Milton Keynes, Northampton, Bedford and Surrounding Areas | 
01908 046946 | 
info@ilovecatering.co.ukAuthor Archive
Classic Club Sandwich Recipe
Here’s our Classic Club & Chuffing Chilli Sandwich recipe featuring the incredible Chuffing Chilli Jam from Crafted by P, AKA The Jam Lady. This collaboration has quickly become a favourite among our customers, and now, we’re excited to share this recipe with you so you can enjoy it at home too!Method:
- Prepare Your Bread: Start by selecting your favourite sliced bread and lightly toasting each slice before buttering.
- Add the Chuffing Chilli Jam: Take one teaspoon of The Jam Lady’s Chuffing Chilli Jam (adjust the amount based on your spice preference), mix with one teaspoon of mayonnaise and spread it evenly on one side of each bread slice.
- Layer the Ingredients: On the first slice of bread, add a layer of sliced roast chicken, followed by tomato. Place the second slice of bread on top, jam side down. Add a layer of Emmental cheese and streaky bacon on top of the second slice. Finish with a layer of fresh lettuce. Top with the third slice of bread, jam side down. Cut and Serve: Slice the sandwich into quarters or halves, securing each section with a toothpick if necessary. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Tips for the Perfect Club Sandwich:
- Bread: Choose a hearty bread that can hold up to the layers of ingredients. Multigrain, sourdough, or a classic white bread are all excellent choices.
- Bacon: Cook the bacon until it’s crispy to add a satisfying crunch to the sandwich.
- Chicken: Use high-quality roast chicken for the best flavour. You can also use leftover roast chicken or turkey.
Why We Love This Sandwich:
A perfect blend of savoury, spicy, and sweet flavours. The Chuffing Chilli Jam adds a unique kick that complements the richness of the Cheese and bacon, while the Tomato provides a refreshing contrast. It’s a simple yet incredibly satisfying recipe that’s sure to become a favourite in your household too!Get Creative:
Feel free to customize your sandwich by experimenting with different cheeses like Smoked Applewood or adding extra toppings like sliced avocado. The beauty of this recipe lies in its versatility and the opportunity to make it your own!Join Us Next Time:
Stay tuned for more mouthwatering recipes and local foodie finds. Whether you’re looking for a quick lunch idea or planning a weekend picnic, we’ve got plenty of delicious sandwiches to inspire your culinary adventures.Share Your Creations:
Have you tried our Club Sandwich Sandwich at home? We’d love to hear how it turned out! Share your photos and feedback with us on social media using #ilovecateringmk and tag @ILoveCatering to join the conversation.Discover More:
Explore our blog for more tempting recipes, culinary tips, and behind-the-scenes stories from our kitchen. From comforting classics to innovative creations, there’s something for every food lover to enjoy.Shop for your own Chuffing Chilli Jam HERE
Until next time, happy sandwich making!MK Food Bank Challenge
Supporting the Community: Taking part in the MK Food Bank Logo Challenge
At I Love Catering, we believe that a business is more than just a service provider—it’s a vital part of the community. Whether we’re preparing meals for parties, corporate events, or family gatherings, our mission is always to bring people together through the power of food. That’s why we couldn’t pass up the chance to participate in the MK Food Bank’s Logo Challenge, one of our charity partners.Getting Involved
MK Food Bank plays an essential role in our community by providing food to those in need, ensuring everyone has access to nutritious and delicious food, regardless of their circumstances. When we heard about the challenge for local businesses and individuals to participate in creating a logo our of food, we saw it as an amazing opportunity to contribute to a cause that means so much to us. Participating in the MK Food Bank logo challenge reminded us of the importance of giving back to the community in meaningful ways.Looking Ahead
As we continue to grow and serve our clients, we remain committed to supporting local initiatives like the MK Food Bank. This experience has not only allowed us to contribute to a worthy cause but also reinforced our belief that businesses can, and should, play an active role in their communities.Show your support
We encourage other local businesses to get involved in similar initiatives, whether through creative challenges, volunteer work, or donations. Together, we can make a difference and ensure that everyone in our community has access to the essentials they need. Thank you to the MK Food Bank’ for organising this challenge and for all the vital work you do. And thank you to our community for your ongoing support of I Love Catering. We look forward to many more opportunities to serve you, both at your events and in initiatives like this one. By sharing this journey, we hope to inspire others to find creative ways to give back. Whether through design, donations, or simply spreading the word, every little bit helps in making our community stronger.What to look for in a Catering Company
Let’s face it, most people don’t apply for a job and clearly listed in the job description is “Responsible for Ordering Office Catering”. If you’re reading this, the chances are it’s one those add on jobs you need to do along with your actual job. Emma at I love Catering has created this blog, to give you the main things to look for in a Caterer you can trust, without having to trawl through the internet.Food Hygiene Rating
A premises food hygiene rating is always my first point of call, whether it be a catering company or somewhere to go for dinner. It gives you a good understanding of how well the Kitchen is ran how the food is prepared and stored on the premises. Any food establishment is legally required to notify the local council of its existence and have a Food Hygiene Inspection. Even a small independent individual operating from their home needs to be registered with an up to date Food Hygiene Rating. You can find a companies food hygiene rating at ratings.food.gov.uk A Food Hygiene Rating of 0-5 can be awarded to a Food Business upon inspection.- 5 – hygiene standards are very good
- 4 – hygiene standards are good
- 3 – hygiene standards are generally satisfactory
- 2 – some improvement is necessary
- 1 – major improvement is necessary
- 0 – urgent improvement is necessary
- How hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored.
- The physical condition of the business – including cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation, pest control and other facilities.
- How the Business manages ways of keeping food safe, looking at processes, training, and systems to ensure good hygiene is maintained. The officer can then assess the level of confidence in standards being maintained in the future.
Do They Meet Your Requirements
After making sure they prepare and deliver food safely, you need to make sure they meet your requirements. However, in order to properly answer the question, you need to know what the requirements are for your business. Ask the people who will eat this food: Find out what people in your business want to eat. What do they like, what do they not like. Just because you like wraps and salads, might not necessarily mean the larger audience does. If you don’t find out what people want, you won’t please the group and may end up needing find another Caterer for no reason. You could just be ordering the wrong menu. We see this from time to time, when the person who is ordering the food isn’t part of the group eating it. Typically, a group of men doing heavy manual labour have very different tastes to the Receptionist who is loves salad and chicken. The more information you can provide a caterer the better they can advise you on the best menu suited to you and your company.Menus & Tasters
The food is the most important thing. You should be offered a range of menus to suit different tastes and give you variety. Some caterers don’t change their sandwich fillings and finger foods anymore than once every 12 months. So its worth asking the question. Caterers who work with local suppliers within the area will make use of local ingredients and ingredients in season. You will find that these types of Caterers will update their menus on a quarterly basis to give you the variety and stop the people eating the food getting bored. Many Catering Companies will offer you a “Try Before You Buy”, and are more likely to do this if they are proud of their food.Ordering & Flexibility
You need to be able to order quickly and effectively, plus make changes to your orders as efficiently as possible. There will be plenty of times when numbers change, or someone additional is at the meeting who has a dietary requirement. We have all been there, when your boss walks up to you with “Ummm……I did ask you to order that catering for ABC Client Meeting today”. You silently think of an inappropriate reply before saying “I don’t think you did, or maybe I forgot, not to worry I will sort it now”. You then start scrambling around trying to find a way to feed these people. Your Caterer, should be able to get you, or your Boss, out of the Doggy Doo. Find out what lead times you need to give a Caterer when placing an order and do they do last minute requests.Ideally, your chosen Caterer will have an easy to use Online Ordering system which will give you the following functionality, to make your life easier:
- Order Online
- Your Own Account where you can
- Review previous orders
- Review up coming orders
- Quickly re-order a previous order
- Order for multiple dates in one go
- Amend your orders
- Review Invoices
- Pay Invoices by Card
Payment
Your chosen Caterer, should be able to offer you multiple payment options.- Payment By Card
- Payment by BACS & PO’s
Delivery
This is one that a lot of people overlook. Depending on the size of the Catering Company and how many vehicles they have. They could be delivery between 10-25 orders before 12pm (when most people need food). Environmental Health, recommend that food is eaten within 90 minutes once it has left a temperature controlled environment. Your food should be delivered to you in a refrigerated vehicle. Then you may need to question when the food left the Fridge. You may also then need to keep it in a fridge(s) in your office depending on when it was delivered. At I Love Catering, we can have in excess of 50 deliveries to make within a 2 hour window. So we do need to make some deliveries early, despite having large fleet of refrigerated Vans. In order to keep our food safe for our Customers, we deliver to you in Cool Bags, which extends the safety of the food to 3 hours once delivered, plus 90 minutes to consume. So for a 12pm eating time, we can safely deliver to you at 9am.ALLERGENS
Allergens and food intolerances are becoming more and more prominent. Your caterer should take all allergens and intolerances seriously. At I Love Catering, it doesn’t matter if someone has a Nut Allergy or a mild intolerance to Onion, they are treated the same. Anyone with an allergen or intolerance should have a meal specifically made for them and be clearly labelled upon delivery. Your Caterer should also label the 14 Main Allergens in the UK somewhere on your order. Whether that be on the packaging, cool bag, a QR code for you to scan or on Menu Cards.Packaging
With the environment being front of mind for the majority of Companies your Caterer should be no different. They should be using packaging that limits the amount of single use plastics. Whether that be reusable boards which get returned to them for cleaning and sanitising or compostable eco packaging, all the way down to wooden cutlery and eco friend serving utensils.Pricing
Everyone wants the best value for money, but price shouldn’t be your only factor in deciding on who to use as your Catering supplier. Value for money isn’t just in the form of what appears on the bill, you should be looking at the quality of the food. Using smaller local suppliers and in season produce may increase the cost slightly but your food will be much tastier. A Caterer who provides the following, as also adding value, as its saving you time- Online ordering
- Customer Service team to answer questions or queries as quickly as possible
- Easy payment
- Seamless Deliveries, ideally you will get notification of when your order will arrive, similar to your online food shopping delivery. Saving you the time of wondering when it will arrive.
- Innovation to Menus, if your Caterer updates their menus regularly, your people won’t get bored and start asking you for another cater.
- How often you order catering
- How many heads
- Will you agree to use them exclusively
- Do you have other offices in the area who can use them too
Issues
I would love to say that Catering is walk in the park and we never get things wrong. When you are deal with humans, there is always the risk of a “hiccup” somewhere along the line. Especially with Humans placing the order, humans making the order, humans packing the order and humans delivering it. No matter how robust the Caterers internal processes and systems are, there is the risk of an incorrect or missing element of an order. Or something out of your control happens and someone eating the food suddenly tells you they have an allergen. Regardless of the issue your Caterers main priority at that point in time should “fix the problem” as soon as possible so the impact is as small as possible for you and your guests. How the issue occurred and why can be dealt with afterwards.Trust
You need to have trust with your Caterer and all the steps listed to date in this Blog will help to form that trust. Trusted relationships between any customer and supplier, it doesn’t just relate to Catering, are about being open and honest with one another. If you weren’t happy with a particular order, then tell your Caterer and give them feedback. If they value, you as a customer they will welcome the feedback and make the necessary changes. If you don’t tell them, they don’t know they need to change. If you need changes to a menu or really love something, for example it could be sausage rolls. Or your MD loves Piccalilli and Pork Pies. Talk to the Caterer and tell them. Being honest with them will save you having to find a new caterer in the future. If they aren’t open to change, then perhaps they aren’t the right fit for you and your business. Positive feedback also goes a long way as well. Many kitchen teams work long hours with very early starts. There is nothing more motivating for a Kitchen Team than to receive feedback from a customer.Harry’s Rainbow Fundraiser
Harry’s Rainbow provides safety and comfort, tools and resources to promote positive coping strategies, to both children, your people and their families.
Harry’s Rainbow is committed to supporting bereaved children and their families in the Milton Keynes and surrounding areas. “We know how difficult it can be to help and support your children through their pain, grief and loss at the same time as trying to deal with your own. Therefore we aim to support the children affected by the death of a very significant family member, such as a parent or sibling.”“The services we offer are wide ranging to ensure we can help all children and young people.
We facilitate connection with other children and young people in similar circumstances, to help relieve isolation and loneliness but also promote healthy living and wellbeing. Everything we do is age appropriate, and our Family Liaison Officers work to ensure all age groups are catered for. This support includes but is not limited to:
- Rainbow Groups (split into key-stage groups)
- Resources, books, memory boxes
- Trips and activities
- Therapeutic Mentoring
- Short breaks at our Rainbow Retreat
- Podcast
- School support
- Children’s Grief Awareness Week”
