Help needed for catering

[mummachicka]

My DH's family [aunty & partner] are coming up from Melbourne for a few days in August. I've never met them [despite being married for 16.5years!] and whilst they are here they want to get together with DH's sister and family plus DH's brother and family plus his dad and also his other cousin & family.Of course its got to be at our house. I dont mind as the rest of the family are a little on the 'unkempt' side and would be embarrassed for them to see the type of 'dwellings' they live in.

All up there will be 10-12 adults and 10 children. Heres the problem: Being the type of people they are they will expect a decent feed but also wont feel the need to contribute much. [I'm meaing DH's immediate family]. Hence it will all be left up the 'ice maiden' . That being me. Please dont get me wrong, we all get along well when we see each other it is just that they are a different calibre of people to what we are. They are very maori and islander [DH is part maori].

Back to the discussion: What the heck can I feed them? I dont want to spend a huge amount of dollars either. I'm doing a bbq but even the meat for that amount of people will be expensive. I thought some sausages and maybe a bit of steak or marinated chicken wings. Anyone get any receipes for a salad that makes a quantity?

[Cherylle]

How about the original basic salads - potato or pasta salad, coleslaw and a garden salad, and a fruit platter. They are probably the easiest to make in advance, as well as being reasonably priced to make.

[Julie-Ann]

Will it be too cold to BBQ? What about an Italian style feast? You could cook a lasagna before and reheat. You could do another dish like chicken parmagana. Then a pasta salad and green style salad with garlic bread.

[mjm]

I would go with the potato salad, rice salad, pasta salad, perhaps a big potato bake, the one with french onion soup mix cream and slices of potatoes. maybe some jacket potatoes in alfoil in the oven. corn on the cob. oops forgot the coleslaw like cheryl said

other than a couple of big bags of spuds that shouldn't cost too much and it should be filling enough.

mmm dessert, a big apple crumble with custard or cream or a big trifle, ok I'm hungry now

edit to add, actually rhubarb and apple crumble would be a bit more special , I tried to cook rhubarb once when I was a 21 yr old, tasted like cheese... I did something terribly wrong cause it definitely was not how my nanna use to make it :-)

[thisisme]

Chicken breast, minced meat and pork fillets are also cheap and 0% wastage

Steak, at least in Adelaide is very expensive though...

[mjm]

I do a fried rice, well I call it fried rice but it kinda doesn't seperate as much as chinese shop fried rice, but its filling and cheap and tastes good once I smother it in mayonnaise :-) anyhow I just cook whatever amount of rice required, microwave some frozen peas, microwave some frozen corn kernels, mix together a bit of egg and make an omellette and chop it up a bit, fry up a bit of bacon (I get the diced bacon from the deli section because I can't be bothered chopping it up) and thats about it, I heat up some oil and fry it up, I add a bit of soy sauce when I fry it and try not to overload the pan too much. you could add spices to it if you are adventurous, I am pretty bland with my food, you could add prawns maybe

ok potato salad, this is my sisters recipe that was adapted from my mums recipe,

heaps of diced potato, cooked till just before it gets too soft (I like mine softer than the store bought ones do them) but remember it will continue to cook a bit longer after you take it out of the water in its own steam, you don't want it to go mushy when you try and mix it up. anyhow where was I...
umm lol oh yes the first part potato, ok you also need some hard boiled eggs, some more of that diced bacon (unless you are happy to chop up some bacon) some chopped spring onion, jar of mayonnaise (can maybe get away with the homebrand one) , a tub of sour cream with garlic, table spoon of seeded mustard. mix equal parts of mayonnaise and sourcream in a bowl, add the mustard and mix and taste, see if you want to add any more mayo to it or not, in a big bowl add the cooked diced potato, cooked diced bacon, chopped spring onion, chopped hard boiled eggs, gentle mix and then add your mayo mix and gently stir through, all done. I usually do this with about 7-8 medium to large potatoes and that would use up about a small tub of the sour cream with an equal part of mayo with it and the table spoon of mustard, I like eggs so I cook about 8 but doesn't really matter, some people have no egg in their potato salad

[rosierose]

Have you got a big BBQ? I find for a lot of people BBQ's take a bit of time but sausages and burgers should be fine. You can do your chicken wings in the oven with the potatoe bake (great idea). Then salads can be the "fillers".

To not go to too much dessert trouble I would get various ice-creams, lollies, nuts, sprinkles and set up a help yourself to ice cream sundae's table. Especially if there are kids this is a winner (maybe provide cones for kids).. No cooking required at all.

Being of Italian background we would do a lasagna and a bbq...... A cheats pasta bake is easy too. Just boil a 500gm bag of pasta, stir through some pasta sauce, a beaten egg, 1/2 cup cream and chopped bacon and peas, Stir in 300 gms grated cheese and bake in casserole dish at 180 until golden.
This is also a cheap side filler.

[Elements]

I like the idea of Rosies
heaps of burger patties and sausages and make heaps of add ins.....sliced tomatoes, lettuce, cheese slices, eggs, bacon and sauces and let them decide on their fillings and let them make them.
Like a burger suasage sizzle.
Put eveything out on a table and let them all its make your own.
Hot dog buns so they can choose between the 2 and that will suit all the kids aswell.
Maybe a large Potato bake (I see thats on Rosies list also)
...and also for a cheats dessert I have grabbed a giant pack of drumsticks and put them all in a bowl for people to take as I pass them around.
Chicken Wings perfect, or marinated steak.......buy the cheap cuts of steak and then marnate them for a couple of days and they taste like the expensive cuts as the tender up from the marinade....

[mjm]

yes I like the idea of burgers and hotdogs too with lots of variety to go on them, not sure on the ice cream for desserts though as it is the middle of winter, although I guess you don't have to worry about the icecream melting too quick, and kids like icecream anytime. If you are having a family of maori's over then you probably need to make sure you have plenty of food, the maori's I know would probably eat a plate full and then go back for more a bit later on. Thats not an insult at maori's, I just know they enjoy a good "feed" as my brother in law would say (he is a maori) I think even if you do the hamburgers that a couple of big salads or potato bake or a side of some sort wouldn't go astray