Family functions are normally small and select gatherings, unless they are a part of a wedding celebration. Whether it is a special puja, or the birthday of a child, food has to be prepared to suit the nature of the gathering, and to match the occasion.
Keep it simple:
These are your relatives, they know you well and they are happy to be in your home. Keep the food simple, do not make it too elaborate. Caterers always say that the amount of food which a person eats will always remain the same, so if you are making a greater variety of dishes, decrease the quantity you cook.
Cook the food of your state or region:
Like you, all of these people have grown up on food which is pertinent to your area. If you serve them a menu which consists of the foods which you have grown up on, then they will also be familiar with them and will be happy to eat them.

Cater for all ages:
Family functions, unlike those which are meant only for friends, have people of all ages. The grandparents will accompany the sons and grandchildren, an old diabetic aunt will need a special diet, a vegetarian mother will not eat food cooked from the same dish in which non-vegetarian food was cooked. Among family members you have to make food for all of them. You can cook a little amount separately for those who are on strict diets. Children can be given food in which there are fewer spices. It sounds difficult, but it really is very easy to do. Add the stronger spices to a vegetable only after you have taken some out for the children. A little extra care like this can help to make the food very popular.
Outsource some of the food:
You should also enjoy your family functions, and you cannot do that if you are going to spend all your time cooking and serving. Order some food from outside. Nowadays it is easy to get home delivery, and the prices can vary from the fairly cheap to the very expensive. You can cook some food at home, and get a couple of dishes from outside. After all, these are your family members, they are not looking for too much formality, at least you hope so!
Remember the rule of thumb always is that family should be served good, tasty meals which remind them of their homes and cities, and which are a part of their everyday lives.

French cooking involves a large number of techniques, some extremely complicated. Some techniques include:
• Baking-Roasting: in baking dry heat is used in preparing the food. On the other hand Roasts should never be covered; they should be basted from time-to-time with butter or oil and, when done, should be placed on a hot platter until their cooking stops.
• Braising: It is to cook in a liquid that has been enriched with stock, wine or the liquid of vegetables. A less tasty version is made just using water, but the water doesn’t make much of a sauce.
• Broiling-Grilling: It is the result of placing oiled foods on to a hot grill or into a preheated oven. There are two keys to this cooking approach: The food must be pre-oiled and the oven or grill must be pre-heated.
• Flambéing: It is the final stage after sautéing, by pouring a liqueur, wine, brandy or other spirit over your food, and igniting it to flambé.
• Frying: It is Cooking food in a shallow skillet or pan with oils or butter or grease from meats. Olive oil and other low saturated fat oils are used.
• French-frying: In this technique food is cooked in deep, hot oil/fat. Most commonly fat/ oil that has a high flash point is used.
• Poaching: Poaching is the simmering or cooking of food in liquid(seasoned milk, water, wine, vermouth, beer, stock, mushroom broth, tomato juice, etc), at just below the boiling point, to prevent high protein foods from becoming tough.
• Sautéing: It is the cooking of thin foods in just enough fat to keep the food from sticking to the frying pan.

Pasteurization, freezing, vacuum treatment, refrigeration and boiling are some of the methods used for processing foodstuff depending on its nature and duration to which it has to be preserved.  Some of the items like vegetables, meat, sea food, poultry and dairy products additionally need pressure canning. Vegetable pickles using acidic additives can remain edible for a much longer period when packed in airtight cans and glass containers.  Cans  made of tin and aluminum sheets are preferred to glass bottles because they are free of breakage.

Cooking food at home can take our valuable time but proper planning and presumption may help in saving time. Working women are now into the concept of ready to cook food which lead to businesses offering prepared or ready-to-cook meal packages that customers can pick-up and easily pop in the ovens of their own homes for dinner. This can save people who are always on-the-go a lot of valuable time in terms of cooking and cleanup time after a hectic full-day work. These ready-to-cook foods usually come in frozen packages; these include chicken, pork, beef, veggies, fruits, salad and fish.