Cooking is great fun if you do it right and planning which recipes to make for a party can be very enjoyable. Unfortunately, many people end up panicking and worrying about the food, rather than enjoying the experience of planning it. They worry that the guests will not enjoy their cooking. They think they will make too little or too much food.
Guessing 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!
Have you only invited adults to the party or is there a need for some child-friendly recipes as well? How long will your party last for and at what time of day is it going to be? You would need a lot more food for an afternoon barbecue than for an after dinner cocktail party, for example.
Make more of the potentially popular dishes. Almost everyone loves boneless chicken recipes, so make a lot of those because there will be other dishes, such as international recipes or seafood recipes, which will not appeal to everyone.
If you offer a lot of different dishes, each guest will have less of each one. If you have twenty dishes, your guests will probably take a spoonful of each one they like the look of. If you only have five dishes, they will eat a lot more of each.
You can estimate the amount of food required by working out how many guests you have and how much of each food they will eat. Remember to round your estimations up, not down. It is infinitely better to have some food left over than run out of things to eat halfway through the celebrations!
Make sure you have some bulk food items too, such as bread if you are having a sit-down dinner or nuts and olives for a cocktail party. People will nibble on these foods before starting on the main dishes or if they are still hungry between courses.
Portion Sizes for Party Food
Allow six bites per guest for appetizers. Allow roughly seven ounces of meat or fish with the main meal, five ounces of potatoes, an ounce and a half of grains, an ounce of undressed salad and four ounces of vegetables per person. For dessert, allow a slice of cake, five ounces of ice cream or four ounces of creamy dessert such as mousse for each person. Different people eat different amounts, so these measures are just to give you an idea.
Good to Know 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.
* Combine a variety of textures, such as crisp potato cakes with soft dips.
* For an attractive-looking dinner table or buffet table, use a variety of different food colors.
