Party Menu Ideas: Organic x Standard Ingredients

We love entertaining and inviting friends round for a lovely meal. In the summer, we usually host barbeque parties, but now it is all about gathering friends for a hearty meals indoors.

We have been invited by Organic UK to take part in the Organic Naturally Different campaign, aiming to help people understand the meaning of organic and consciously choose organic food during grocery shopping. I was challenged to plan and cost a party menu for 8 people, including a three course meal and nibbles.

Did you know that organic food is better for nature? As it is grown and farmed in a way that is kinder to nature and the environment, using fewer pesticides, it protects and encourages wildlife. Organic farms are free-range, ensuring that animals have more space and fresh air, translating in healthier animals and high animal welfare.

I must admit, before the challenge, we didn’t know much about organic and I was surprised to learn that organic food is better for nature, promoting high animal welfare. As it is more natural, no GM crops and fewer artificial pesticides, with no hydrogenated fats and fewer additives, organic food naturally tastes better, bursting with flavour. 

For our party menu, we prepared:

Nibbles: Jerk BBQ Chicken Wings 

The chicken was marinated in jerk BBQ sauce, then cooked in the oven. It is a simple dish, but very tasty. When swapping for organic, I couldn’t find organic chicken wings, so had to change for free range chicken drumsticks instead.

Nibles: Oriental Veg and Prawn Croustades

The vegetables were stir-fried with soya sauce, and added to the croustades, topped with prawns and sweet chilli sauce. I was surprised to find organic soya sauce, I didn’t know it existed until now!

Starter: Butternut squash and Apple Soup.

One of the courses with the most organic ingredients, organic onions, organic garlic, organic butternut squash, organic apples, organic potato, organic butter, organic double cream and even organic paprika.

Main Course: Garlic and Thyme Roasted Pork, Dauphinoise Potato in Wine Jus with Garden Vegetables.

The pork was slowly cooked with garlic and thyme, I managed to swap those ingredients for free range pork, and organic garlic and thyme. The dauphinoise potato was very organic too, with organic potato, organic double cream, organic milk and organic butter. I couldn’t find any organic wine at my local supermarket, but I am sure I could find somewhere else. I managed to find an alternative to organic garden vegetables.

Dessert: Black Cherry Trifle

Trifle is such a popular party dessert. It was made with raspberry jam, fresh raspberries and black cherries. I only found organic raspberry conserve, the other ingredients were standard.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the results. The total shopping for the party menu was £93.79 for standard ingredients and only £13.81 more when including free range ingredients and organic products.

Organic and free range products are believed to be substantially more expensive than standard products, however it is not the case. For this menu, it was simply £1.73 more per person, in a three course menu with nibbles.

The organic party food is kinder to the environment and has more flavours, it is a great benefit compared to the very small added cost. The challenge has opened our eyes to organic and free range ingredients, and we will be definitely swapping more products on our future grocery shopping.

Do you buy organic and free range ingredients? Which ones are your favourites?

You can find out further information, check out Organic UK Facebook page.

This post has been written in collaboration with Organic UK, however the opinions expressed in this post are honest and my own.