Eight secret tricks chefs use when cooking for friends – without spending much

The label “dinner party” might come under fire, but most of us do enjoy inviting people over to eat, even if we don’t love the cooking or formal hosting itself. But where dining at home has long been far cheaper than a restaurant, the rising cost of food and drink might deter people from getting together. Can we treat guests without blowing the budget at the butcher?

When I have people over, I want to do a bit of spoiling and probably a little showing off. I’m not sure where the ideal balance lies. But I do know that more and more often, I’m searching for creative and great value dishes, rather than buying lavish ingredients.

According to Waitrose, a dinner party revival is underway, led by younger people: 48 per cent of 18-24 year olds and 49 per cent of 25–34 year olds are cooking for friends more than they were five years ago.

Waitrose says we’re keen on themed dinners, with nostalgic dishes from the 80s – Jilly Cooper’s Rivals era – back in vogue. Meanwhile, food waste charity Too Good to Go says that Gen Z are at the helm of a so-called “stay-at-home summer”, prioritising BBQs and at-home hosting, but warns that attempts to save money are often being undermined by overbuying and food waste.

With this in mind, we’ve asked food writers and chefs who make hosting at home a priority for their best ideas for treating guests on any budget, any day of the week.

Always have bread

“Soda bread and home-made salted butter are a) genuinely very easy, even for people who don’t cook, and b) so much cheaper than buying from a fancy shop,” says the food writer Ella Risbridger, who has just published The Kitchen Book – Good Food for Every Day (£26, 4th Estate), where you can find her soda bread recipe.

“People will feast on the bread, and then need less fish/steak/expensive whatever. All small plates restaurants know this: this is why the first thing on the menu is always artisan bread and butter. Steal their tricks.”

“Level up the bread and butter to a full starter,” Risbridger continues. “Really great fishmongers will sometimes do a packet of offcuts of their really great artisan smoked salmon for, like, a fiver. Little slices of bread and butter only need little offcuts! Google ‘fancy way to cut a lemon’.”

I do a very similar starter that my friends have possibly seen too many times. A dressed crab from the local fishmonger costs £7.50 and I serve that with good bread, after which I can do a main of a veg-based pasta or rice, as they’ll still be talking about the crab. “Nobody has ever been sad to eat fresh tomato pasta,” says Risbridger. “Nobody has ever been sad to eat a perfect supermarket garlic bread.”

Transform everyday veg into centrepieces

While not a strict vegetarian herself, the chef and food writer Helen Graham prefers to cook with vegetables at home and save the meat and fish for eating out. Though she doesn’t create recipes with a budget in mind, cooking with vegetables tends to be cost-effective, she tells me. Her new cookbook, Centrepiece (£28, Hamlyn), encapsulates the ethos of creating special dishes to feed people at home.

Her recipes include a braised cabbage with a preserved lemon sauce and a roast cauliflower with saffron, served whole. “My harissa roast carrots with mango labneh are a real centrepiece,” she says. “There’s a lot going on but a few pantry ingredients make it really special. The mango is transformative, but it’s made by stirring mango chutney and turmeric through labneh. The harissa is high impact and low cost.”

After roasting the carrots in olive oil and date syrup, Graham lays these on the mango labneh and dresses the dish with a marinade. She uses a spice blend called Hawaij, a mix of black peppercorns, cumin and coriander seeds, cloves, turmeric and cardamom, and mixes this with mint and lime juice as a bright and tangy dressing for the roast carrots.

Improve the everyday 

There’s a lot to be said for turning out classic, everyday dishes but doing them really well. Guests who eat hastily-made lasagne or curries regularly will always appreciate a stellar interpretation of the ordinary.

My friend Lisa recently cooked for me, making the cottage pie from Michelin-starred chef Stephen Harris’ cookbook The Sportsman At Home (Quadrille, £30), which also has recipes for cream of mushroom soup and fish pie made in a jacket potato skin.

Everyone’s happy to be hosted 

“Generosity doesn’t need to be about fancy ingredients or posh wine; it’s always a proper delight to be cooked for,” says Kate Young, whose latest cookbook is the answer to so much of your kitchen indecision. Dinner at Mine? New Inspiration for Everyday Ingredients (Apollo, £25) is packed with refreshing ideas for popular and inexpensive meals from courgettes and apples to frozen peas, eggs, potatoes and bread.

“Think about dishes that centre on affordable ingredients,” she advises. “Cabbage (okonomiyaki, cabbage and tahini salad), courgettes (courgette pasta, courgette and aubergine parmigiana), or spring onions (spring onion rarebit scones, spring onion tart). Cooking dinner for your guests is spoiling them – you’re being generous with your time, your effort, and your home, regardless of what your budget is.”

Pot luck 

That said, while guests might expect to be fed, don’t hold back on asking for help. I’ve spent days working out snacks and puddings that perfectly complement one another, but asking a friend to bring a contribution, be it something to nibble on or a pudding, brings along so many benefits.

As well as saving you time and money, your friends will feel happy to have done their bit.

‘Big Platter Energy’

Food writer and editor Eleanor Steafel has heaps of ideas for treating guests like royalty on a civilian budget in her new cookbook, But First, Dinner (£20, W&N). “Big Platter Energy is the key to elevating something which might otherwise seem quite simple,” she explains. “Spaghetti and tomato sauce suddenly looks like a feast when tumbled on a lovely big plate, dressed with olive oil and parmesan and placed in the middle of the table.

“For an easy summer dish which is perfect for sharing, halve baby plum tomatoes and leave them to sit with a thinly sliced shallot in salt, sherry vinegar, tomato purée and plenty of crispy chilli oil. Then crisp a couple of packs of dried gnocchi in a frying pan. Toss the marinated tomatoes with the hot crispy gnocchi, tumble onto a platter and finish with dollops of sour cream, grated halloumi and dill.”

Taco party 

“Tacos are king for feeding a lot of people in a way that is simultaneously fun, relaxed, and lets people choose their own adventure re dietary requirements,” says Risbridger. “Making your own tortillas tends to work out cheaper in the long run, but it is a hassle.

“The trick here is to have one expensive filling (shredded chicken/fish fingers/halloumi/thinly sliced steak), and two cheaper situations. Refried beans with bay, for instance, or the incredibly nice crispy caramel-cumin cauliflower from my new book, plus sour cream, cheese and coriander.

“You can make a taco bar feel very generous. Big bowls of tortilla chips and dips add to the ambience and sense of abundance. If you can get those big bunches of coriander, like from an Asian supermarket, put them in jugs like you would cut flowers for excellent aroma and vibes.”

If in doubt, make ice cream sundaes 

“Anything can be a sundae if you try hard enough,” says Steafel. “Shop-bought ice cream is so easily zhuzhed up with the help of a couple of handy toppings. Try toasting desiccated coconut in a pan with a little coconut oil until lightly browned, then mix it with Demerara sugar and flaky salt.

“Separately, melt roughly 100g dark chocolate with 1 tbsp coconut oil and leave to cool. Pour chocolate sauce over vanilla or coconut ice cream and top with the sweet and salty toasted coconut.”