How Much Meat Per Person? A Meat Measurement Guide for an Event

Whenever we plan to conduct an event, the first thing we think about is the food. Nowadays, any party menu seems dull and boring without the presence of meat in it. That is why, before planning any occasion, we need to fix the menu and the amount of meat we would need for that.

People have different kinds of tastes when it comes to consuming meat. There are several kinds of meat that are available in the market. We should be mindful of the number of people coming to the party and their meat preference.

And according to that requirement, we need to decide the amount of meat. If we are successful in getting everyone's preference, we can conclude as to how much meat we should get for a person.

Along with choosing the kind of meat we are going to serve; we have to decide the perfect appliance to cook them. Now, let us see how much meat per person can take in before stuffing themselves.

How Much Meat Per Person?

Organize the Menu

If you are not sure of the dishes that you are going to serve in the event, then it will be difficult to measure the amount of meat you will need there.

The important thing is that you need to know what amount of meat will be required at which dish. Furthermore, you also need to know about the course of the meal you are going to serve.

It's better if you get the knowledge of the appetite of the guests that are going to arrive, thus helps you to choose the type and amount of the meat required in the event.

Preference of Meat in the Menu

After you are done with organizing the list, you need to figure out the role of meat in there. One needs to know the fact that if the meat is being served only as a side dish or a main course, as a salad or a border part of the main course.

Some things that can describe the role of the meat are:

Difficulties While Taking Measurements

You must keep the fact in your mind that most of the time, meats yield, or we can say shrinks after they are cooked properly. Because of this fact, many times, we don't get the desired size of the food that we plan to have. That's why while measuring the meat, we need to know which kind of flesh yields how much.

Amount of Yielding of Some Category of Meats 

Types of Meat and Their Measurement

Different meat has different sizes, and they all have their own amount of yielding and shrinking. That's the reason when we plan an event and want to know the exact amount of the products that we are going to buy; we need to see the variation.

• How Much Pulled Pork Per Person?

When it comes to pork, they can be purchased either with bone out or in. The difficulty here is that, when we plan on buying the bone-in pork, we lose a chunk of it due to different aspects.

Most of the time, an amount of 35%-50% of the total portion is bones and fat that gets clipped away or otherwise melts during cooking because of the heat.

Usually, from eight pounds of pork, you can get four and a half pounds of meat. However, with that, you can feed about ten to fifteen people depending on the side dishes and the appetizers that you would keep on the menu. Your plan should be on serving about one-third lbs per person for the plates.

• How Much Beef Brisket Per Person?

Beef briskets like pork come with a lot of fat. This type of meats has a yielding of 50%, which means if you plan to make 6 pounds brisket, you will have purchase a one that is 12-pounds.

A cynical part of this type of meat is that you may lose a good portion up to 15% weight from trimming a brisket before you can even start cooking it!

• How Much Chicken Per Person?

When we plan to keep chicken in our menu, it becomes easy for us to measure the amount of it. We can easily anticipate the measurement by counting the pieces of the chicken instead of weighing them.

The thing about boneless chicken is that they come in different sizes. However, in the case of bulk meat, we can figure it out by weighing, which is much more comfortable in this scenario.

Instead of only serving chicken, if you plan to keep some other side dishes, then only 1/5 pieces of chicken for an individual will be sufficient for the menu. But if you plan to serve otherwise, then serving 1/4 of a chicken or two pieces per person will be more than enough.

It's better to organize 6 ounces of thigh meat on the menu. The reason behind it is that most of the time, because of the yielding, it shrinks.

A fact about cooked chicken is that the yielding of this particular meat is 70%. Because of this fact, it's necessary for you to purchase a half-pound of thigh meat for one person so that the yielding of the flesh doesn't matter that much.

• How Much Steak Per Person?

If you choose steak as the main course on the menu, you must have the knowledge of different types of steaks.

The porterhouse and T-bones steak are the most appropriate for any party. You can also use rib eyes that have more fat in them, which increases the taste. The feature of these steaks is that they yield less than other steaks.

A little piece of advice, if you are planning on trimming the steaks by yourself, the yield will be lesser than average. The general shrinking of standard steaks are given here:

The best option while using steak is that you should use the ones that have a 70% yield rate and 12 grains, as it would be quite a cost-effective option.

• How Many Pounds of Ribs Per Person?

When it comes to rib roasts, they have about 30% bones and fat in them. Thus, if you plan a generous meal, which is around 12-ounces, you should buy 15 to 16 ounces of meat for one person.

For example, if we have around ten people in the party, we should start the measurement with a 10-pound roast minimum. Another fact is that we can get about 6 to 7 ribs in total in a half rack.

So, if we are planning an extensive buffet along with side dishes and also some other meats, we can keep a maximum of three ribs for a guy even if we have heavy eaters in the event.

The baby ribs and spare ones are quite different from each other. When we consider keeping a stack of baby ribs on the menu, we can be assured of the fact that this particular section of meat has more than ten ribs that are more a few inches long. Moreover, they do not weight a lot, either.

On the downside, we can only feed two people with this portion of meat. The same thing doesn't happen when it comes to the spare rib racks. They are larger, fatter, and comes with larger bones.

The weight of them is at least two and a half pounds or might be more, and we can feed up three to four people by this amount of meat.

• How Much Beef Tenderloin Per Person?

When it comes to cooking tenderloin steaks or filets, we should keep this in our mind that they are prone to shrink less and do not come with a lot of fat.

We may lose a maximum of 10% of the meat in the process of their cooking. That's why if we are planning on serving a 12-ounce of beef, we will have to get ourselves one of the 13-ounces.

Things That Should be Considered

The measurement of meat differs by age, weight, and also the health of the people who are attending the event. When we organize an event, it is better if we calculate the slandered portion, which is for adults.

It's a better option cause if some of the guests are kids, we can cut the meat according to their preference. If some of them are aged, we can serve the beef according to their requirements. And if they are teenagers, we can also bump it up for them.

Things We Need to Consider Are:

Meat Is Best to Serve When Cooked

If you use this method to calculate the portion of meat for an event, then you probably won't face any difficulty. Also, if meat is the starter course of your menu, then you must decrease the portion down to half to one-fourth of the actual meal.

We can't predict the number of meat people is going to consume. Some may eat very little, some may avoid the meat, and some may eat them like animals.

Conclusion: Nevertheless, now you have an idea of how much meat per person can eat in an event. Now with the help of this method, plan your next party, and we hope that it will be nothing but a success.