Buffet Maths

sandieb

How many items per person should one allow for a finger buffet? Also wine/beer ratio and amounts?

piglet6

Couldn't quite find answers to the question you asked, but the following info was taken from Leith's Cookery Bible (recommended catering quantities) and might help a bit...

- Allow 1 large portion of salad, in total, per head - e.g. if only one salad is served make sure there is enough for 1 helping each. Conversely, if 100 guests are to choose from 5 different salads, allow a total of 150 portions - i.e. 30 portions of each salad. It suggests the following quantities:

Green salad - allow a loose handful of leaves per person
Potato salad - 1lb potatoes (uncooked weight) serves 5 people
Coleslaw - 1 small cabbage, shredded finely, serves 10-12 people
Tomato salad - 6 tomatoes, sliced, serves 4 people
Grated carrot salad - 1lb carrots, grated, serves 6 people

Cocktail parties:

- Allow 10 cocktail canapés per head.
- Allow 14 cocktail canapés per head if served at lunchtime when guests are unlikely to go on to a meal.

For wine, it suggests that you allow 1 bottle per person and "hope to have some left over" for a party.

It also warns that you have to allow for more food if people are serving themselves than if people are having food served to them, as "people helping themselves often have eyes bigger than their stomachs"!

If I find anything a bit more helpful re: quantities, I will post again...

Piglet

sandieb

Brilliant - just what I needeed. Thanks for the trouble you have gone to.