Family Get Together, any suggestions please?

Order food from m&s?

I'd roast a joint of meat (beef, gammon, pork, etc or salmon). Let it cool and slice it. A couple of salads. Paté of some sort, possibly vol au vents. Garlic bread or nice fresh bread and butter. Then last minute I get my big wok out, put in an inch or so of oil and make fritters (courgette, aubergine or similar) dipped in a batter made from just SR flour, salt, and beer or tonic water (vegan I presume). Then some prawn fritters made with raw defrosted prawns.

I’ve done a cold cooked gammon before, with bought salads, new potatoes and a Mediterranean vegetable frittata for the vegan. Cooked cocktail sausages, hard boiled eggs and as Salti said a good loaf, or rolls, I did rolls, then people selected their own contents, good for children.
Can’t beat a Viennetta or two for pud, easy, not expensive and most people like it.

M and S, then you can enjoy the family.

I would do salads, French bread, new potatoes, bread sticks as a base for all and then do meat, salmon, sausage rolls, cheeses etc for the meat eaters plus hummus and falafels for the vegan.
Just rol pastry is vegan so you could do a vegetable tart for all and some of M&S samosas are also vegan.
In my family the vegans don’t like the meat substitutes or vegan cheeses so I wouldn’t bother with them but plant based butter is ok.
Young children will probably be ok with bread sticks, hummus, cheese and cut up veg.

I'd ask everyone to bring their own food!

How about jacket potatoes and some bake in the oven bread? You could do a couple of hot fillings e.g. vegan chilli and a meat chilli. They could be kept warm in a slow cooker or low oven.

A couple of cold options for fillings or with the bread grated cheese, tuna and sweetcorn.

Decorate your own cake or biscuit would go down well with the children. Fruit for fruit skewers also might provide an activity.

Have a lovely time. Whatever you choose aim to spend time with family instead of being stuck in the kitchen.

Just what I was about to say jdotJ.

We attended a family get together a couple of weeks ago. We aall bought a contribution to main meal and a dessert and some drink. We let the hostess know what we were bringing so she could co-ordinate it and make sure we didn't end up with 5 green salads. What is more everyone takes their left overs home wth them!

I have arranged a warm buffet for family and friends (50 including 6 children) to celebrate my special big birthday, in the local pub/restaurant. Expensive but so much easier. £16 per head. I will also provide a glass of Prosecco (12 bottles @ £23 per bottle) . It’s once-in-a-lifetime so I don’t mind.
I am in awe of those of you do/ cook everything yourselves. My house is not large enough to accommodate 50. If the weather is good, they could probably move to my small garden.
Good luck with your plans!

Prosecco at £23?

Wow!

I would expect to pay about a third of that.

Must be really nice Prosecco.

* JdotJ*
^ I'd ask everyone to bring their own food!^

I do that more often than I used to.
I tried sending out a menu of what would be on offer, but though most invitees were happy with that, a few asked if I ^could possibly do some . . . as they didn’t really like . . .
Now I say what’s on offer and ask if people can let me know if they’re bringing something else.
I’m really happy that it’s only 2-3 times a year.

Some great suggestions for buffet food here, but I don’t think anyone’s mentioned pizza? It’s so easy and always the first thing the younger generation look for at our family gatherings.

Nannynoodles

I would do salads, French bread, new potatoes, bread sticks as a base for all and then do meat, salmon, sausage rolls, cheeses etc for the meat eaters plus hummus and falafels for the vegan.
Just rol pastry is vegan so you could do a vegetable tart for all and some of M&S samosas are also vegan.
In my family the vegans don’t like the meat substitutes or vegan cheeses so I wouldn’t bother with them but plant based butter is ok.
Young children will probably be ok with bread sticks, hummus, cheese and cut up veg.

Sounds good to me.😃

My family has an assortment of dietary requirements, so I do finger food and salads with little colour coded cocktail stick flags to state what they are free from.
For children I have done little pizza bases with DIY toppings served separately, although cooking them to order was a bit of a pain.
For dessert I have done home made individual meringue nests with fill-it-yourself ingredients.
I hope you have an enjoyable day.

Calendargirl I thought so too - might change my mind about the Prosecco

I assume that’s the bar price, crazyH? Still, it’ll work out expensive for you for so many.

Yes Maggiemaybe - I guess it is - thinking of calling the Landlady tomorrow and negotiating the price of the Prosecco.

Good idea. You might get a discount for ordering so many. 🤞

I didn’t mean to hijack the thread . Sorry OP

crazyH

I didn’t mean to hijack the thread . Sorry OP

No problem at all.

I hosted 15 of my family recently partly in the garden -we put up a gazebo, and a table laid inside with buffet.
Homemade Quiche, cold meats, chorizo etc olives and pickles, crisps, baguettes, lovely cheeses, salads and I baked a cake and made a pavlova.
It was all eaten!!

Drinks were outside. I bought wine and fizz (prosecco from Lidl) my DS bought beer and probably paid for some of the food.
I enjoyed it very much.
Actually my biggest expense was buying a couple of new garden chairs. It stayed dry but could have been warmer.

Ever optimistic!
I hope you have a lovely time.

I typically roast gammon the day before, chill, slice. Make a few loaves of breads. Make a few salads (we like Italian potato salad, rice artichoke salad, veg salad, green salad, and fruit salad). New potatoes, some cheeses, nuts, olives, tapenade, hummus - with dippers / spreaders, and biscuits for the children. Ours love french strawberry biscuits (currently). And Summer pud for the adults.

French=fresh

Sorry to be a veggie killjoy, but there's an awful lot of meat here, it's off-putting just reading it. Personally I love a homemade quiche but please label what's in it.
Plenty of baguettes, vegan spread and non-meat/fish dippy stuff.
Veggie pizza.
Fresh fruit salad for pudding
Btw a vegan won't eat frittata, eggs.

Don't be cooking on the day. Have a lovely time.