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?

Just did a big barbecue for 14 adults inc. one vegan plus 2 kids. I did:

• 24 bought falafels that I precooked and then reheated on the barbecue, making sure vegan got first dibs, meat eaters had some as well, with hummus and aubergine dip on the side
• 20 big butchers sausages of different kinds, cut in half so they went a bit further; precooked in oven and heated up on the barbecue
• large bowl of pulled pork made from rolled pork neck, slow cooked in oven the day before and then smoked on the barbecue and pulled before everyone arrived
• 3 racks of spare ribs slow-cooked along side the pulled pork in the oven and smoked on the barbecue when people arrived
• Loads of buns of different kinds - seeded/plain/hotdog, etc.
• Home-made vegan potato salad for everyone and nobody noticed it was any different from the non-vegan kind.
• Home-made coleslaw, vegan and non-vegan.
• Big bowl of green salad
• chips and dips

People brought additional meat to grill but we never cooked any of it as had more than enough with the stuff I'd prepared. Pulled pork was the only thing to run out, everything else had some leftovers.

So maybe you could switch the gammon to a pulled pork? It always goes down a storm and fits well with the trimmings/sides you are planning.

Hot dogs. Less cooking time was my thinking.

A few people have said the gammon is strange but I don’t think cold sliced ham goes badly with salad and coleslaw in the garden.

I'd go more burgers/hot dogs, but go for more hot dogs overall if that's what you would use yourself if it's not needed.

In our house I'm the only one who would have any chicken, dd's and DP wouldn't have any (not keen on chicken on the bone as are a few colleagues so not unusual). Dp would probably two burgers two hot dogs and not many of the sides.

I think a gammon is a lovely idea not everyone likes barbecued food but they could make themselves a nice ham salad. Think I will get a gammon joint next time I am out!

We do a lot of big bbq, my DH loves to cook although I don’t eat a lot of meat.
Things we’re always left with is sausages and chicken legs, chicken thighs and burgers always go.
I do garlic bread, a Greek salad, normal salad and mixed bean salad as well as veggie kebabs.
Burgers seem to be everyone’s go to here, with proper cheese slices and salad.
For lunch today I had cold bbq chicken thigh with salad from our party at the weekend. We catered for 30 and only a couple of chicken pieces left.
perhaps it’s the amount of children attending that make the difference? Ours and everyone else’s kids wanted cheese burgers with ketchup 😂

If someone wants two burgers and no hot dogs, someone else will likely want two hotdogs and no burgers? I was thinking that it would balance out.

I love cold chicken drumsticks. I would be reluctant to put drumsticks on a barbecue for a couple of minutes. If they’re not reheated properly they’ll be dangerous. Also it is a barbecue, but I don’t want to spend the day stuck to the barbecue. I want to socialise with people, so I’m trying to do it a bit buffet style with the barbecued hotdogs and burgers as a nod to it being a barbecue.

The potato salad isn’t mayo based and it is vegan - it’s olive oil, garlic, and lemon. The second salad will also be vegan because there’s a vegan guest. I could change the Caesar to caprese though, that’s a good idea. I’ll get some crusty bread with butter too.

I did think about pulled pork but decided on the gammon because I don’t like pulled pork and love gammon. I’m not keen on burgers or hotdogs either so thought it was a bit of a treat to myself, but maybe I should reconsider.

Oh just seen it is hot dogs and not sausages. You need double the amount of hot dogs to sausages. Hot dogs are not as filling as a sausage even the long hot dogs.

Definitely not enough food. I would do at least 40 burgers and 40 sausages, as well as a pasta salad and probably corn on the cob and some mushrooms too

I am another one who would lose the gammon and do extra hotdogs and burgers. The reason I would do that is everything else can be eaten standing and with fork. For the gammon are people going to need to seat to eat it as it will need to be cut in bite size pieces.

I think it's enouugh meat in total but personally if I'm going to a barbecue I want the meat to taste freshly barbecued, so I'd be swerving the gammon and cold drumsticks (not a fan of drumsticks in general tbh - thighs are better) and trying to score extra burgers and sausages.

80 hot dogs and burgers would be a total waste though. 16 people aren’t going to eat two burgers and two sausages.

Good point, although the potatoes and salad would red cutlery too. I’m minded to swap the gammon with pulled pork.

One thing to consider, with the gammon, is people might want to make a sandwich / cob / bun out of it so perhaps have a few extra baps they can use.

I don't think it's odd doing cold cuts to go on the buffet table. It's very easy for people to pick up / pick at, which is always good when you have people standing around to eat. You might find it's not as popular as some things, you might find it's the most popular meat! Very difficult to tell.

Seems there's mixed feedback on the chicken drumsticks - personally, I find them a lot of effort / mess (to eat) for very little reward. Skin on, bone in thighs or chicken wings are preferable. Even better still, chicken kebabs.

You said there were 28 people not 16. I would always over cater for a party that size as people tend to snack and not all the food is ready at once. I would be mortified if I didn’t do enough food. You don’t have to cook it all. Just have it in case you need to cook more. In any case you asked and that is my answer and opinion

Id say thats under catering by some distance. Alot would expect more than 1 burger and 1 sausage each. Id be looking at leasr 35 of each. Also id double the drumsticks.

One burger and one hot dog is not really alot for an adult at a BBQ. I wouldn't be touching the chicken or Gammon so would defo want maybe 2 burgers. When I do a BBQ for 8-10ppl I usually do 12 burgers/16 sausages/8 thin steaks/8 pork chops or belly pork slices and 8 kebabs of some sort. Then I do a salad a pasta salad, potato salad and coleslaw, crisps and dips, bread sticks, corn on the cob and jacket potatoes. The thing is not everyone is going to want one of everything some might have 3 hot dogs and a slice of gammon, or 3 burgers and a chicken thing so just allowing one per person isn't going to work

Are they?? 😂 it hasn’t hit where I live yet then. If I put a salmon fillet on the bbq my friends would think I had been replaced by Hyacinth Bucket.

More sausages, burger amount is fine. I'd also swap chicken drumsticks for kebabs, way more popular.
Also add a non creamy salad such as Greek.

There is 24, so if everyone had one each that would leave 16 people who would have to eat four burgers/hotdogs. It is far too much and would never be eaten. I’m not keen on them either so they’d end up being binned.

I would be mortified if I ran out of food too but 80 burgers and hot dogs would just never be eaten.

Wouldn’t people want some corn on the cob and veggie skewers? That’s a lot of meat, 5 servings per person. Fibre is needed!

But similarly some people won’t have a burger or a hot dog, or any chicken or gammon? I thought it would all balance out. I will get a few more burgers and hot dogs but I don’t think they’ll be eaten.

There will be two salads, potatoes and coleslaw too. The barbecue isn’t massive and it’ll take some time to cook all the burgers and hot dogs so I was trying to avoid loading more on it.

I always do 1.5x burgers and sausages for the number of people. If there’s more men then I do more as they eat loads of burgers (at least in my family they do!). I cook chicken thighs in the oven beforehand. I find whatever’s out hot first people go to town on and then the later things not so much as they are too full.
We do half a big chicken skewer per person (we take it off the stick and put it on a platter) half a lamb skewer per person, jacket potato’s and sweet potato’s all done in the oven then loads of salad/ picky bits. Someone always brings dessert.
We end up with leftovers but we have them the next day for lunch with rice. There’s never any burgers left.

Can you buy fresh burgers and sausages and keep them in a cool bag? Just cooked enough for one of each per person, then ask if anyone wants another before cooking more.