My moneysupermarket £50 BBQ part one-the menu.

Dear reader,
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had entered a competition at Moneysupermarket
I had to only spend £50 and hold a BBQ for friends and family. I sent out invitations, printed at home and had sent to 25 people hoping (bad I know) that not all of them would come as I was on a budget. If 25 all turned up I would have a £2 spend per person.
Nightmare as I got the responses, at least 25 were coming, a couple had asked to bring a friend or new partner so I would have to be extremely canny with the menu.
Today was the big day. This is how I spent it.
I decided that as it was a BBQ I would spend most of my money on food and just ask people to bring a bottle. The trouble is, most people expect meat and meat is expensive.
After seeing lots of BBQ food at the supermarket with deals and flashy shelf stickers my frugal brain told me that they were obviously making a lot of money and therefore I wouldn't be spending my precious babies on the convenience, ready for the grill packs.
There were all the usual contenders, burgers, burgers with sundried tomato, burgers with cheese in them, plain burgers, garlic burgers, chorizo and chilli burgers. All at top prices.
Now I like a good burger and they are easy to cook, being flat and most people like them. Bap, salad, cheese slice, ketchup, pickles.....however you take yours, they are pretty much a staple BBQ favourite.
Right then, I would make my own.
I also decided to have pork belly, sausages, chicken, halloumi kebabs and corn on cobs.
I wanted some good beef for the burgers and so started bargain hunting two weekends ago.
I found some finest rump reduced from £5.77 to £2.31. I put this in the freezer.
I also got some pork belly strips reduced from £3.00 to £1.99. Not loads I know but every penny counts so I bought a few packs.
I bought chicken thighs and chicken drumsticks, halloumi cheese, corn on the cobs.
I would also need some sort of dessert but I couldn't afford it so for 2 weeks, Big Man and I nurtured our strawberries hoping to just do a huge bowl with cream to serve.
I wanted to make the food extra tasty so people would really enjoy it, especially as they wouldn't be getting loads. I was starting to worry. Big man and I decided we needed to give people a lot of nibbles to feel as if they had eaten loads without realising there wasn't much meat around.
I had reckoned on, one sausage, one burger, one chicken piece, salad, burger bun and extra salads per person. I didn't think that was too bad. I also planned on doing a huge bowl of potato salad, a pasta salad and big bowls of salad from our garden.
The day before, I used my Maggi BBQ roasting bags, of which I have loads and filled them with the pork belly.

I left these in the fridge. They absorb the powder and when you roast them their own juices make a wonderful sauce. I cooked them for 20 minutes on 180 and they went on the BBQ to crisp up for 5 mins afterwards. I divided the chicken thighs and drumsticks into four portions so I could cook them with different flavours. They were cooked plain, BBQ and rubbed with garlic salt and drizzled with a little oil. I cooked them in the oven and just finished them on the BBQ. It saves time and I know they are properly cooked too. I boiled the corn cobs first then drizzled with chilli powder and lime. These were browned on the grill and were a great success. I don't generally follow recipes but like to make my own with flavours I think go well together.

I wanted to do something different with the sausages. I had just bought plain ones and wanted to jazz the up a bit. I found a great recipes for sticky honey, mustard and sesame sausages. They were great.

Here's the recipe Sticky sausages

This is the meaty part of our BBQ-part one.

I will be back tomorrow with my halloumi recipe, my salads and the strawberry saga.

Much love to you all.

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