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Derek 04/10/08 |
Hello, I am planning a summer wedding dinner. We are tentatively planning on having around 300 people. We are having sloppy joes, potato salad, carrot and celery sticks (Maybe some cherry tomatoes as well) and either baked beans or potato chips. What I'm most concerned with is how much ground beef and vegetables we should plan for as well as how much potato salad. What do you think? |
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ellen 04/10/08 |
Derek, this is a VERY LARGE party to even think of self catering, especially since your question shows not too much experience with large groups. There are big food safety issues along with everything else. Please, read the article on self catering- see the wedding dinner button at the top of the main cook talk page- and figure out if you have the 20+ helpers and facilities needed to make this happen. There are menu considerations also; sloppy joes sound easy, but they are messy for wedding clothes and need to be served. Either a smaller guest list or a non-meal reception might make it more possible. As far as quantities, amounts for 100 are covered in the plan for 100 list, the veggie tray list, and the brisket and BBQ page. If you make an intial estimate and post it, I will check it for you. |
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Derek 04/10/08 |
Well, I'm not personally catering it. I have an aunt who has voulunteered to lead the army and more help than I know what to do with. I believe she is planning on cooking all the meat before hand and freezing it, then warming it up the day of. She has done a couple of weddings before as well. I do have to provide the food though :) We did consider the mess factor but in lieu of cost savings and ease of preparation we decided it would be worth the risk. As far as I can tell it is suggested for about 1/3 lb of meat per person so I would figure around 100 to 125 lbs of ground beef. I see that you suggest 4-8 pieces of veggies per person. I figure then about 50 lbs of carrots and celery. Do you think that we should weight the carrots more heavily because they are more popular? I.E. 30lbs of carrots and 20lbs of celery or should we keep it even. For potato salad. I see somewhere between 3.5 to 4.5 gallons per 100 people. I would estimate 12 to 15 gallons total then. (This we are planning on asking various Aunts to make and bring). Do those estimates sound right? Thanks! |
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ellen 04/10/08 |
OK, being a cooking aunt myself, I can see the possibility. Consider the option of doing meatball subs instead of sloppy joes. More interesting, you can even buy the meatballs readymade and frozen, and can be served on sub or hoagie rolls which are both tastier and prettier than hamburger buns. 1 pound of raw burger makes 1 3/4 cups cooked. Allowing for a few seconds, this is 6 sandwiches- I would plan 360 sandwiches, or 60-70 pounds raw beef. 360 buns/rolls, of course. See the sandwich event page for the condiment table per 100 for the fixings for the sandwiches. I would add slaw- easy to fix and hold, well liked- 60 pounds. Baked beans, 3 gallons or 4 #10 cans per 100 people, plus your add-ins/ fixings. Or 8 pounds dried beans per 100 from scratch. Potato salad is right. You need some things out as appetizers during the hour you are getting the wedding photos, changing clothes, etc. If you/ your aunt will look at the veggie tray page, you will see amounts for the veggies and dips- you do need dips- and you will hae a much better looking tray if you add broccoli bits, cauliflower, some olives and pickles, etc. This can all be prepped several days ahead- use your chips here, too, 6 pounds potato or 8 corn plus about 6 quarts dip or salsa for each 100. |