How Much Food Should You Make For A Cookout?

Regardless of whether you're setting up a self-service burger bar at your cookout or choosing to make them yourself one by one, the conversation about how much food to serve at a cookout remains the same. While every individual's diet and appetite are unique, on average each adult at a cookout will eat 1 pound of food. Keep in mind, this average is split between appetizers and the main course. For the starter, six small hors d'oeuvres per person should keep you from running out without wasting much food. Alternatively, if you're opting for a simpler snack before the main entree, one pint of dip with chips per every 10 guests will work nicely. 

When we're talking about cookouts, chances are we're talking about meat, fish, or meatless veggie steaks. Prepare at least 6 ounces of protein for each guest (roughly two hot dogs or one burger) for an ideal lower limit for a cookout. Dishes that include bones, like ribs or brisket, call for slightly larger portion sizes (between 12 and 16 ounces).

As far as drinks are concerned, having a variety is ideal, but it's not frowned upon to stick to one or two kinds of alcohol. In most cases, be prepared for each guest to consume about two drinks per hour, though what kind of drink depends on the audience and its size. Having cocktails prepared — like mimosas, which call for one bottle of champagne for every eight glasses — can be nice for a smaller gathering, but buying five six-packs of beer for every 10 people could be the easiest method for bigger crowds. Seeing as cookouts are usually done outside in the hot weather, having extra water and juice readily available to help refresh your guests is always a great idea as well. 

Beyond that, a small semantic that might come up pertains to serving sizes for children. Kids will eat and drink about half of what adults do. You shouldn't necessarily plan on serving half a burger to each child in attendance, but you can usually get by with making less food at cookouts if more of the attendees will be children. Dessert isn't typically seen as the most important part of a cookout, but having a platter of cookies or brownies with the expectation that each guest will eat one or two could turn a good get-together into a great one.