Entertaining on a budget: surviving the credit crunch

The last 24 hours' headlines have made gloomy reading. The most obvious casualties are those who have lost their jobs but the economic uncertainty affects us all.

The most likely outcome in food and wine terms, and there is already evidence of this, is that people will both cut down on eating out and spend rather less when they entertain at home. But I’m sure that they - and we - won’t stop having friends round.

There are many ways of cutting back on the cost of entertaining which I’ve outlined in my forthcoming book The Frugal Cook. Inviting friends round for supper or for drinks rather than dinner, for example, and serving a cheese plate rather than a full cheese board. But the one thing that doesn’t have to be sacrificed is matching food and wine - or other drinks.

Using your imagination - or ingenuity - costs nothing and can make for an experience just as memorable for your guests as plying them with an expensive food and drink. A delicious chicken casserole, made and served with cider, followed by a Camembert cheese (a great match with cider) is not an expensive meal.

Nor is an impromptu Oktoberfest party with assorted cold meats or grilled bratwurst and potato salad and helles or Mrzen beer. (This year's Oktoberfest, starts this weekend)

Sherry is still one of the wine world’s great bargains and you could simply invite people round for some chilled fino or manzanilla and tapas which could be as modest as nuts, olives and chunks of home-made tortilla.

Or have a sausage and mash bash with a choice of either beer or inexpensive red wine such as the wonderfully quaffable Sainsbury’s Old Vines Tempranillo I tasted the other day for just £3.79

You can make an impact with sweet things too. Invite friends to drop in after supper and treat them to a home-made cake or tart with a matching sweet wine. Or coffee and a wicked creamy after-dinner cocktail.

Hospitality, remember, is about the warmth of your welcome not the depth of your purse.

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