Serving Food on Low Budget

jlstewart6 · August 2009

Does anyone have any good ideas for having food at the reception on a very low budget. I want to have something there for the guests to eat.

bethbloom · August 2009

Deli trays, crackers and cheese?What time of day are you planning on? If it's afternoon could have light snacks then serve cake and punch. All before dinner...Or if you did a morning reception, could have brunch/breakfast foods.

dsouldiva · August 2009

Personally I'd go for somthing simple but filling, Maybe Chilli and Rice or a Simple pasta dish (bolognese, meatballs or similar) and add bread rolls to bulk it up. Both very easy and cheap to do.Alternatively switch to an evening reception and do a desert reception with home made cakes & cookies (not sure you could get away with this in the afternoon),

danieliza1127 · August 2009

If you have a 1 or 2pm ceremony followed immediately with the reception, you can just serve deli and cheese trays, rolls, fruit, and your wedding cake. It doesn't have to be a full meal at that hour.

jlstewart6 · August 2009

My wedding reception is going to be in the evening, maybe we will try barbeque.

mbcdefg · August 2009

How many people do you need to feed, and what kind of food budget are you working with (either overall or per-person)?The cheapest thing to do would probably be a sheet cake and a fruit platter from a supermarket, plus coffee and soda. Do it during a non-mealtime and you're fine. For a light lunch, you could get deil platters of cold cuts and cheese, plus some fresh rolls, and let people make sandwiches. Flesh it out with potato chips, pickles, cole slaw and potato salad. Or get ready-made giant subs from a deli or supermarket. You could get some ready-made baked hams and rotisserie chickens or turkey breasts from a supermarket and hire someone to carve them. Add potato and vegetable sides, maybe some bagged green salads. A lot of delis and supermarkets also sell big ready-made containers of fried chicken and pulled pork that could serve as the entree. Make and freeze a few pans of lasagna ahead of time, then hire someone to heat and serve them for your reception. Or hire someone to make spaghetti that day. Add some rolls or garlic bread, plus fresh green salad. Pasta is a cheap, filling meal. Boston Market caters for under $20 per person, if your food budget can accommodate that. Also look into Famous Dave's for barbecue. You can order big pots of soup from Panera Bread (soup and sandwiches would be a nice lunch or early dinner). Is there a good pizza place nearby that can deliver a bunch of pizzas and breadsticks?Have a cookout and prepare stuff on the grill. Make your reception picnic-themed (red checkered tablecloths, daisies, mason jars), keep it casual, and set up some volleyball and croquet spots outdoors if you want. Here's a bio where a bride served dinner and cake to her guests for about $6 per person, by getting food from some different places and hiring people to serve: http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/user/default.aspx?username=fallingup&NestProfile=0

skybye · August 2009

beans and rice are inexpensive you could make enchladas and freeze them like the above green salads, chips, salsasempanadas can be made ahead and frozenfairly easy and inexpensive you could make enchladas with chese and dif meats chicken beef or porkmake cupcakes and cookies for desert a few different flavorsmake sangria

Serving Food on Low Budget

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