Tips for Calculating How Much to Cook For A Crowd (2024)

FAQs

Tips for Calculating How Much to Cook For A Crowd? ›

First, consider which dish you think will be the most popular. Then, if you're offering a buffet-style dinner, ensure you have enough to go around for everyone to get multiple helpings of each dish. Make sure there are side dishes available as well; if not, estimate four ounces of side dishes to serve as each course.

Rules to Plan By

Each adult will consume 1 pound of food total; children, about 1/2 pound. The more options you have, the less you need of each; decrease the main course portion sizes by 1 to 2 ounces if served on a buffet. Guests will always eat — and drink — more at night than during the day.

Aim to provide around 6-8 courses of small bite size food per person. Each course should have enough for 1-1.5 pieces of food per person. When choosing recipes, consider whether you could eat it with one hand in one or two bites. Check your guests' dietary requirements.

It's pretty simple too: We just determine an appropriate size portion of any dish in ounces per person, the we multiply that times the number of guests and divide by 16 (# of oz in a pound) and just like that you get the number of pounds you'll need.

Pasta is one of the cheapest and most filling pantry staples you can buy, and that's exactly why it's the perfect food to feed to a crowd! Plus, everyone loves a good pasta dish. Grab yourself a buffet server warming tray so you can pop your cooked pasta inside and keep it warm all evening long!

When Meat Is the Main. When cooking something like steak, turkey or pork, where meat is the main dish of the meal and paired with a few side dishes, we recommend about 1/2 pound (eight ounces) per person, or up to 3/4 (12 ounces) pound for bigger appetites and those who love leftovers.

How to feed 100 people for cheap? ›

Serving budget-friendly cuisines like salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes can be a very cost-effective choice. Or, if you're looking for a more casual option, how about a barbeque? Burgers, hot dogs and other grill-oriented foods are sure to be crowd favorites, and they won't rack up a big bill.

Quantity. A good rule of thumb when working with your caterer on just how many hors d'oeuvres to choose is as follows: for 10 – 12 guests a minimum of 5 selections, 25 guests a minimum of 9 selections and for 50 guests, a minimum of 13 selections.

co*cktail Party - Allow 4-6 pieces per hour per person - where the finger food is served in place of a meal. You will serve more pieces per hour in the first 2 hours and less per hour after that. Remember snacks with meat and fried foods are more filling.

When preparing a tossed salad for a large group of people, the rule is 3 ounces per person, according to the Seattle Times, so 300 ounces of salad would be needed to serve 100 people.

The number of full trays of food needed for 100 guests can vary depending on the type of food and serving style, but a rough estimate would be around 10-12 trays.