As we start to feel some reprieve from pandemic lockdowns we are seeing an increase in parties and events, some of which have been on hold for many years!!  In this post we cover some points in catering for your party and the best finger food for catering. In particular we will focus on multiple allergy friendly finger foods. Finger food catering can range from chips or fries with sauces and basic sandwiches and be as fancy as detailed baked-from-scratch home baked goodies.

Your confidence level in catering for multiple allergies will determine your finger food menu. One home catering company in Sydney commented ‘if you cannot ensure zero cross contamination in your home kitchen, it may be safer for your guests to outsource’ perhaps a grab for business however worth considering if your prone to throwing gluten-filled ingredients around your kitchen or don’t realise that traditional soy sauce contains gluten.

Planning for Finger Food Catering

When you review your budget for your planned event it’s worth noting the allergy friendly substitute will be at least double the price of the mainstream version, perhaps more. Some premade and easy to prep finger foods that will not break your budget include:

• Plain potato chips
• Fruit and vegetable platters
• Cheeses
• Deli meats
• Deli olives and antipasto
• Nuts
• Rice crackers
• Dips
• Strawberries dipped in chocolate
• Plain and flavoured mineral waters or soft drinks

For a bigger budget you may like to consider these finger foods ideas:

• Cute little finger sandwiches (using a gluten free bread)
• Allergy Friendly crackers, check out our Crackers here
• Gluten free sweet biscuits
• Gluten free frozen items (heat and serve)

The caveat on all of the above is to check the ingredient list and allergen declaration against your guest’s allergies. Should your guest have a dairy allergy you could still do the strawberries in chocolate however will need to choose a dairy-free chocolate.

It’s always a good idea to label your platters, plenty of cute flags available these days. We particularly love the Allergy Riders Food Flags and have used them plenty of times when catering to make our guests feel at ease. We also keep any packets or recipes available for our allergy guests to review if they want to double check to feel more comfortable.

Finger Food Catering: For our confident bakers!

For the more confident allergy baker you can up the level of your finger food catering by baking your catering food from scratch. Below are some of our recipes which are also handy for birthday party catering and can provide a cheap finger food option for your allergy guests. Some of these recipes rely on our popular Melinda’s Gluten Free Goodies SR Flour Blend so it’s best to pre-trial any recipes when substituting our flour as gluten free flours are all very different.

• Cheesey Potato Croquettes
• Galliano Fruit Dip
• Cheesey Onion Slice 
• Choc Caramel Crunch Slice

Finger Food Catering: Now for our professional chefs & cooks!

And finally for our chefs and professional cooks you may also like to consider some of our Melinda’s Gluten Free Goodies catering range which is prepared in a dedicated allergy free bakery and delivered frozen and ready to serve via your preferred distributor. To access pre-made finger food catering in Sydney is best to contact Bidfood as they currently carry the biggest range, download our current Foodservice brochure: Melinda’s Frozen Foodservice Brochure 2022.

• Gluten Free & Vegan Puff Pastry Sheets
• Gluten Free & Vegan Mini Party Sausage Rolls
• Party Beef Pies: Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Nut & Soy Free 
• Vegan Party Pies: Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Nut & Vegan Mushroom & Leek Party Pies

We also have a range of recipes below that you can use for your home catering which rely on our retail and bulk baking mixes. We’ve posted some of these below which would be great for birthday parties however if you’d like the complete set of recipes please contact us and if you need help accessing the baking mixes please reach out on our Contact Us page.

Allergy Friendly Birthday Party Cake Recipes

• Gluten Free –  Red Velvet Chai Latte Cake Recipe
• Gluten Free Carribean Spice Cake – Carribean Spice Cake Recipe
• Carrot & Ginger Cake – Carrot and Ginger Cake Recipe

Hopefully this post has given you some great ideas to cater the very best party finger food for your next event.

Until next time, happy baking!

Melinda