If you would like to moderate the costs associated with hosting a catered affair, consider the budget-friendly guidelines that follow. These suggestions will help you minimize costs without scrimping on quality.

Choose Low-Cost Ingredients

A highly-skilled catering team can elevate the taste and appearance of whichever food items you decide to serve to your guests. Instead of picking out lobster, steak, or another expensive dinner item, seek the pricing criteria for turkey, chicken, or pork. The latter cuts of meat will be much more economical, but can still be served in an exquisite manner.

Plan a sampling session at the restaurant that will be providing the catering service. Your sampling session should involve tasting a few different main courses, appetizers, and desserts. When you schedule your sampling session, let the caterer know that you would like to taste some of the lower-priced menu items.  Select foods that will be prepared in a variety of ways.

Pick A Buffet Serving Style

Catered foods that are fully plated can cost much more than foods that are featured on a buffet table. Your head caterer will provide you with the cost of a dinner service that will be fully plated and one that will use a buffet format.

Preparing a spread of food on a buffet will not require as much time as it would take to plate each meal that your guests will be served. As a result, a buffet serving style will likely provide you with the cost savings you prefer.

You will have the opportunity to decide the manner in which food will be displayed on a buffet table. Your head caterer can use lighting, decor, and other accents to provide a buffet with the aesthetical properties that you prefer.

Choose Disposable Dinnerware

Fine china, crystal goblets, and other fancy dinnerware products can greatly increase the cost of a catered meal. If you would like to drastically reduce the amount of your catering bill, speak to the head caterer about the possibility of using disposable dinnerware products during the event.

The caterer can help you select products that feature an attractive pattern or color scheme that will tie in well with the theme of your event.

Since disposable products can be thrown away right after they are used, the restaurant's kitchen staff won't be responsible for washing multiple loads of dishes. This could reflect upon the cost of the catering service. 

For more information, contact a catering service near you.