Salads for 250
Donna
03/09/10 		How do we determine the number or amount of salads to have for a Salad Bar to feed 250 women? A roll and dessert bars will be the only other food items offered for this lunch.
ellen
03/10/10 		This is very similar to a question yesterday. There are a lot of ways to go with this, depending on what kind of salad you have in mind- dressy versus casual lunch, chef's versus shrimp/seafood versus church potluck assorted, for instance. Do you have a budget constraint? For example, tell me if you are planning protein salads such as chicken or tuna or egg salad? Diced ham? You can vary the costs a lot by the selection and even by where you place items on the salad bar.

I can post a table for a lot of different toppings, I am actually working on one now, but the rule of thumb is, people take 18-24 ounces of food including 5-6 ounces of greens, 2-3 ounces of dressings and 3-6 ounces of proteins/main dish salads when self serving a meal salad.

Donna
03/11/10 		We plan to ask church members to donate salads for a salad buffet potluck style -- main dish salads with protein, vegetable salads, and fruit/Jello salads. They would be served in attractive bowls.

According to your rule of thumb we would figure 3 cups of salad per person -- correct?

ellen
03/11/10 		If I were doing this, I would try to keep the costs fairly even and provide some leeway for the non-cooks. Assuming you are providing the rolls, beverages, and plates/cups/forks, I would use a signup list, give a counted number of slots and examples and here is how I would do it:

60 slots- protein choices for 4-6 people- "might be tuna, seafood or egg salad, deviled eggs, deviled ham, tofu, etc"
40 slots- sweet salads for 6 people- "fruit, jello, waldorf, carrot-raisin, etc"
40 slots- Heavy salads for 6 people- "marinated veggies, sliced tomatoes, pasta, potato, coleslaw, 3 bean, etc."
30 slots-green salad for 8 people with dressing- "lettuce, spinach, mixed greens, etc"
20 slots- 1-2 pounds cheese- "cheese spreads, logs, sliced, cubes, crumbles, shreds"

The heavier salads are important for meal type situations, and if you just say vegetable, you may get all lettuce and coleslaw.

Hope this helps.