Meat Per Person Calculator

How the calculation works

The calculator plans a cooked, ready-to-eat portion for every guest, then works back to the raw weight you buy.

• Guests: adults + children × ½ = adult portions.
• Portion: cooked meat per adult × the appetite factor (0.75 light, 1 normal, 1.5 hearty).
• Cooked meat to serve: adult portions × portion × (1 + extra %).
• Several meats: the cooked meat is split between them by their shares (equal unless you change them).
• Raw meat to buy: cooked amount ÷ yield. The yield is the cooked, ready-to-serve meat you get from 1 lb (or 1 kg) as bought, so bone, trimmed fat and cooking loss are already taken out.
• Burgers, hot dogs and links: raw weight ÷ the weight of one piece, rounded up, and pieces ÷ pack size, rounded up.

Worked example

20 adults and 5 children make 20 + 5 × ½ = 22.5 adult portions. At a normal appetite of 4 oz of cooked meat each, that is 22.5 × 4 = 90 oz. Adding 10% extra gives 99 oz (6.19 lb) of cooked meat. Brisket and pulled pork in equal shares means 49.5 oz (3.09 lb) of each, cooked.

• Brisket yields 0.46, so buy 49.5 ÷ 0.46 = 107.6 oz = 6.73 lb of raw boneless brisket.
• Bone-in pork shoulder yields 0.52, so buy 49.5 ÷ 0.52 = 95.19 oz = 5.95 lb of raw Boston butt.
• Altogether that is 12.68 lb of raw meat: 4 oz cooked for each adult and 2 oz for each child, plus the 10% extra.

In metric units the default portion is 113 g. The same party needs 22.5 × 113 g = 2,542.5 g, plus 10% = 2,796.75 g, so 1,398.4 g of each meat cooked: 3.04 kg of raw brisket and 2.69 kg of raw pork shoulder, 5.73 kg in all.

Where the portion sizes come from

Two posts from Iowa State University Extension's AnswerLine give quantity tables. The holiday-meal table, based on a University of Tennessee Extension publication, gives 2 to 3 oz of the main protein per adult and half that for a child, and says to buy 1/4 to 1/3 lb of boneless meat, 1/3 to 1/2 lb of bone-in meat, or 3/4 to 1 lb of bony meat (such as spareribs and poultry) or turkey per serving. The graduation-party table suggests 3 to 4 oz of meat per sandwich, about 1.5 sandwiches per guest, and 20 to 25 lb of raw meat for sandwiches for 50 guests.

Neither post says whether its ounces are cooked or raw. The calculator reads the serving sizes as cooked, ready-to-eat meat, because both posts give separate, larger raw amounts to buy for the same servings. As a check, 4 oz of cooked pulled pork for each of 50 guests works out to 20.8 to 24 lb of raw pork shoulder with the Food Buying Guide yields, inside Iowa State's 20 to 25 lb. The graduation table also lists 6 to 8 oz of protein per guest; that matches its raw pounds (20 to 25 lb for 50 guests is 6.4 to 8 oz each), so it looks like a raw weight, and the calculator does not use it.

The normal portion of 4 oz is the top of the sandwich range. Light (× 0.75) gives 3 oz, the top of the holiday-meal range, and hearty (× 1.5) gives 6 oz, one and a half 4 oz sandwiches. The three multipliers are our own rule of thumb, not numbers from the sources. Children always get half an adult portion, as in the Iowa State holiday table.

Because the calculator uses Food Buying Guide yields rather than Iowa State's buying amounts, the two do not always agree. At the normal 4 oz, before any extra, it plans 0.54 lb of raw brisket per adult (more than Iowa State's 1/4 to 1/3 lb of boneless meat), 0.48 lb of bone-in pork shoulder (inside its 1/3 to 1/2 lb), and 0.64 lb of spareribs or 0.52 lb of whole turkey (less than its 3/4 to 1 lb). If you are serving ribs or turkey and want amounts in Iowa State's range, choose Hearty: it gives 0.96 lb of spareribs or 0.78 lb of turkey per adult.

SDSU Extension points out that the right amount depends on who you are feeding, what else is on the table, when you eat and whether you want leftovers. Hungry teenagers, or a meal where the meat is the star, point to the hearty setting. A big spread of sides, or guests who have been snacking all afternoon, may need only the light one.

Where the yields come from

The yields come from the USDA Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs, which helps school and other program kitchens buy the right amount of food. Its meat table gives the cooked, ready-to-serve meat you get from 1 lb as purchased. For meat that means lean meat without bone; for poultry it includes the skin unless the entry says otherwise. The guide notes that yields vary with the type, age, fat content and weight of the animal and with the cooking method, time and temperature, so its figures are averages.

Because beef and pork yields count lean meat only, the raw amounts for brisket, pork shoulder and ribs lean to the generous side if you also serve some of the fat. Hot dogs and fully cooked ham are already cooked, and the guide's servings add up to the whole pound you buy (eight 2 oz franks per pound; 13.10 servings of 1.22 oz of ham), so their yield is 1.00. The guide's table also lists 0.82 for water-added ham, but that figure credits the ham's meat protein toward school-meal rules; it is not weight lost, so the calculator does not use it.

We did not use the USDA Agricultural Research Service's Table of Cooking Yields for this. Its yield is the weight of the whole piece after cooking divided by its weight before, so bone and fat still count, which would overstate how much you can serve from a bone-in cut.

There is no bone-in ham in the list because the Food Buying Guide gives yields only for boneless cured hams, and we would rather leave a meat out than guess. For a bone-in ham, SDSU Extension suggests 1/3 to 1/2 lb per person, against 1/4 to 1/3 lb for boneless. At the normal 4 oz portion this calculator asks for 0.25 lb of boneless ham per adult before the extra, the low end of SDSU's range.

Serving several meats

When you serve more than one meat, the calculator assumes each guest takes some of each, so the total amount of meat per guest stays the same and each meat gets a smaller part of it. With brisket and pulled pork in equal shares, each adult is planned 2 oz of each at a normal appetite. If you expect one meat to be more popular, give it a bigger share: brisket at 2 and pork at 1 makes two-thirds of the cooked meat brisket. If you think guests will take a full portion of every meat, choose Hearty or raise the portion instead.

Cooking and serving safely

• Use a food thermometer. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) minimums are 145°F, then a rest of at least 3 minutes, for beef and pork steaks, chops and roasts (its pork chart lists Boston butt and ribs at 145°F too), 160°F for raw ground beef and pork such as burgers and fresh sausage, and 165°F for all poultry.
• Hot dogs are already cooked; FSIS says to reheat them to 165°F or until steaming hot. Reheat a fully cooked ham packaged in a USDA-inspected plant to 140°F, and any other cooked ham to 165°F.
• If you smoke the meat, FSIS advises keeping the smoker at 250 to 300°F for safety.
• Keep cooked meat at 140°F or hotter until it is served: to the side of the grill, in an oven at about 200°F, or in a chafing dish, slow cooker or warming tray.
• Do not leave food out more than 2 hours, or 1 hour when it is above 90°F. Put leftovers in shallow containers and refrigerate them within 2 hours.

Common questions

How much pulled pork do I need for 50 people?

If pulled pork is the only meat and appetites are normal (4 oz of cooked meat each), 50 adults eat 12.5 lb of cooked pork. Bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt) gives 0.52 lb of cooked meat per raw pound, so buy about 24 lb raw. Boneless shoulder gives 0.60 lb, so you need about 20.8 lb. Both are inside the 20 to 25 lb of raw meat that Iowa State University Extension suggests for sandwiches for 50 guests. Add your leftovers margin on top.

Why do I need more than twice as much raw brisket as cooked?

In the USDA Food Buying Guide, a pound of boneless brisket with a 1/4-inch fat trim gives 0.46 lb of cooked meat. The guide counts only the cooked lean meat, without the fat, and meat also loses water and fat as it cooks. So each pound of cooked brisket you want to serve takes about 2.17 lb raw. Spareribs are lower still at 0.39, about 2.56 lb raw per cooked pound, because the bone is not counted either. If you serve some of the fat as well, you will have more to serve than planned.

How many hot dogs and burgers do I need for 30 people?

For 30 adults at a normal appetite, with hot dogs and burgers in equal shares and no leftovers margin, plan 60 oz of each, cooked. That is 30 hot dogs of 2 oz each (3.75 lb, or 4 packs of 8). Ground beef with up to 20% fat gives 0.74 lb of cooked meat per raw pound, so the burgers need 5.07 lb of raw beef: 21 quarter-pound (4 oz) patties. That is one hot dog and about two-thirds of a patty per adult. If most guests will want a whole burger and a hot dog, choose Hearty: 45 hot dogs and 31 patties.

The USDA says about 1 pound of turkey per person. Why does the calculator say less?

SDSU Extension quotes the USDA’s figure of about 1 lb of turkey per person, and Iowa State’s holiday table says 3/4 to 1 lb of turkey per serving. The calculator works from the Food Buying Guide instead, which says a whole turkey with neck and giblets gives 0.48 lb of cooked meat (with skin) per raw pound. On that yield, 1 lb per person is about 7.7 oz of cooked turkey each, nearly twice the calculator’s normal 4 oz, which needs about 0.52 lb of raw turkey per adult. If you would rather follow the 1 lb guide, for example to have turkey left for sandwiches the next day, set the cooked portion to about 7.7 oz and the extra to 0.

Are the temperatures in the table the doneness temperatures?

They are the USDA FSIS safe minimum internal temperatures, measured with a food thermometer: 145°F with a rest of at least 3 minutes for beef and pork roasts, shoulder and ribs, 160°F for raw burgers and fresh sausage, 165°F for all poultry, 165°F (or steaming hot) when reheating hot dogs, and 140°F when reheating a fully cooked ham packaged in a USDA-inspected plant (165°F for any other cooked ham). They are the lowest safe temperatures; FSIS says you may cook food hotter for personal preference.

Sources

• USDA Food and Nutrition Service: Food Buying Guide, Section 1 Meats/Meat Alternates yield table
• USDA Food and Nutrition Service: Food Buying Guide, Section 1 Meats/Meat Alternates (definitions and how to read the table)
• USDA Agricultural Research Service: Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry, Release 2 (documentation)
• Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, AnswerLine: Tackling the Holiday Meat Puzzle
• Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, AnswerLine: Graduation Party Tips
• South Dakota State University Extension: Tips for Purchasing and Preparing Turkey, Ham and Prime Rib
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Fresh Pork From Farm to Table
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Grilling Food Safely
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: "Danger Zone" (40°F - 140°F)

Last checked and updated: November 1, 2026.