How much food per person? Quantities for a buffet, BBQ and raclette

At a buffet an adult eats about 750 g to 1 kg in all, spread over starters, the main dish, sides, salad, bread and dessert:

Pasta and rice are weighed raw: for as much on the plate as 200 g of potatoes, about 70 g of pasta or 60 g of rice will do, as they swell to two and a half times their weight. Among vegetables, leaf salad weighs least: instead of 200 g of vegetables to cook, take about as much raw vegetables or 50 g of leaf salad. With several sides, plan each about one and a half times its share, as guests take more of their favourite. Starters and desserts are best planned as servings of your recipe, one per guest.

Without a starter or dessert, guests don't fill up on meat but on the sides: plan potatoes, pasta, bread and vegetables about a quarter to a third bigger.

For a barbecue, plan about 300 g of meat per adult when there are salads and bread. Add about 250 g of salad in all, green, potato or pasta salad, and 80 to 100 g of bread.

For guests who eat no meat, plan a vegetarian main of 150 to 200 g, such as vegetable skewers or grilling cheese.

At a raclette the cheese is the star: allow 200 to 250 g of raclette cheese per person, with 175 to 250 g of potatoes or about 200 g of bread, 150 to 200 g of vegetables such as mushrooms, onions or peppers and, for those who like it, 120 to 150 g of meat or fish. Gherkins and silver onions are the classic extras, about a jar of each for four. Serving both potatoes and bread, about three quarters of each is enough.

For cheese fondue, 200 to 225 g of cheese per person is enough, with about 200 g of bread for dipping.

Not everyone eats the same. Children aged 4 to 12 eat a good half to two thirds of an adult portion, teenagers about as much as adults, and men usually a little more than women. Men, women and teenagers follow the German Nutrition Society's energy reference values, children what party calculators and guides allow them.

Plan 10 to 15 % extra for seconds and late arrivals. Several dishes per course don't raise the total, as everyone takes a little of each, but plan each dish a bit above its plain share.

Drinks depend on how long the party lasts, not on the meal. Allow half a litre per guest and hour, everything included, beer and wine too: 2 l per guest over four hours. Guests who drink alcohol drink it instead of part of the soft drinks, and what is not alcohol splits about half and half into water and soft drinks.

A beer drinker has about 0.4 l in the first hour and around 0.3 l each hour after that, a little over 1.3 l in four hours. A wine drinker has the same alcohol as wine, just under 0.6 l or three quarters of a bottle in four hours. Guests who drink beer and wine have half of each.

If your guests drink little, plan about 30 % less alcohol; if they drink a lot, about 40 % more. For a sense of scale: from five standard glasses in an evening, around 50 g of alcohol, most people are drunk. A standard glass is 0.25 l of beer or 0.1 l of wine.