Tell us who is coming and how long you will eat, and get shopping amounts for every dish. The per-person amounts are starting assumptions in plain sight: change any of them to suit your crowd.
Every number in the Per adult column is an editable assumption. Untick a row to leave it out.
14 adult portions: 12 adults, 4 children at 50% of an adult portion. About 15 oz of weighed food per adult portion.
Each row starts from a rule-of-thumb amount per adult, shown in the Per adult column. It is multiplied by your guests, with each child counted as half an adult portion, then adjusted for appetite and a 10% margin for seconds. These are planning assumptions gathered from common catering practice, not official standards, so change any number and the totals follow.
Serving two mains? Set Dishes to 2 and the total is split between them, since people take a little of each. For a snacks-only party, finger food is counted per hour, and the snack-table amounts assume about three hours and scale with the length you enter.
Shared food often sits out for hours. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service advises never leaving food out of refrigeration for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour when it is above 90 °F (32 °C). Keep cold dishes at or below 40 °F (4 °C), for example on ice, and hot dishes at or above 140 °F (60 °C). Putting out smaller platters and refilling them keeps more of the food safe.
One page each, and they keep working offline once loaded.
Two free tools from elsewhere that are handy when a party is organised online.
Booking a picnic spot or ordering invitations through a site that wants your email? CleanTempMail gives you a temporary address instantly, with no sign-up, and the inbox clears itself after three days.
Get a temporary inboxBefore paying a website you have never used, look its domain up with WebTraceCheck's free lookup to see when it was registered, or open the link in a disposable cloud browser that is deleted after your session.
Check a shop's domainOur starting point for a sit-down meal is about 6 oz (170 g) of main dish, 5 oz (140 g) of starchy sides and 4 oz (110 g) of salad or vegetables per adult, plus bread and dessert. Hearty eaters, long evenings and teenagers need more.
Mains and sides are cooked, ready-to-serve weights. Buy more raw meat than the total shown, and more again for bone-in cuts, because meat loses weight as it cooks.
Yes. Your guests, units and edited assumptions are saved in this browser only, and Reset assumptions puts the defaults back.