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.

How Much Food for a Party?

Unfortunately, there is no scientific formula for working out how much food for a party. It is more of an art and the more parties you cater for, the more you will be able to estimate the right food amounts. Here are a few tips that will allow you to estimate how much food for a party and will help you to relax rather than panic!

First of all, who is coming to your party? Is it mainly adults or will you need to make some child-friendly dishes too? How long will your party go on for? You would need more food for an afternoon barbecue, for example, that you would for an after dinner cocktail party.

Make more of the dishes that you think will be popular. Nearly everybody likes boneless chicken recipes, for example, so make plenty of those because there will be other dishes, such as seafood recipes, which not everybody likes or is able to eat.

If you make many different recipes, your guests will have less of each. If you have only five dishes, your guests will eat quite a lot of each. If you have a buffet of thirty dishes, your guests will probably only take a small spoonful of each dish.

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.

Party Food Portion Sizes

Six bites per guest is a good allowance for an appetizer. Seven ounces of meat or fish, an ounce and a half of grains, an ounce of undressed salad, five ounces of potatoes and four ounces of vegetables per person is about right for the main meal. For dessert, allow everyone five ounces of ice cream, four ounces of creamy dessert like mousse or a slice of cake or pie. These measures are just to give you an idea because some people have a big appetite and others have a small one.

More Party Food Tips

* Never repeat the main ingredient at a dinner party. You should not serve a shrimp appetizer followed by a shrimp main course for example.

* If you are having buffet food, offer a choice of both warm and cold foods.

* Mix different textures, such as soft vegetable purees and crispy fresh bread.

* Using different colored foods is a great way to make your dinner table or buffet table look exciting.

Related Articles