Missed it by that much!


 

Ken McCrary

TVWBB Super Fan
Cooked for my son's graduation party this weekend. I was expecting about 70 people with a 30 - 40 split adults to teenagers. I cooked 6 8lb butts, 2 6lb turkey breasts and 100 wings. Everything turned out good except that I had more leftover than anticipated. Only about half the turkey and almost half of the pork was eaten along with about 80 wings. We had the usual sides, mac and cheese, baked beans, salad along with veggies and chips and dip. we had about 60 to show up.

Was I way off on my estimations for the amount of meat I cooked? How much would you have cooked for a crowd that size based on your experience.

Leftovers are not a problem as I will vacum seal and freeze for later.
 
From past experience, you need to figure about 8 oz of meat per person and that 10% won't show. So 8oz X 63 = 504oz / 16oz = 31.5lbs. You could have done 1 turkey breast, 3 butts and 75 wings. Plus add an extra butt for leftovers!! :-) I'm cooking next month for my daughter's graduation and expecting around 75 people. I'm figuring 4 butts, 6 racks of ribs plus some burgers and dogs.
 
Hey Grump, I like Bill's mathematical configuration alot!

Butt this is how I (now) do it.
I figure NO ONE eets like me. Teenagers OR adults.
So, I take into consideration how much I would eet if I'm hungry.
Then divide that amount in half.
Take that new amount and multiply it by the amount of your guests (little tykes under the age of 10yrs young do not count).

That is my formula. I haven't run outta food yet, and just enough for folks to take home.
 
Thanks for the input. I was figureing on about 6oz per person of finished product with a worse case yield of about 50% after trimming and cooking. I was making the rounds and gabbing at the party instead of watching the line and I think what happened is that alot of the teenagers were "party hopping" and didn't eat.

I guess you never know. My wife always says I over kill it and I guess she's right. But I pride myself on NEVER running out of food. I was just surprised that I missed it that bad.

Good luck with your cook Bill. 6 racks of ribs sounds like alot even for me so I'll be curious to see how it works out.
 
Hey,Grump! That's what my god son calls me! Small world!
To get back on topic,I'd just as soon cook WAY too much food and either freeze or send leftovers home,than run out of food! BTW,I'm a big eeter like Jim!
 

 

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