Suggestions for easy non cook party food please.

My daughter is having a party for her 30th this Saturday.
She is having 50 people and wants to provide food.
Nothing grand, mainly finger food.

We didnt want to be cooking too much.
Problem 1, unreliable mother and sister.
Problem 2. Stove refusing to cook things properly.

Any suggestions very welcome.
At the moment we are into:
Potato Salad.
Pasta Salad.
Sausages.
Chips/crisps.
Quiche.

The easier the better but funds are not great.

Thanks all.

pen

Do you have $2 or should I say one pound shops over there? If you do see if they have the $2 plastic platers.

Buy 4 or 5 and make up cheese platers. Cheese, celery sticks, carrot sticks, grapes, cherry tomatoes, cabana, ham, whatever you can find at the deli. Dress up on some lettuce leaves. Looks impressive when you bring out all the trays.

If you do your quiches in patty cake trays, little baby ones, they can either be added to the plates or on their own.

Also in patty cake trays, baby pies, sheets of puff pastry with chicken, onions carrots in white sause. If youve never done them before try for dinner one night. Pre-cook filling in pan with garlic (personal preference lots) and vegies. Combine with with sause, line patty trays with pastry, add fill, then a pastry lid.

If you do a mean beef stew or mince, thicken and make meat pies.

Fantastic ideas Marion, thank you.
Am way out of practice with this sort of thing.
Have avoided it all for the last 5 years.
Just cant rely on myself.
Need to make it as easy as possible.
The hall she is using has a kitchen, but no cooking facilities.

Yes we have £1 shops, and we have one in town.
Thank you so much for taking the time to suggest these things...

Pen

Fresh fruit trays with a nice dip are always a big hit with our friends and family. Bruschetta is good too. Just need to toast the bread. You can do a whole tray at a time in the oven under the broiler.

I make sweet and sour meatballs in a crock pot that everyone loves. It's so easy it's embarrassing. Just toss in a bag of frozen meatballs, a jar of coctail sauce and a jar of grape jelly. Let them all cook together stirring occasionally to mix the jelly and sauce. I know it sounds really weird, but trust me, it's DELICIOUS!

Veggies and dip are a nice stand-by dish.

Migraining atm, so I can't think of anything else right now. I'll keep thinking though.

I find that french sticks cut up with a board of assorted cheeses always goes down well - or you could have cold meat too. If smoked salmon's on special offer, I get it and put it on squares of wholemeal bread spread with Philapelphia cheese. Sounds a bit old-fashioned but my two, who are in their twenties, love it. Sorry I entertain very rarely and stick to simple! Or I make a vat of homemade soup with chunks of bread.

I hope your daughter has a wonderful party.

Liz

Brenda wrote:F Just toss in a bag of frozen meatballs, a jar of coctail sauce and a jar of grape jelly. .

Brenda: what brand of cocktail sauce?

I don't think Pen will find grape jelly easily in the UK. I know it didn't exist in Australia.

Thanks again. Excuse brevity, belly problems, migraine too.
So need this to pass for the party...

Appreciate you all.

And you are right Lentils.
Sadly we dont do grape, and I love it.

I grew up in the midst of Americans and I so miss all the food.
You wouldnt believe what we cant get here.
Grape Jelly is one thing that is missing.
I really spoils my PB sandwiches...

Thanks again.

lentils wrote:

Brenda wrote:F Just toss in a bag of frozen meatballs, a jar of coctail sauce and a jar of grape jelly. .

Brenda: what brand of cocktail sauce?

I don't think Pen will find grape jelly easily in the UK. I know it didn't exist in Australia.

I generally use Heinz, but any brand should be fine. Sorry about that. I forgot that jelly isn't everywhere like it is here. I couldn't function without my PB & J.

I often do make your own sandwich trays. Put out a variety of meats, cheeses, lettuce, tomato and onion and condiments and breads. It works very well for us. We have family with food allergies and gluten intolerance. That way everyone can make what they want, need or like. I add in a fruit tray and some veggies and dip and call it a party. I usually end up buying a dessert.

Good luck!

Spinach dip with some sourdough bread cut in chunks to dip it in (or any other chunks of bread) is always a big favourite here in Canada, I don't remember seeing it when I lived in the UK but I'm sure they must have it.

Scotch eggs cut in wedges served with mustard is one of my favourite finger foods but it does involve cooking so that probabyl wouldn't work.

also pen i saw advertised on tv iceland do party platters. also french bread with cheese, a good filler. think along the lines of things that require as little last minute prep as possible. my friend does lots of parties and she keeps a stock of all the food in the fridge and keeps stocking them up throught the afternoon. also get all your clothes out to wear in the morning so just before guests arrive you simply have to go up and pop it on. for simplicity also you can use disposable plates etc and have plenty of bin bags ready to just fill up and pop out the back door out the way.kitchen roll on the ready for any spillages. put the men in charge of the drinks so you dont even have to think about that. my friend has 2 of the childrens plastic boxes she fills up with the drinks and pours the icecubes over them she has them under the kitchen table but you could have them outside as its so cold now. infact you wont need the icecubes!!!!! use lots of paper so when you think of something to do pen jot it down so its not on your mind and the more organised you are the less stressfull it will be leading upto it and hopefully youll have a mig free day and beable to thoroughly enjoy this special day.

Thank you all for your kind suggestions for my daughter's party.
They were very helpful and, having not done anything for years, I have a bit more idea now.

On a personal note. Well i got there. I had a rough time time with neck pain.
I have nothing to deal with it, and dont know why it comes.
I get bouts of it, and then it is much better for weeks.
Maybe it is when I get wound up??

Thankfully it backed off enough for me to get to the hall, and I stayed until the end.
I am suffering today and had to take a Triptan even though I wasn't sure it was migraine.
Still not sure, but it did help. Neck has just kicked in again, and I am still clueless.
But as I say, Triptan wont touch the neck.

Anyway again, thank you again.
I managed to cook, attend and even enjoy myself.....
Success I think...