i need some info on cooking for 300 ppl i am catering my own reception?

Question

my menu is string beans, peas& carrots, baked chicken, ham, yellow rice, mac & cheese(truly southern) , and rolls. I have to feed 300 ppl. I want to average cost and how much to cook. I need to know how to do it per person.

Answer 1

vegetables 3.5 oz each times 300 = 1050 divided by 16 is 65.62 pounds so cut that in half 32.81 pounds
16.40 pounds of peas 16.40 pounds of carrots
baked chicken 6 oz times 300 = 1800 oz divided by 16 =112.5 pounds of chicken divided by 2 56.25 pounds
that would be about 160 pcs of chicken
same as the ham 56.25 pounds
don't forget about the ham they count the bone
hams would be about 5 12 pound hams
yellow rice 3.5 oz 300 = 1050 65.62 pounds
you are going to need about 27 gallons of cheese sauce for your mac & cheese
mac & cheese is the same 3.5 oz

cost
if you know anyone in the restaurant bussiness or bar bussiness ask them if you can order from them and use a whole saler.

or check out the saturday markets around you
this is really a large party you really might want to call a caterer in your town 300 x 7.95 = 2385.00 x .06=143.10tax = 2528.1

this is quit a task if you can pull this off all in the same day
that is get married and cook all this food
why not just go to vegas and get married

when i make that many pounds of green beans i use a 500 gallon steam encased tilt pot
i have two convection ovens . so i can cook the chix and the ham so they come out hot
and don't forget the mac&cheese is hot and that would take the longest to cook and that would be about 10 pans
6 inch deep regular hotel pans and you need hot cheese sauce also
VEgas
VEGas
VEGAs
VEGASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS here we come

Answer 2

If you can not afford to hire a caterer, I think that you should hire friends or acquaintances who have cooking skills to do this. I also think that you should make it easier by changing your menu to things which can be done in advance, frozen and then thawed on the day of the wedding. Baked chicken and ham would be a huge burden to do the day of the wedding. I would suggest something simple such as a buffet of breads and sandwich fixings. You have no idea how busy and how stressed you will be just being the bride at a wedding for 300 people. You need a reality check. Speak to recent brides and grooms and see if they think that this is a good idea. Good luck.

Answer 3

No offense, but that menu doesn't sound very cohesive. You would be MUCH better off by ordering the meats from the cheapest takeout you can find. Your local grocery store deli can provide you with trays of catfish and fried chicken (if you are truly southern, why not?). You can serve them out of your own chafing dishes. They can also provide you with the sides- slaw, beans, mac etc. If you choose to make your own sides to complement the takeout meats, I think you'll be better off with steamed broccoli or scalloped potatoes. Mac n Cheese gets goey and hard when left on the chafers and needs lots of attending.

OR, another option is to forgo your entire menu in favor of a cajun theme. Serve etouffee and par boiled rice (2 things you can make well in advance) and corn muffins. OR, just buy cold cut platters. Please please please, keep it simple if you are doing it yourself.

I'm a professional caterer and also a DIY bride. It was hard enough just orchestrating the HIRED servers-doing it myself would've killed the day. You really need to weigh the pros and cons here. The food is more important than many wedding costs, the flowers for instance. Don't cut your corners on the food when you can fire your florist and create your own arrangements using cheap flowers from Sam's Club or another wholesale dealer. And it's a LOT easier to recruit volunteers to create pretty flower arrangements than it is to ask your friends to slave in a hot kitchen instead of wearing their favorite dress and mingling!

My neice insisted on catering her own wedding of 300. It went off ok, but only cause the menu was SIMPLE (frozen lasagne's and basic salad with rolls. Her mom had 6 people in the kitchen helping her and didn't get to visit with family or friends at all.

Answer 4

Wow! Big undertaking for your own wedding. My advice would be to get a couple of good friends and put them in charge.

If you're having an expensive wedding (and if you are having 300 guest, you are) fork over the money and let a pro do it.

Answer 5

Oh boy! Are you buying the food yourself? Will you be getting someone to help? Check out some caterers to see if the food purchase vs them buying and you enjoying the day.

Answer 6

My Greek husband decided we could cook for his daughters wedding... It took 5 of us to handle it.. There was not one of us that got to enjoy the day... I had been up all night and was totally exhausted... NEVER AGAIN...

Trust me on this

It IS NOT WORTH THE TRIP AROUND THE BLOCK TO SAVE A FEW BUCKS or TO SERVE BETTER TASTING FOODS... lol...

This is your day... splurge and hire someone to do this exhausting job for you...
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It is your wedding day
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