<p>We are having a barbecue at our house tomorrow for 30 people and I am looking for advice about how much food to buy! The party is from 4 until whenever people leave. </p>
<p>For snacks, we are serving:
Veggies and homemade dip (mom is bringing and will figure out)
Pretzels (how many bags?)
Popcorn (we make this by the bucketful, there will be a lot and it will get eaten) </p>
<p>For dinner…
Hamburgers (how many?)
Hot dogs (how many?)
Potato chips (how many bags?)
Pasta salad (mom is bringing and will figure out.)</p>
<p>I want to serve pop, bottled water, and beer. How much of each? What kinds of beer? We don’t drink so we don’t know what’s popular.</p>
<p>What amount would YOU buy of each? I want to have enough without going wildly overboard.</p>
<p>I think it would be really great if you could also offer a vegetarian option, like maybe a couple of packs of Bocca burgers. It’s definitely not something you are obligated to do, but as a vegetarian, it’s always nice when there are options :)</p>
<p>I like to grill eggplant and portabello mushrooms which also provide some vegetables. But I agree Boca burgers are a great option too. I’d probably figure on 1 hot dog, 1 hamburger for each woman, and 1.5 of each for the guys. You know your crowd for beer. At our parties we tend to serve whatever sorta craft beer is on sale (Sam Adams etc.) I try to remember to get some lite beer too, even though I think it’s disgusting. Around here I can count on my guest to bring a lot of the drinks. Nearly everyone comes to parties with a six pack of beer or a bottle of wine. So I don’t buy a lot. But figure on one beer per hour for the drinkers, at a minimum. No idea on the chips - 2 or 3 bags?</p>
<p>Funny story about beer, we were recently at a pool party at a friends house - this was at least the third one we’ve been to this summer and I know all she will have is cans of Budweiser which I don’t think is worth drinking, soft drinks which I don’t drink and you have to go up to her fridge to get water, so we always bring drinks we like. When we arrived she said, “Why’d you bring drinks? I’ve got plenty” and I told her because I didn’t like her beer selection. She laughed, she’s very blunt and loves it when you are honest, but she likes the idea of having parties where people don’t feel obliged to contribute which I do understand.</p>
<p>My mom is making a portion of the pasta salad vegetarian so there’s at least something, I do have one vegetarian guest who is “making an appearance” so I wasn’t sure how far out of my way to go, I don’t know for sure she intends to stay and eat. I’ll have to give that some thought. Maybe she only said she’d just make an appearance because she assumed there’d be no food for her, now that I think about it!</p>
<p>What about some fruit or salad? You could get a water melon, grapes, strawberries. Finish it off with a chocolate cake from Costco. If you have a lot of other side dishes then I would have 1 hamburger 1 hotdog each, so 30 hamburgers and 30 hotdogs.</p>
<p>If you have a vegetarian guest, get a pack of veggie burgers. S/he will appreciate it. If you really want this guest to stay for the rest of the party, email and ask what kind of veggie they prefer. It will give them a hint that they will be fed and taken care of, too! :)</p>
<p>Great suggestion, oldfort. Watermelons are really cheap this time of the year and are perfect for BBQ parties. </p>
<p>Don’t forget the condiments and the burger fixings, too. Have a great party!</p>
<p>I agree with mathmom that you should figure at least 1 each of hamburger/hot dog. Teen boys and young adult males, figure two of each. If it’s come and go, you need less than come and stay, where people sit around for hours and hours and might go back for seconds, thirds or fourths.</p>
<p>So much, to me, depends on the ages of the guests. Most adults will not show up at a party empty-handed. They’ll bring chips or baked beans or beer or wine. Again, if it’s a bunch of younger kids, they may not be as hip to bringing something (And, if you ever invite one of my kids to your house and they show up empty handed, please let me know! They were not raised that way!)</p>
<p>IMO it’s always better to have enough hot dogs and hamburgers for people to eat more than one each. Buy at least a couple of extra packages of each and left overs will never go to waste. Eat the next day or freeze the leftovers.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree that you need vegetarian foods. One package of veggie burgers will suffice, along with a green salad and maybe a few grilled veggies like mathmom suggested. Portebello mushrooms, eggplant and my favorite: zucchini & summer squash and easily go on the grill and be eaten by anyone that wants it. Grilling some peppers & onions is also a nice touch for an extra to go on the burger.</p>
<p>Easy to make an extra pasta or other green salad totally vegetarian. I do that every year for an annual gathering where there are several vegetarians in attendance. There a million choices for easy side dish salads that can be eaten by anyone, not just vegetarians. Better to have more than just the one pasta choice.</p>
<p>I just looked at your menu again…better to add a few other choices for side dishes as I mentioned…the menu looks very basic…oldfort gave you some good suggestions…definitely add fruit…a watermelon or pineapple…strawberries…etc.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to make anything from scratch, there is always Coleslaw from a deli counter…easy to cut up a plate of baby carrots and cucumbers…pickles & tomato plate too?</p>
<p>Just better to have more choices at a gathering for 30 people besides just one pasta salad, imo.</p>
<p>This won’t help your planning - sorry - but I was surprised to read the title about having a barbeque and then see that you were serving hamburgers and hot dogs, no barbeque. Is it just me? I would call this a “cook-out.” Where are y’all from, anyway? ;)</p>
<p>One pack of Boca burgers would be four. Around here, I’d get two packs at least, if you expect 30 people. Some non-vegetarians might choose them as a healthier (or lower calorie) option.</p>
<p>Good luck. That’s a lot of people!! I hope you have a chance to actually enjoy yourself and talk, but you’ll probably be busy just taking care of the food. That’s why I hate doing big parties.</p>
<p>So I can never figure out how much food to put out, so I get way too much. But I only get things that I really like, and that I can freeze, eat pretty quickly, or put back in storage. That way if you make way too much food, who cares? At least you won’t have to throw it away. Then we generally don’t have to cook for a week.</p>
<p>Back to your original question, I would be prepared with 60 burgers/veggie burgers and 60 hotdogs. That should be more than enough. Keep them in a cooler or fridge and only take out what you need. Probably 6 bags of chips of various types. Now if you think you are going to have people just dropping in for an hour or two, you can reduce those amounts. People tend to get a second wind if they stick around and are drinking. Hopefully people will bring six packs and wine. I’d get 4 different 12-packs to start and hope people don’t come empty handed. You might have to send a non-drinker out on a beer run.</p>
<p>*
This won’t help your planning - sorry - but I was surprised to read the title about having a barbeque and then see that you were serving hamburgers and hot dogs, no barbeque. Is it just me? I would call this a “cook-out.” Where are y’all from, anyway? *</p>
<p>Probably where “Coke” means something fizzy & brown.
;)</p>
</p>