BBQ Party Calculator
Tell us who is coming and how long the party runs. We work out the meat to buy raw, the cooked portion per guest, sides, buns, drinks and ice.
Raw meat to buy (kg)
3.6
- Total guests
- 14
- Cooked meat served (kg)
- 2.7
- Side dishes (kg total)
- 1.61
- Buns / bread rolls
- 19
- Drinks (all types)
- 72
- Ice (kg)
- 14.2
Cooked meat per adult is 150 / 225 / 300 g for light / average / hearty appetites (USDA FSIS host-a-cookout & National Cattlemen guides). Kids count as half an adult. Raw meat = cooked ÷ 0.75 — grilled meats lose about 25% of their weight to water and fat (USDA Handbook 102). Sides = 115 g per guest, buns = 1.5 per adult + 1 per kid, ice = 0.5 kg per guest + 0.1 kg per drink.
How to use this calculator
Enter the number of adults and kids you are catering for, then the party length. Pick an appetite band: light (sides-heavy crowd), average (the typical BBQ), or hearty (Texas-style, meat-lovers). The drinks-per-adult-per-hour slider counts every drink together — beer, wine, soft drinks, water — so 1.5 is a sensible default for a daytime garden BBQ. The headline number is the raw meat to buy at the butcher or supermarket; the breakdown shows what that cooks down to on the plate.
How the calculation works
Cooked-meat portion sizes come from the USDA FSIS and National Cattlemen host-a-cookout guides: 150 g for a light appetite, 225 g for an average one, 300 g for a hearty crowd (roughly 1/3, 1/2 and 2/3 of a pound respectively). Children are billed as half an adult — that matches the under-12 portion used in most catering guides. Raw weight is then cooked weight divided by 0.75, because USDA Handbook 102 reports that grilled and roasted meats lose about 25% of their starting weight to water and rendered fat. Sides default to 115 g (4 oz) per guest in total across all dishes (slaw, salads, beans, corn). Buns are 1.5 per adult and 1 per kid — enough for one burger and either a hot dog or a second-helping bun. Ice is 0.5 kg per guest for cooling drinks plus 0.1 kg per drink served, a rounded version of the classic 1 lb per guest + 1 lb per drink party-planner rule.
Worked example
10 adults, 4 kids, a 4-hour BBQ, an average appetite and 1.5 drinks per adult per hour. Cooked meat = 0.225 × 10 + 0.225 × 0.5 × 4 = 2.7 kg. Raw meat to buy = 2.7 ÷ 0.75 = 3.6 kg (about 8 lb). Sides total = 14 × 115 g = 1.61 kg. Buns = 1.5 × 10 + 1 × 4 = 19. Drinks = (1.5 × 4) × 10 + (1.5 × 0.5 × 4) × 4 = 60 + 12 = 72. Ice = 0.5 × 14 + 0.1 × 72 = 7 + 7.2 = 14.2 kg — about three bags of ice from the supermarket. Sanity check against the headline rule of thumb of "1/2 lb per adult plus 1/4 lb per kid": 10 × 0.5 + 4 × 0.25 = 6 lb cooked = 2.72 kg, which is what we computed for the cooked figure.
Frequently asked questions
How much meat should I buy per person for a BBQ?
Plan for 150–300 g (1/3 to 2/3 of a pound) of cooked meat per adult, and half that per child under 12. The exact figure depends on how meat-led the meal is — a sides-heavy spread with salads and corn needs less; a meat-only Texas-style cookout needs more. Whatever cooked weight you plan, buy raw weight equal to cooked ÷ 0.75, because grilled meat loses about 25% of its weight to fat and water during cooking (USDA Handbook 102).
Why does the calculator distinguish raw and cooked meat?
Because portion guides are written for the cooked plate but you buy at the butcher in raw weight. A 225 g cooked burger comes off the grill from a 300 g raw patty — the difference is rendered fat, water and juice. If you ignore the cooking loss and only buy 225 g per guest raw, you end up about 25% short on the food. The "Raw meat to buy" line is the supermarket figure; the "Cooked meat served" line is what actually lands on the plates.
What counts as a "drink" in the per-hour input?
Everything you would hand a guest: beer, wine, cocktails, soft drinks, lemonade, water. 1.5 drinks per adult per hour is a sensible default for a daytime garden BBQ in warm weather. Drop to 1 if alcohol is limited or the day is cool; push to 2 for a longer evening event or a heatwave. Kids are billed as half an adult, which matches the typical soft-drink consumption of an under-12 over a 3–4 hour party.
How much ice do I really need?
About 0.5 kg of ice per guest plus another 0.1 kg per drink chilled. That comes from the classic party-planner rule of 1 lb per guest plus 1 lb per drink — the calculator rounds to metric. A 14-guest, 70-drink BBQ ends up at roughly 14 kg of ice, which is three standard 5 kg supermarket bags. Buy at the last possible moment, keep half in a chest freezer until guests arrive, and split the other half between drink coolers and a food-safety cooler for the raw meat.
Do these portions assume burgers and hot dogs, or low-and-slow BBQ?
The meat portions are by weight, so they apply to either format — 225 g of cooked brisket and 225 g of cooked burgers feed the same guest. The "1.5 buns per adult" line assumes a burger-and-hot-dog spread; for ribs, brisket or pulled pork on rolls, set buns to 1 per adult and add bread on the side. The sides figure (115 g per guest) is constant either way.
How should I scale up for a big party?
The math scales linearly in guests, so the per-person figures stay the same at 20 guests or 100. The thing that does not scale linearly is grill capacity — a standard 22-inch kettle cooks about 1.5 kg of meat per cycle, so for parties over 25 people plan two grills or a long pre-cook with reheating in a low oven. For 50+ guests, also split drinks into two coolers so guests are not crowded around one cooler.