(
more top secret stuff!)
Now
this is a lot of food,
I'm going to need HELP!!!!! ~~~Easy Cold Buffet Menu
The following chart is meant as a guideline to help you create your
buffet with as little stress as possible.
You know your guests best and can increase or decrease the amount
of food slightly to suit the occasion.
This can be used as a guide for a Wedding Menu.
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pre dinner appetizers (optional) |
8 lb.. tortilla chips, salsa, cheese
etc. to go with these or
6 lb.. potato chips
or veggies & 3 c. dip or indiv. appys, 2-3 pieces per person total, 6 kinds. OR~Allow 5 pounds of nuts per 100 people ~Allow 3 pounds of mints per 100 people. |
10-12 lb. asstd. cheese with crackers with
grapes for garnish, or
veggies and 6 c. dip 2-4 pc. per person,
(suggest 3 platter 18" of cheese -crackers and 3 of veggies and dip) or individual appys, 2-3 per person 6-10 kinds |
| salads | ~Potato salad made with 30 lb. potatoes
~Caesar salad, 15 heads Romaine ~3-4 smaller salads, your choice, approx. 7-10 lb. each |
~Potato Salad, made with 45# potatoes ( approx.
45# of potato salad)
~Caesar, 23 Romaine or 20 lb. tossed salad mix, ~ 2-3 med. salads, half the size of the potato salad ~make pasta salad using 3# dried pasta. or 2 salads & veggies & dip, and/or fruit platter (sliced really thinly, 4-5 cantaloupe, 1 watermelon, 3-4 lbs. grapes |
| meats | ~50 lb (raw weight) beef roast
boneless served hot, or large ham, bone in or 4 15-18 lb. whole turkey, or 25 lb. cooked boneless ham or turkey or equivalent. or 2- 25 lb. bone in hams or 25 lb. turkey meat (2- 25 lb. turkeys) ~10 lb. extra sliced deli meats, optional |
~75 lb. (raw weight) beef roast boneless or
40 lb cooked boneless ham or equivalent,
or
or 60 lb. whole turkey and 8-9 casseroles 9x13 or equiv. ~or allow 2-3 meatballs per person, or 1 piece of chicken (1/2 boneless chicken breast or whole boneless thigh) plus 30%, and serve in a large chaffer next to a chaffer of rice. ~meats can be served cold or hot. |
| casseroles | or in place of meats:
10 -12 -9x13 casseroles or equivalent ~or halfcasseroles and half amt. meat.) |
or in place of meats:
1 5 -9 x 13 casseroles or equivalent or 7-8 casseroles and some meat (see above) or meaty or seafood salads |
| desserts | ~4 ea. of 3 desserts, cake, cheesecake
or fruit salad (one decadent, one chocolate, one low cal.) or 8 x one dessert or 4 -10 1/2 x 15 1/2 sheet cakes or asstd. tiny bars, 2-3 per person |
20 pies, or
15 cakes, or
6 large trifles or 6 sheet cakes
or an assortment of bars, tiny cream puffs, or small cheese cake squares (tiny 2-3 per person) or keep it simple, do only 2 desserts, each x9 reg. sized desserts. |
| beverages | ~1/2 c. punch per serving.
needs 4 gal. (allow 1 1/2 -2 serving per person or more) ~coffee, tea, flavored decaf 1 lb = 50 cups |
~punch, 1 gal. =24-32 punch cups, allow
3-4 drinks per person if only punch is served otherwise 1 1/2 cups per
person.
1 bottle of wine serves 5 servings |
| misc. | 9 doz. small soft rolls or
9-10
garlic bread sliced or 8
variety breads cut in sm. slices (rye, tomato, whole grain etc.)
2 qt. whipping cream whipped = 2 tbsp ea. 2-3 qt. up to 1 gal. salad dressing serving calculation for 100 servings: spaghetti or noodles =3/4 c. cooked needs 12 lb. uncooked rice 1/2 c. needs 6 1/2 lb. raw 1/3 c. veggies, =22 lb. frozen.) there is a 40-45 % waste and shrinkage with
raw meat weight, use 50 lb. raw wt. for 100 people
If cooking burgers or chicken pieces or such,
allow one per person plus 1/3 more.
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1 1/2 x the amounts on the left.
Allow 15 lbs. of potato salad for every 50
people.
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Appetizers served before a buffet are OPTIONAL. This is just
to fill-in for a
time lag and to keep those people that are 'really starving'
from eating the flowers!!
If you do choose to serve an appetizer, remember there is a meal
following
immediately, you do not have to server a big variety or large amount
of appys.
A Buffet is a variable meal which can be served either cold, hot
or with a
combination of both hot and cold dishes.
The more dishes you add, the less of any one particular food you
will need, many people will take a smaller portion of each
item, many intending to 'taste' everything, others will be less likely
to try every variety of salad etc. People prefer to be able to eat
the meal with a fork, large items don't fit well onto plates (whole bone-in
chicken breasts, spareribs, large dinner rolls, etc.) so avoid those.
Dishes that people can serve themselves easily with a spoon or fork,
whether main dish,
salad or even dessert are best suited to a Buffet, use tongs to
serve a tossed salad, not two spoons, people will be unable to use them
with a plate in one hand.
A Caesar salad, (or tossed) and a potato salad, seem to be the normal
'salad staples', along with the newer pasta salads which are wonderfully
interesting, with coleslaw, fruit salads, marinated vegetable and
jellied salads working as terrific 'fill-ins'.
Special treats, like baked salmon, shrimp or seafood in a casserole,
and 'real' sliced
turkey are popular, as well as ethnic specialties that are suited
to a particular crowd.
Hot roast beef is a treat, but cold slice beef and ham are always
acceptable. Add some hot casseroles if you have the oven space, if
not add some meat or seafood
salads for a large crowd.
Desserts can be sheet cakes, cheese cakes, trifles, fruit platters,
cookies and squares. They can be cut into portions, and placed whole
(cake) allowing everyone to help themselves. Squares or 'non messy'
desserts can be cut and placed into muffin paper cups (slightly folded),
then these 'little boats' can be arranged on fancy trays (I'd hesitate
to do this for more than 50). I would also use cakes etc. that will
not take
up additional refrigeration space, although pre frozen goodies would
work well.
The larger the crowd, the simpler things should be kept, as you will
find it
a 'challenge' dealing with massive amounts of food.
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