Catering for a Family Reunion

melinda1, Mar 31, 7:39am
In the early stages of planning a reunion- looking at February next year and around 100 - 120 attending.Venue has 2 "household" stoves, microwave and freezer. Have looked t wedding and party threads on here for a starting point.What would you consider for a main meal with these limited facilities! Had thought of getting a couple of big bbq's to help with cooking. No spit hire anywhere nearby and some travelling from a dostance or would mayve have looked at pot luck.
If I cooked meats to have cold and got ladies in to finish, set and clear up what are soem noy too hard ideas for a main meal. Will be from preschool to folk in 80's. TIA
duckmoon, Mar 31, 8:47am
Is it one meal you are catering. Or a weekends worth!
duckmoon, Mar 31, 8:49am
I would abandon the stove, it isn't going to be big enogh for a crowd

Hiring BBQs was my first though too.

If it was a different time of year, you could beg, borrow and buy ten crock ports and ten rice cookers and them lined up in a row with a casserole in them

We talked about this idea for our wedding reception!buying pizza Sn finishing with a magnum each
duckmoon, Mar 31, 8:58am
Pudding

At Moore Wilson, you can buy great chocolate cakes and lemon cakes.
Something a bit flasher than purchased pav
ngacooky, Mar 31, 9:01am
my first thought is please hire a portable chiller. with only 2 household stoves to use you could do a cold buffet. maybe you could cook chicken legs, cornbeef and other meats the day before. savouries, sausage rolls, chicken nibbles, salads, club sammies, pizza, garlic bread. you could make casseroles, curries or the like in crockpots and have them sitting on the table, lasagne, maybe cherrios for the kids.
maybe ask the families what their kids eat, cause the worse thing is going somewhere for a meal and nothing their that their kids will eat.
mwood, Mar 31, 11:22am
The best value meat is the Supermarket shaved ham. Using this as the base "meat", then consider providing plated (thow aways) cold ham, warm mashed potato, sliced tomato, sliced boiled egg, sliced lettuce, plus massive bowls of self serve salads and "torn" bread with available butter spread and mayo/sauces. Dessert bowls of self serve bowls of catering A4 tins of fruit salad and maybe catering size vanilla ice cream and wafers. This will minimise thedays work whilst availing of the available free unskilled labour on the day. You might also suggest the old time "ladies a plate", gentlemen "your choice".
punkinthefirst, Mar 31, 12:06pm
Keep it simple, otherwise YOU won't have time to catch up with family members.
I suggest supermarket-cooked chickens , with platters of cold meats, salads and plain boiled new potatoes in jackets. Bread rolls could be crisped up in the ovens so that they're nice and fresh and add butter, marg, mayo, etc., to the table.
Something that has always gone down well for dessert for me have been long chocolate logs (bought, unfilled, from the supermarket) filled with whipped cream and iced and decorated by me, and served with fresh fruit salad, or a mix of tinned fruit salad and fresh prepared fruit. The logs look great if you stand them on an aluminium-covered board and decorate with chocolate leaves, piped whipped cream and glace cherries, and providing you have everything ready, can be put together at the last minute.
Make sure you hire someone to set out the food and clean up afterwards.
dezzie, Mar 31, 5:31pm
Hirequip in grey "should" have a spitroaster, it depends how many people are going to be there really, some of the new fancy BBQ's have a rotiserre (sp) function on them, if you jammed one of them full of rolled roasts of beef and lamb it'd be a lot of meat, then just use the inside ovens for roast vege (fan bake would be a definite plus there), what about asking the polytech, they could have some 2nd year chef students who would be handy (depending on what time in feb it is, they might not be back by then)
Punkin's suggestions are good tho, theres nothing worse than organising something then feeling you can't take part because you are running around in a flap making sure everythings done.
niffer13, Mar 31, 7:59pm
Is there a Kindy/PTA that would cater as a funraiser. Save a lot of headaches & less work for you so that you can then attend to the smaller details. Flowers/balloons & spending time talking with family. Remember reunions should be more about the people than the food altho everyone does need to eat!
melinda1, Mar 31, 8:13pm
Thank you all for some great ideas. Only looking at doing the one meal together as just too much to organise and no really great facilities about.Love the ideas and can see this working with some of your thoughts and keeping it simple! Thought I'd find a kindy group (polytech a great thought) or such to set up and clean up so I can mingle but trying to keep cost down for all those travelling to join us. Thank you all- anymore thoughts!
cgvl, Mar 31, 9:31pm
Talk to someone from your local RSA ladies section, they often do catering and should know what you will need.
Here is what I did for a family reunion of the same size.
Potatoes, whole boiled. coleslaw, leave it undressed and have dressing that people can add. Pea's, then we did chicken, stuffed with half a lemon, stuffing in a big roasting pan. You can do up to 6 chooks in a roasting pan at once, we also did a side of mutton or you could get a ham or pickled pork. Dessert was fruit salad, trifle, and jelly. We did the jellies in big roasting pans and cut them into squares, you could do the same with the trifles.
Before serving remove the meat from the chickens and get someone to thinly slice any meat or buy the shaved ham.
Serve people their food rather than letting them help themselves. 1 serving spoon of coleslaw, peas and carefully ration out the meat 1 chook should feed 8-10 ( a size 11 in our house will feed 6 generously). I think we did pumpkin and kumara also but then I had help in the form of aunts who had catered numerous times for large numbers.

Best to decide what you want to eat first, then how much you will need to buy and cook. You can pre-cook (boil) the vegies for roasting, so only need to colour in the oven and heat through. Your meat will be the biggest time consumer but once in oven can be left and checked once in a while.
Make jelly and trifle in the days before but cream trifle at the last minute ie on the day.
cookessentials, Mar 31, 9:43pm
I guess it depends how many days you are catering for. We just attended a family reunion 1st March and there was a charge pp which went towards the catering, the bus trip ( to the old family homestead etc.) we had a main dinner on the Saturday night which was held at a local winery, there was morning and afternoon tea on the Friday, Saturdayand Sunday, lunches etc.
chef1964, Mar 31, 9:45pm
imo (ans i know a thing or 2 about food/catering) 2 domestic stoves more than suitable for a function that size. I've done similar size functions with same capacity of ovens before.
happy to give whatever helpful advice i can.
i run a very successful corporate catering co in chch.
duckmoon, Mar 31, 10:23pm
Keep an eye on what you can refrigerate

You don't want the mostmemorable thing about the reunion to be the food poisoning bevause the cold meats were kept cold
melinda1, Mar 31, 11:01pm
Chef1964-what sort of food would you do with those facilities-similar to above suggestions!Thought I'd do slices and cupcakes for afternoon tea or maybe get local ladies to bring a plate to cover that off. thank you all heaps. Might look into cost of hiring a chiller as it will be in February.
melinda1, Apr 2, 12:07am
Bumping hoping chef1964 sees it again
valentino, Apr 2, 12:40am
Personally, comes down to the budget that is workable.

Also at this early stage is get prices in for various items like spitroaster, bainmaries, double boilers (an inner pot within an outer pot), obviously cutlery and all dishes, tables etc, other table - ware, Glasses if drinks being included and so on.

Naturally when looking at above items, you are weighing up all the costs and what then one can cook, or prepare.

Finally as someone above note, ASSISTANCE - yep big letters, very important regardless of what you can do, especially with serving, cleaning up along with giving time to yourself to be with everyone.

Once you have obtain all the above costs then you will be able to look closer at what can be served.

Remember you have some items available, use them, helps with overall costs.

One last thought, if it is a real celebration then one cannot go past a good Ham on the Bone served warm to hot as the main meat, if a bit more extravagant then an array of seafood but in a more natural preparation and served as such.
Heaps of fresh bread and-or buns also goes well.

One could look at preference re Roasted, steamed or par-boiled veges and salads to accompliment.

Find one of the best drinks to serve and non-alcoholic is red and white chilled Sparkling Grape Juice, can be a real scene setter in itself.

Oh, there are heaps of other thoughts but these will do for starters.

All the best.
Cheers
bounce16, Apr 2, 1:10am
Hangi!Easiest way to feed a lot of people.
clydris, Apr 2, 1:11am
Cook ham, chicken, maybe a roast pork/beef, serve as cold cuts. A few different salads (pasta, potato, coleslaw, green etc). Some fresh bread rolls. All this can be prepared the day before (get a few local family members to some of the leg work).
On the day, if you can get a couple of bbqs, great. Organise a few blokes to run them (once you get them started there will be plenty of guys volunteering, especially if it gets them out of cleaning up later)! Then you just need a few handy helpers to help set up tables, lay out food, cutlery etc. the only food that really needs to be hot is the bbq, no real reason for anyone to be in the kitchen cooking.
When your organising everything, don't forget to find a few people to plan on running the clean up. Volunteers can be found on the day, but if you have a couple of switched on people who come prepared to take charge of clean up it will run a lot smother. Past gatherings I've been to guests who have travelled to clean up (when you arrive everything is in full swing so you just want to relax, after meal you are more revived so can pitch in).
Another policy is refusing to serve dessert until initial clean up is done, and telling teenagers/older children that they must help too. One gathering I remember all us kids magically vanished until clean up was done. When we reappeared, the adults informed us that dessert was only for those over 18! Lesson learned!
melinda1, Apr 2, 3:31am
Thanks for the extra thoughts guys n gals.I am fortunate that the family emigrated to a small place on the West Coast and I can get hall, furniture, cutlery. crockery (most of the basic for just over $10 all inclusive.This means I will not have to charge attendees a fortune to cover meal, hall hire and nibbles (a bonus). Have access to pork so was thinling pickled pork and another meat-maybe warm ham on bone or roast beef(could be done on hooded bbq!
valentino, Apr 2, 4:42am
Here is another thought, "Pot Luck".

Get everyone to bring along something, if you are say supplying meats the ask them to bring along and give them the right suggestions. no harm in asking others (family that is) suggesting such thoughts, can be very exciting and also give greatly to discussions generally.
Cuts down on the requested funds part but still greatly needed, hmmmm, just further thoughts.
melinda1, Apr 2, 4:59am
Thanks Valentino- that should read $10 per hour above.Yes that is another thought and had thought to ask locals to bring slices etc nibbbles and afternoon tea. Locals could almost do the food between us if they all responded straight off so I knew and didn't have to plan in advance for everything but worth working on
aktow, Apr 2, 8:16am
you run or own a very successful corporate catering co . i hope its not spotless because they are crap