjoy the day, without slaving in the kitchen.

shoot me now for being a bad mother, not preparing my own daughters birthday party

[amynSaintnixmum]

We have had both a winter and a summer christening. For the summer one we did a selection of finger foods much like Ameriscot suggested. For the winter one I borrowed a couple of slow cookers from my friends. I made a bowl full of rice and one full of pasta. I also made chicken tikka masala, mushroom strogenoff (for the many veggies in my family) and bolognese. We also had french bread. By having the slow cookers it means that you can prepare the food ahead of time and just leave it cooking until you need it.

[treacletartandbrandybutter]

If you do finger foods - cook a big bag of spinach and rocotta tortelloni - then dress with olive oil and lemon juice for a few hours abd skewer with coctail sticks, sunblush tomatoes and basil leaves. You can blush the tomatoes yourself in advance in a very low oven for a few hours.

[karen99]

yummmmmm, yet again even more great ideas!

Copied these down and took them round to mil's house for discussion this morning (my dmum lives 150 miles away:(). They're all so good we had trouble deciding which ones to do (!) but we now have a master plan and she's helping by doing half (she is a lovely mil). :) Feel much better about it all. Thanks again.

PS. Nailpolish, I just might be getting a few things from my local too

[nailpolish]

yay! get all the help you can and have a fab time xxx

[EmmaJayneG]

Tips have been helpful in ds' birthday coming up next weekend
many thanhs