I'm planning a reception for 350 people. I have my appetizer list and just need help to figure out how much to buy for each item I have to prepare.
I'm wanting to do meatballs and mini pulled pork sub sandwiches. I have 5 other appetizers for my evening. Also due to the number of people and it being an over 4 hour event I want to have a variety of options for my guests. I will have mini rolls by the pulled pork obviously, but I'll also have the meatballs there too in case they want to do a mini meatball sub. So with all this how many meatballs should I prepare and how many pounds of pulled pork? For the meatballs I am truly thinking of just getting frozen ones because it would be so much less work for me the day of my reception, but the quantity of these with how many people I have invited is where I'm stuck.
Help please? lol
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Most recipes call for maybe slightly less than 2 oz. of cooked meat per appetizer. Most pork butts average 10 pounds with 50% reduction so you are looking at approximately 40-45 appetizers per one 10 pound pork butt.
Most of the cooked or ready to cook meatballs are fairly large but they do have some mini size so you may have to look at the serving amounts listed on the product. Sam's club has appetizer size meatballs in 6 pound bag and with 5 meatballs per person has listed 31 servings per bag (155 meatballs).
Since no one knows what other type or amount of appetizers will be served I believe you will have to take some of these figures and decide how many of each you will need.
Guests usually eat 5 appetizers the first hour and 3 for each subsequent hour. There is a calculator here: calculate-this.com/
You will need about 1 pound of pork per person.It is better to have more then not enough. About 4 ounces of meat per person for meat balls.Make 2 ounce meat balls that's 700 meatballs.Since you have other appetizers some people will eat less some more.
Kudos to you for catering your own wedding. I'm attaching a link with some very helpful information on this very subject. It has some very helpful tips on several aspects. Most importantly though, you will need to have your calculator, and a notebook and pen handy as you figure. The information enclosed in the link will help you determine just how much you will need. Also I would encourage you to do just as you suggested you might and get ready made meatballs if that is for sure what you will be serving unless you or your fiance's family will have time to make and prepare such.
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