I need to make rigatoni and for 40 people. How many pounds of pasta should I use? How many jars of sauce?

Question

I need to make rigatoni for 40 people. How many pounds of dry pasta should I purchase. How much sauce would I need? Also I need to make a garden salad. How many bags of salad would I need or how many heads of lettuce would I need? I was thinking that a head of lettuce would serve 6 and a bagged salad would serve 4, so in the end the heads of lettuce would be more cost effective. What do you think?

Answer 1

In general, you can estimate that one pound of pasta will feed four adults of average appetite, assuming you’re only serving pasta. If there’s a big salad and fresh bread or the like to accompany the pasta, a pound of pasta can serve up to six people. When in doubt, it’s always better to cook a little more than you think you’ll need
The sauce is about 1/2 to 2/3 cup per person, depending on how hardy it is and what else your serving with it...
The lettuce would be less expensive than bagged...but then you will also have the extra expensive of carrots tomatoes etc etc.....and a lot more work involved in preparation....

Answer 2

10-12 pounds of dry pasta should do it. 10 lbs for 40 people works out to 4oz. dry per person, with no extra, so you'd probably be better off making a little more than that in case someone wants a second helping. For sauce, figure about 1 jar (24 to 26oz, which is pretty standard) for each pound of pasta. If this is a baked rigatoni dish, you can probably get away with using a little less than that. For the salads, it'll depend on what kind of lettuce you use. A head of ice berg (about 1 1/4 pounds) will make about 10 salads at 1 cup each. Red or green leaf lettuce comes up with about the same from a 12oz head (there's less thick stem material in the head). And a 1 pound head of Romaine is about the same. Personally, I recomend getting 5-6 heads of leaf lettuce. It looks better on the plate than ice berg (and it tastes better) and it's easier to prepare than something in a tighter head. I really hate that pre-bagged salad stuff, though. You can't tell how they processed it, and once the bag is opened it goes bad very quickly. Slice up some fresh tomatos and cucumbers for it, too (1 baseball-sized tomato should get you 8-10 wedges, enough for 4-5 salads, and an 8-inch cucumber should make about 32 slices (1/4 inch thich)- 10 or so salads). Since it's an Italian meal, tossing a couple black olives and/or some sliced fresh mushrooms on top of each salad could also be nice, and you should be able to find some pre-made crutons near the salad dressing in the grocery store. Good luck!

Answer 3

Pasta (dry) = 10 lbs
Sauce (10 oz jars) = 10 to 12
Salad = (bags) 12 to 14
(lettuce heads) = 10

Of course, bagged salad would be so much better as it can be acquired with many 'extras' - head lettuce is fairly dull for a salad, these days. And I calculated 3 salads per bag -

Answer 4

I would say 8 boxes of rigatoni would do fine. And 8 jars of sauce. To make this taste good I would add 15 oz of grated Parmesan cheese and a couple of tbsp of minced garlic.
And you are good on the lettuce.

Answer 5

10 (8 ounce) packages rigatoni pasta i would guess 7 bags of salad would be enough. not sure if head of lettuce would be cheaper way to go.

Answer 6

Rigatoni with Eggplant, Mushrooms and Goat Cheese
INGREDIENTS

* 6-3/4 (16 ounce) packages rigatoni pasta
* 1-1/4 cups olive oil
* 6-3/4 large onion, chopped
* 13-1/2 cloves garlic, sliced
* 6-3/4 (8 ounce) packages fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped
* 6-3/4 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
* 6-3/4 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes in puree
* 3-1/3 cups chicken broth
* 100 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
* 2 tablespoons and 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
* 3 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon salt
* 1-3/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
* 3-1/4 pounds goat cheese, cut into large chunks

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Saute onion and garlic until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium high. Stir in mushrooms, and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the eggplant, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, chicken broth and olives. Season with thyme, salt and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 30 minutes, or until eggplant is tender. Toss with pasta and goat cheese.

Answer 7

http://www.kitchengifts.com/sausagerigatoni.html < this reciepe will serve 6-8, so instead of one box make 5 boxes,

yeah the head of lettuce would go further, and it would cost less and taste better I think. You would probaby need 8 heads thats a lot,

Good Luck with your dinner!

Answer 8

I am making 5 pounds for the 40 people expected at my party- we also are having lots of other foods.

Answer 9

I AM MAKING SHELLS WITH MEAT SAUCE FOR 35 PEOPLE. WE WILL HAVE LOTS OF OTHER STUFF AS WELL....SAUSAGE AND PEPPERS AND ONIONS, DEVILED EGGS, PIZZA. SO HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO COOK OF EACH?