- Mix "home made" items with those prepared items purchased from your local Costco or supermarket. Costco's San Francisco
Style Potato Salad is used by many restaurants because it is tastes good and is easy on the budget.
You will be serving so many unique dishes that rounding out the menu with a purchased item will not be noticed by your guests.
- Avoid ordering party trays unless your budget is unlimited... The labor involved to arrange the items significantly increases your
total at the check-out stand.
- Avoid purchasing pre-packaged trays of vegetables... We have not found the freshness to be consistent. The time spent selecting,
washing and cutting fresh vegetables will result in a more satisfactory product.
- Do consider purchasing the variety tubs of pre-cut fruits at Costco or Sam's Club... the fruit is consistently
ripe and you will save hours of peeling and cutting time.
- If your cake table is the same the shape as your wedding cake it is much more visually appealing.
- To change a stack of napkins into a fanning spiral - hold a stack of napkins several inches deep in one hand. Take a straight sided
glass in the other hand, holding lengthwise, place on top of stack with the ends of the glass at 11:00 and 5:00 positions. While exerting
firm pressure against napkins, rotate the glass in clockwise direction until ends are at 2:00 and 8:00 position, return to starting position
and repeat. Continue until the stack is completely fanned.
- When pouring wine or champagne, twist the bottle slightly as you are done with each glass, this prevents dripping as you move the pour
the next glass.
- Purchase the large size of pickles, olives etc. at your favorite box store. Even if you don't use them all, it is much more economical
than purchasing numerous smaller cans.
And... opening only one can is a real time saver.
- Buy two clipboards in the brightest colors you can find... We use day-glow orange and purple. Print off several copies of the Menu,
Task List etc. Give one copy to each person with a designated area of responsibility. Also attach to the clipboards and send with the
food items to the reception. The clipboards will be easy to find in the kitchen when numerous people are trying to determine what they
should do next.
- Spray the interior of all roasters or chafing dishes with Pam to make clean up easier.
- When the bagger at the grocery store asks you Paper or Plastic, start asking for paper bags. They usually have handles, and they
are an ideal way to transport items that need to stay together to the site.
- If you are using boiled eggs purchase the eggs at least one week prior to when you plan on boiling them. Place eggs in pan of cold
water, bring up to a boil for 12 minutes and then drain the hot water out of the pan. Bounce the eggs up and down in the pan to crack
the shell. Run cold water over the eggs and then fill the pan with cold water. The shell will almost fall off the egg
- Use an indelible marker to mark the recipe name on all baggies. This will help the kitchen crew tremendously.
- Place items for specific dishes together in the paper bags from the grocery store and mark the recipe name on the outside in
BIG FAT LETTERS.
- If you are using sliced strawberries; use an egg slicer instead of a knife. Remove the stem, put the berry through the slicer
and you are done.
- If you decide to have a pot luck reception, with numerous guests bringing food, assign a separate person to be in charge of
receiving each category of dish as it is dropped off.
Example: One person will take care of all the meats, another all the salads, etc.
- Use white linen napkins tied around the handle lid on the chaffers to give your buffet a professional presentation. Fold the napkin
in half, corner tip to corner tip, and then roll into a long piece. Slid one end of the material under the handle and pull through until
the ends of the napkin are even. Tie the napkin in a double knot. You now have a "handle" to hold when you remove the hot lid.
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