Party Food Portion Calculator

How the amounts are worked out

Each guest is counted as one adult-sized serving, and each child as half. The appetite setting scales the total (light ×0.8, hearty ×1.25), and a small extra is added so nobody runs out. Amounts per adult for a main meal are: 3 pizza slices; 180 g boneless meat (280 g bone-in, 400 g ribs), weighed raw; 80 g dry rice; 100 g dry pasta; 250 g potatoes; 150 g vegetables or salad. When the dish is one of several on a buffet, the amounts drop to roughly two thirds. These are common catering rules of thumb, not exact science — increase them for a hungry crowd or a long party, and reduce them if there is also plenty of starter or dessert.

Meat loses roughly a quarter of its weight when cooked, and rice about triples in weight, so 1 kg of dry rice becomes about 3 kg cooked. Pizza is rounded up to whole pizzas. Always follow food-safety guidance when cooking for a group: cook poultry, burgers and sausages right through, keep cold food chilled and do not leave cooked food out for more than two hours.