Party Food Calculator
®
The question of how much food to prepare for your party guests is as old as hospitality itself.
Party food planning is only a little tricky, though. As you will see, there are several different
ways to look at it, but the bare-bones answer is:
1 Pound Of Food Per Person For Snacks
11⁄2 Pounds Of Food Per Person For A Meal
Those are average figures to toggle between the can’t-ever-satisfy-them linebackers and the
I’m-always-on-a-diet folk. Let’s break them down into averages for particular kinds of parties
and party foods.
Appetizers: On average, your guests will consume 5 hors d’oeuvres per person per hour for
the first 2 hours and 3 per person per hour for each additional hour. So for a 3-hour long party
of 10 people, you will need to prepare about 130 appetizers, a little less if the party is to be
followed by a meal.
Dips: Add the total weight of the main ingredients and use the 1 to 11⁄2 pounds per person rule.
Fondue: One person can eat about 20 1-inch cubes of bread (1⁄2 to 1⁄3 of a loaf of French
bread), 6 to 8 ounces of meat, 6 ounces of fish or seafood, 4 to 6 ounces of cheese, 6-8
ounces of vegetables, before trimming, 6-8 ounces of fruit, before trimming, 2-4 ounces of
dried fruit, 4 cookies, and about 2 ounces of dessert sauce. Again, figure a total of 1 to 11⁄2
pounds of food per person, depending on the circumstances.
Pizza: For an 8-inch pizza, plus toppings use the 1 to 11⁄2 pounds per person rule, 3 8-inch
pizzas will feed 2 people, on average, perhaps fewer. It is pizza, after all.
Pasta: For a sit-down dinner, a pound of pasta will serve 4-6. For a buffet, a pound will serve
8-10 people.
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