Is this enough food for a barbecue?

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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?

Ive just had a cold chicken drumstick and a bit of left over salad for lunch . Was delicious.

I always find people tend to eat more than they usually would at BBQs. Me especially.

I would agree with PPs that it would be useful to have extra that can either be cooked or go in the fridge / freezer. If you don't mind over catering, then why not get some take away boxes so you can give guests some to take home if they'd like to, either for themselves or hungry teenagers if they have any?

I would eat 2 sausages not 2 burgers tbf. Would you use up your gammon during the week if it wasn't all used maybe stick to your original plan, then you won't have surplus burgers

Did they just eat them cold? People won’t be arriving till 4pm so I was only planning on lighting the barbecue once.

The cold meat is because the barbecue isn’t huge so it’ll take a while to do 24 burgers and hot dogs.

More than two salads? I suspect those two won’t be eaten.

Cook your sausages and burgers in the oven then put them on the bbq to finish off then will be ready quicker.

I would double the burgers and add more sausages, no one ever eats just one burger or one sausage
I wouldn’t go to the trouble of cooking a gammon, I would put more chicken pieces on.

Yes, I would eat the gammon definitely. I wouldn’t have the burgers.

Oooooh another one that is always an absolute hit and shows up at most of our family and friends BBQs is a taco salad...

Large plate / dish, cover the base with soured cream, scatter over mince beef cooked in taco seasoning, layer lettuce and spring onion on top, then cover with grated cheese. You'll need a couple of bags of nachos for people to scoop it up with but it's delicious and means people can eat something substantive before all the meat on the BBQ is done.

This sounds amazing!

Maybe more sausages if you will eat them and do your gammon.

There's a lot of other meat though! Not everyone will want a burger anyway.
I think there is plenty of meat. Probably too much
If I was attending though I would like more choices of salad. So maybe also a tomato salad and maybe a pasta and/or rice/quinoa salad.

From that list I would eat the gammon and some salad. No burgers, sausages or chicken

Baked potatoes are always a good filler. Bags of grated cheese and coleslaw. My friend took the baked potatoes that were left and froze them. I've never frozen them but apparently they re heat well

It is and you can make it in advance. We got through a whole dish between six of us and then went on to have a full BBQ 😬 It's so, so moreish.

Another thing to consider is how boozy and event it is likely to be / how long people will stick around. The easy to eat meats (burgers, sausages, kebabs, chicken, pork belly etc) will get nibbled on, cold, later in the evening when everyone is drunk. I wouldn't worry about having enough bread to go with every burger and sausage, I hasten to add. I find people will start with a proper burger or hot dog, then just go back for the meat.

Are you doing fried onions? In my experience, they always disappear! As does "plastic" (square) cheese.

I’d get some garlic flatbreads and bung them on first, serve with dips.

Another thing I do, is to pre cook some baby new potatoes, then skewer them and cover in olive oil and crushed garlic. They only need a couple of minutes and you can either leave them on the skewers or thread them off into a help yourself bowl.

Definitely half corn on the cobs, you can pre cook these as well then just flavour them up for a few minutes.

I don’t eat chicken on the bone and nor do a lot of my friends and family, so we wouldn’t eat that.

I was going to get proper cheese slices. I could fry onion in advance but it would have to be served cold.

Watermelon, feta and mint is another good salad. Lovely and summery and good for veggies.

I’ve been slow cooking onion, then reheating last minute on the hob. You can reheat in foil trays too tho. It’s a bit faffy, but worth it.

Would you pre cook them then let them go cold before putting on the barbecue? I really don’t want my oven on at the same time as the barbecue.

I’m expecting not everyone to eat everything.

A favourite of mine!

Do them in your slow cooker if you have one and keep them on warm till it’s time to serve up.

Yeah I do. I get a bit flappy last minute, so I like to be as cool and prepared as possible! I boil them as usual with mint, drain them off and let them cool a bit. Then thread onto the skewers, put them on a baking tray and pour over the oil, add crushed garlic, salt, pepper and chilli flakes. Then just cover with foil until you’re ready to put them on. I store mine in my cold oven just to deter flies. It’s so easy, but people are usually quite impressed (and it’s a good inexpensive filler!)

Corn on the cobs, exactly the same without the garlic and chilli. I buy the half ones with little skewers already in too.

If you do the flatbreads, they burn really really quickly so literally flip them and serve. Adding to clarify, I don’t pre cook them - straight from the fridge.

Are they hot dogs or sausages?
(I would much prefer them to be sausages!)
Hot dogs are about twice the size though, I would definitely allow 2 sausages per head.
I wouldn't eat the gammon, it's a odd extra to me.

24 burgers
24 hot dogs
50 buns
I'd add a bit more. If some accidentally burn or fall on the grass, or someone wants to eat an extra burger instead of a hotdog, it's nice to have a few extras. It feels a bit stingy to account for one burger and hotdog to EXACTLY the amount of people that are coming.

A large gammon joint
I'm not sure that screams "barbecue" to me...

Prepared in advance and served cold:
15 barbecue chicken drumsticks
15 plain drumsticks
In my opinion, there's nothing worse than cold chicken with skin on. You can prepare them in advance, but then at least throw them on the barbecue for a couple of minutes on each side so they get nice and hot, and that charred flavour. It is a barbecue party you're having after all, right?

I think the amount of chicken drumsticks is fine, though.

A potato salad with lemon and garlic
Homemade coleslaw
A Caesar salad
I do't like this salad selection at all. All of them are mayo based and heavy. As someone who hates mayo, I wouldn't be able to have any salad at all then.
I also think Caesar salad is redundant, and doesn't really strike me as a typical barbecue salad, so I would probably not choose to serve that. I would do:

• ONE mayo-based salad (either potato salad or coleslaw)
• A Caprese salad (Mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil) or Greek salad
• Something fresh, like Tabbouleh or Fattoush

I would also add a dip, like tzatziki, hummus or baba ghanouch.

Another type of vegan salad
Why? Are any vegans coming? If so, yes, do add a vegan salad as they wouldn't be able to eat the mayo-based salads.

Then for people arriving I’ll have a cheeseboard, crisps, dips, and sweets out.
That's a good idea. I'd also add crudités and olives (unless they are already part of the cheeseboard).

Is it enough? Should I add a pasta salad?
I don't think you need to add another salad. But I'd probably add some bread (not just buns), roasted vegetables/vegetable skewers and corn on the cobb.

Stealing your potatoes. They sound awesome. Thanks for the idea.