Estimating How Much Food for a Party the Easy Way
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When you are planning a party, cooking should be part of the fun rather than a chore. However, a lot of people manage to get themselves into a panic and worry that they have bought too little food or way too much. They worry that their guests will not enjoy their food or their recipes will not turn out well.
Knowing How Much Food for a Party
Forget about using a scientific formula to find out how much food for a party because there is not one. The more parties you cater for, the better you can judge the right food amounts. Here are some tips, which will allow you to better estimate the right food quantities for your party without becoming stressed!
Whom have you invited to your party? Will there be only adults or will you need to prepare a few child-friendly recipes too? How many hours will the party last? Of course, you would need much more food for an event such as an afternoon BBQ than for an after dinner cocktail party.
Make more of the potentially popular dishes. Almost everyone loves boneless chicken recipes, so make a lot of those because there will be other dishes, such as international recipes or seafood recipes, which will not appeal to everyone.
If you offer a lot of different dishes, each guest will have less of each one. If you have twenty dishes, your guests will probably take a spoonful of each one they like the look of. If you only have five dishes, they will eat a lot more of each.
You can estimate how much food for a party quite well if you know how many people are coming and how much they are likely to eat. Round up your guesses rather than rounding them down because it is better to have a bit of food left over than running out before everybody has finished eating!
Have some bulk food items on hand, like bread for a sit-down meal or nuts and olives for a buffet. These are filling foods, which people can eat if they are still hungry afterwards.
Portion Sizes for Party Food
Allow six bites per guest for appetizers. Allow roughly seven ounces of meat or fish with the main meal, five ounces of potatoes, an ounce and a half of grains, an ounce of undressed salad and four ounces of vegetables per person. For dessert, allow a slice of cake, five ounces of ice cream or four ounces of creamy dessert such as mousse for each person. Different people eat different amounts, so these measures are just to give you an idea.
Good to Know Party Food Tips
* Do not repeat the main ingredient at a dinner party. For example, do not serve a pork appetizer followed by a pork main dish.
* Offer both cold and warm foods if you are having a buffet.
* Combine a variety of textures, such as crisp potato cakes with soft dips.
* Using different colored foods is a great way to make your dinner table or buffet table look exciting.
