How Much Food Do I Need For 25 Guests?

Here are basic guidelines for individual serving sizes of various foods. Multiply these estimates by your number of guests and, once again, always round up your estimates. 6 bites when preceding a meal. 4 – 6 bites per hour when hors-d’oeuvres are the meal.

Seriously. While there is no perfect formula to calculate how much party food and drink you’ll need, there are some basic guidelines that usually ensure a successful party. The easiest rule is the “One Pound Rule.” Provide one pound of food for each adult guest (not including drinks or dessert).

A few articles have suggested that caterers’ base is a total of one pound to one and one quarter pound of food per person at a buffet (that’s for everythingmain course, sides, salad, etc). Feeding America suggests that 1.2 pounds (19.2 ounces oz) of food equals a meal.

Poultry, meat or fish – 6 ounces when you have one main dish, 8 ounces when you offer two or more main courses. Rice, grains – 1.5 ounces as a side dish, 2 ounces in a main dish such as risotto. Pasta – 2 ounces for a side dish, 3 ounces for a first course, 4 ounces for a main dish