Is this enough food for a barbecue?

[Theresip]

I’m having a barbecue for 24 people on Saturday. I haven’t hosted for this many before so can I check with those if you who are more experienced whether this is the right amount of food?

On the barbecue:

24 burgers
24 hot dogs

Prepared in advance and served cold:

50 buns
A large gammon joint
15 barbecue chicken drumsticks
15 plain drumsticks
A potato salad with lemon and garlic
Homemade coleslaw
A Caesar salad
Another type of vegan salad

Then for people arriving I’ll have a cheeseboard, crisps, dips, and sweets out.

Is it enough? Should I add a pasta salad?

I’m not sure people will see it as “one of each is plenty” unless you say you’ve rationed for one each of everything.
You’re right- it is plenty but if a few people have two hotdogs (my fave at a bbq) there won’t be one each.
But yes, in terms of total food volume it’s definitely plenty if you’re happy for people to not necessarily have what they fancy (which again isn’t the end of the world when theres lots of food generally).

Sorry, but there is absolutely no way on earth that people are going to eat two burgers and two hot dogs each, plus the sides. It would be a total waste.

I would also have more than one chicken but I wouldn’t have a burger and probably wouldn’t have a sausage. I thought it would all balance out.

I didn’t notice the gammon. But gammon is a strange choice. I’d double up on sausages.

Maybe not double up then perhaps 34 and 34 ?

That's plenty. People are not going to eat 2 burgers and 2 hot dogs as well as the other meat.

Are people really going to eat two burgers and two hot dogs each? Plus the sides? I don’t mind buying it but I would hate to see loads thrown away.

I always overcook so this should be enough

Ideas for your vegan guest (and everyone) corn on the cob, pasta salad, garlic bread, wedges are all options.

I would expect that, but I thought it would balance out? I’d have a couple of drumsticks and gammon slices but wouldn’t have a burger or sausages, whereas someone else might want two burgers but wouldn’t fancy the chicken?

No I do understand that not everyone will have one thing each, but expected it to balance out where people have two of what they like but someone else doesn’t want one.

Cold chicken drumsticks seem really unappealing, are they popular?

I love gammon. I wanted some cold meats because I don’t want people waiting forever for the barbecued meats if that’s all there was.

It's quite normal to eat cold chicken.

Chicken drumsticks are a buffet food staple. Delicious hot and cold. You are missing out.

Cool.
Cold meat with a bone in it just doesn't seem pleasant.

I would probably do a couple of large trays of marinated chicken thigh fillets and stick them in the oven to roast for 30 mins, serve hot so people can have with salad or as a chicken burger (rather than the drumsticks).

You'd be surprised, especially when alcohol is involved. People tend to go for seconds and thirds. The meats get destroyed.

We usually do nibbly bits on the BBQ for people to pick at, to start with (different types of sausages cut up, pork belly, mackerel etc). People then manage a full meal after that.

I think, for a lot of people, they eat a lot more at a BBQ than they usually would if they were sitting down to a meal. It's very difficult to cater for that many people without having food left over - if it all goes, how do you know someone didn't go hungry? I've been to a party before where that happened (the host commented "I did the perfect amount of food - everything has gone!" but she was completely oblivious to the fact a few of us hadn't actually eaten a dime - it ran out before we got there). There's also the question of do you want enough food for everyone so they're not hungry or enough food so people can have what they want?

In my experience, the green salads don't tend to go down anywhere near as quickly as the meats and things that are easier to eat with fingers / while standing up (e.g. garlic bread, wedges etc).

Have you never been to a buffet? Or to a supermarket where they sell lots of cold chicken wings and drumsticks ready to eat?

Plenty of food sounds lovely can I come! People need to look at the food and roughly how many people there are and eat appropriately.

Thank you. I really don’t want to use the oven - I find it stressful having to watch the oven and the barbecue.

Yes totally fair enough. Hosting can feel stressful/busy enough and you’re defo providing plenty of options.

I am a terrible over-caterer and always end up having so much left over. I would hate to run out but also don’t want to end up throwing loads away.

We had similar numbers over a couple weeks ago: scrap the gammon and def buy more burgers. At about 8pm everyone suddenly got a 2nd wind and wanted another burger and the lot went!

I would not be expecting cold meat at a bbq, this seems odd to me. Definitely more salads required

I get that, I would maybe invest in some takeaway containers so in the event you do have left over food, you can make up some goody bags. I bet your guests would love that. Always a worry about over/under catering, I do think people don’t always consider others and when in a nice environment chatting away, it’s easy not to realise you have nibbled away at 2 burgers and a couple of cold sausages.

It's difficult trying to strike that balance.

I've taken to cutting up and marinading chicken thighs, then threading them onto metal skewers (people pull off what they want from the skewer) because the leftovers can be used in salads, with veg and rice, in a pita or just frozen down into portions for future use.

I've BBQ'd for 70 people before and just tried to think about what would still be usable if leftover. Things like green salad, potato salad etc don't keep. Wedges and garlic bread don't, either, but at least they're cheap and easy. Pasta salads can be frozen down or used as a side for a few days after.

We frequently host, there's always food left over (because I over cater), but rarely does anything ever actually go to waste.