Methodology: How Every Number on This Site Gets Verified
Every portion standard, yield factor, and food-safety figure behind our calculators lives in one data file, and every value in that file carries its sources and the date I last checked it. This page is that file, in the open. Safety numbers come from USDA FSIS pages only. Portion conventions were cross-checked against at least two independent references each — university extension food-service guides, national boards, working catering references, and butcher guidance. Where the internet's favorite number failed verification, I corrected it and noted the correction below.
The standing promise: conventions are labeled as conventions, ranges stay ranges, and safety figures match the USDA source exactly. I re-verify this entire table every January — it's the same annual pass I run on my own catering sheets. Every calculator's "Portions verified" badge links here.
USDA safety figures (FSIS only — verified July 16, 2026)
| Figure | Value | USDA FSIS source |
|---|---|---|
| Poultry (whole, ground, breast) | 165°F | Safe temperature chart |
| Beef/pork/lamb whole cuts | 145°F + at least 3 min rest | Safe temperature chart |
| Ground meats | 160°F | Safe temperature chart |
| Fish & shellfish | 145°F | Safe temperature chart |
| Hot holding | 140°F or above | Danger zone 40–140°F |
| Room-temperature limit | 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F) | Danger zone 40–140°F |
| Refrigerator thaw rate | ~24 hours per 4–5 lb at 40°F or below | Turkey basics: safe thawing |
| Cold-water thaw | 30 min/lb, change water every 30 min, cook immediately | Turkey basics: safe thawing |
| Leftovers | Fridge 3–4 days, freezer 3–4 months, reheat to 165°F | Leftovers and food safety |
| Turkey roast times (325°F, unstuffed) | 8–12 lb: 2¾–3 hr · 12–14: 3–3¾ · 14–18: 3¾–4¼ · 18–20: 4¼–4½ · 20–24: 4½–5 | Let's talk turkey |
| Spiral ham reheat | 325°F to 140°F (original packaging) or 165°F (repackaged/leftovers); 10–18 min/lb | Hams and food safety |
| Raw fish/shrimp storage | 1–2 days refrigerated before cooking | FSIS knowledge base |
Portion conventions and yields, food by food
Anchor IDs match the calculator badges. "Convention" means working catering practice, not law — the calculators expose the range through the appetite and leftovers controls.
Turkey
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Whole bone-in bird | 1 lb raw per person; 1.25–1.5 for leftovers | National Turkey Federation; Illinois Extension |
| Bone-in breast | 0.75 lb per person | Destination BBQ; iFoodReal |
| Boneless breast | 0.5 lb per person (correction — most blogs quote the bone-in figure) | Illinois Extension; iFoodReal |
Brisket
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Cooked portion | ½ lb per adult (buffet/casual); 4–6 oz plated-controlled | Girls Can Grill; Destination BBQ; AmazingRibs |
| Raw→cooked yield, whole packer | ~50% (20–30% trim, then 30–40% cook shrink) | Girls Can Grill; Destination BBQ |
| Rule of thumb | 1 lb raw packer per person | AmazingRibs Pitmaster Club; Destination BBQ |
Pulled pork
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Raw→cooked yield | ~50% bone-in butt; ~60% boneless (USDA yield data) | Destination BBQ (USDA figures); Virtual Weber Bullet |
| Plate portion | ⅓–½ lb cooked (we default to the generous end) | Smoked BBQ Source; Sonny's BBQ |
| Sandwich | 4 oz → 4 sandwiches per cooked lb (correction — "3 per pound" assumes a 5+ oz sandwich) | Destination BBQ; Smoked BBQ Source |
Meat (universal) & steak
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Cooked-meat main | ½ lb with 1–2 sides; ⅓ lb with a big spread | AmazingRibs; Sonny's BBQ; ezCater |
| Bone-in vs boneless | Bone-in needs roughly 50% more raw weight (convention; chicken runs higher) | WebstaurantStore; butcher guidance |
| Steak | 8 oz per adult standard; 12 oz hearty; shared cuts ½ lb raw | The Kitchn; WebstaurantStore |
| Kids / big eaters | 0.5× / 1.5× the adult portion | Mindy's Catering; No Spoon Necessary |
Ham
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Bone-in | USDA just-enough ⅓–½ lb; holiday-with-leftovers ¾ lb | USDA (ask.usda.gov); Iowa State Extension; Girls Can Grill |
| Boneless | USDA ¼–⅓ lb; holiday ½ lb | Same sources |
Prime rib
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Bone-in | 1 lb raw per person; one rib (~2 lb) feeds 2 | Snake River Farms; Wilson Farm Meats; Beef. It's What's For Dinner |
| Boneless | ¾ lb raw (8–12 oz) | Wilson Farm Meats; Snake River Farms |
| Shrink | ~30% bone-in, ~20% boneless | Snake River Farms |
Salmon & shrimp
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Salmon main | 6–8 oz raw fillet per person (engine midpoint 7); appetizer ~3 oz; ~20% cook shrink | Global Seafoods; Pride of Bristol Bay; Fulton Fish Market |
| Side of salmon | ~3 lb, feeds 6–8 | Pride of Bristol Bay; West Coast Kitchen Garden |
| Shrimp counts | 16/20, 21/25, 26/30, 31/40 = pieces per pound (midpoints used) | Prime Shrimp; Striped Spatula |
| Shrimp cocktail | 4 pieces each among other apps; 6–8 as the only app | Intershell Seafood; Texas Gold Shrimp |
| Shell-on → peeled | Shell + tail = 15–20% of weight (buy ~25% more shell-on) | Prime Shrimp; Intershell Seafood |
Rice, pasta & potatoes
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Rice yield | 1 cup dry → ~3 cups cooked (white and brown) | USA Rice; UNL Extension; Purdue Extension |
| Rice portions | Side 1 cup cooked; main 1–1.5 cups (correction — 2 cups is rice-bowl territory); 1 dry cup = 185 g (USDA) | Live Eat Learn; Foodess; USDA FoodData Central |
| Pasta | 2 oz dry side / 4 oz dry main; ~24-oz jar per 1-lb box (retail convention; culinary minimum is lower) | Barilla; DeLallo; Taste of Home |
| Potatoes | Mashed/roasted ⅓–½ lb raw (generous end used); baked = 1 medium russet (213 g, USDA); salad ¼–½ lb | Idaho Potato Commission; Old Farmer's Almanac; USDA FoodData Central |
Taco bar & pizza
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Tacos | 3 per adult, 2 per kid; 2 oz cooked meat per taco; ~3 tortillas each + 10% | FeedMyGuests; Summer & Cinnamon; Omni |
| Taco toppings, per person | Cheese 1–1.5 oz (correction — 2 oz was the blog number); lettuce 1 oz; salsa 2 oz; sour cream 1 oz | FeedMyGuests; Summer & Cinnamon |
| Ground beef yield | ~75% cooked and drained; shredded meats ~60% | Standard kitchen yields, cross-checked |
| Pizza | 3 slices per adult, 2 per kid, 8 slices per 14″ large (the 3/8 rule) | Giordano's; Inch Calculator |
Wedding bar
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Pacing | 2 drinks per guest the first hour, 1 per hour after (planning convention) | Here Comes the Guide; Haskell's |
| Full-bar split | 50% wine / 25% beer / 25% liquor (correction — replaces the 40/40/20 folklore; The Knot flips wine and liquor) | Here Comes the Guide; Haskell's; The Knot |
| Bottle math | Wine 5 glasses per 750 ml; liquor ~16 drinks per 750 ml (16.9 exact) | The Knot; Here Comes the Guide; Haskell's |
| Staffing | 1 bartender per 50–75 guests | The Knot; Make It A Double |
Wings & chicken
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Wings per person | ~6 as one app among others (range 4–8); 10–12 when wings are the meal | Destination BBQ; Urban Cowgirl |
| Party wings per pound | ~10–12 (correction — the widely-quoted "4–5 per pound" is WHOLE wings, a 2.5× error) | Urban Cowgirl; Destination BBQ; Grassroots Coop retailer spec (2 lb = 18–24 pieces) |
| Whole wings | ~4.5/lb; each yields 2 usable pieces (drumette + flat), tip discarded | Tasting Table; Destination BBQ |
| Wing sauce | 2–3 fl oz per lb (¼–⅜ cup); 4–5 fl oz is "extra wet" (correction — "½ cup per lb / 2 oz" is self-contradictory; ½ cup IS 4 oz) | Destination BBQ; Urban Cowgirl |
| Wing cook yield | Roasted 78%; deep-fried 66%; poached 86% | USDA Table of Cooking Yields, Release 2 |
| Chicken, bone-in | Whole bird / quarters / mixed pieces 0.8–1 lb; trimmed thighs or drumsticks 0.5–0.75 lb (~2 pieces) | Ellen's Kitchen; Iowa State Extension |
| Chicken, boneless breast | 0.45–0.5 lb (7–8 oz) raw; yield 0.73 (USDA Food Buying Guide, verbatim: "1 lb AP = 0.73 lb cooked chicken meat") | USDA FNS Food Buying Guide; America's Test Kitchen |
| Bone-in vs boneless | Not a flat 1.5× — breast 1.54×, thigh 1.69×, drumstick 1.82×, whole bird 2.13× | USDA AH-102 Table 1; Ellen's Kitchen (independently within 2 points) |
| Chicken cook method | Simmered 77% · roasted 72% · braised 71% · pan-fried 68% · broiled/grilled 63% · deep-fried 58% | USDA AH-102 Table 1 |
Two attribution corrections we adopted. The famous "72% USDA chicken breast yield" is a bone-in, skin-on cooking yield — it sits in AH-102's cooking-data section, and USDA publishes no boneless-skinless row there. The right boneless number is 0.73, from the Food Buying Guide. And the widely-repeated "National Chicken Council says buy a pound of wings per person" is on no NCC page; they publish aggregate consumption only. No .edu or industry body publishes wing party portions — that's trade territory, and we label it as convention.
Corned beef & beef tenderloin
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Corned beef portion | ½ lb cooked per adult (range ⅓–½) — a catering convention; no .edu or USDA source publishes a party portion | Adams Farms; The Takeout |
| Corned beef yield | ~70% (about 30% shrink) — correction, not the 40–50% the internet repeats. USDA lists the raw→cooked portion explicitly: 1 lb raw → 320 g cooked = 70.5%. Honest band 60–75%. | USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy NDB 13347/13346 |
| Why the band is wide | 9 CFR 319.101: the cure may add up to 20% water over the fresh brisket weight (more if declared). That water cooks back out. | govinfo.gov; Mouse Print (documented 35% brine) |
| Point vs flat | Flat 84% yield, leaner, slices clean. Point 73% yield, ~47% more fat, shreds. | USDA FDC 169488/169490; AmazingRibs; Sporked |
| Beef tenderloin portion | ½ lb (8 oz) trimmed per adult — the party convention. The beef industry's chart implies 4–6 oz because it's built on a 3-oz cooked serving. A real 4–8 oz split; we use the party figure. | Southern Living; Midwest Prime Farms; Beef Checkoff roasting chart |
| Tenderloin weights | PSMO 5–7 lb trade typical (correction — IMPS 189A spec is 3–6+ lb, not 6–8); fully trimmed 3–5 lb (IMPS 190: 2–4+) | USDA AMS IMPS 100 Fresh Beef |
| Tenderloin trim & shrink | PSMO → trimmed roast ~65% (honest band 55–75%); cook shrink 18% (USDA-measured 82% yield). A whole trimmed tenderloin feeds 8–10. | USDA Table of Cooking Yields; For Love of the Table trim test; Butcher's Handbook |
Crawfish
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Live crawfish per person | 3–4 lb (correction — "3–5 lb" skews high). LSU: "3-4 pounds of live crawfish per person per meal"; LSU's own recipe puts a 35–45 lb sack at 10–12 people. | LSU AgCenter Pub 2353 |
| By peeling experience | First-timers ~2–3 lb · seasoned ~4–5 · hardcore 7+. Industry convention, not peer-reviewed. | Eat My Catfish; The Boil Boss; Acadia Crawfish |
| With add-ins | Subtract ~1 lb/person when corn, potatoes and sausage ride along | The Short Order Cook; Acadia Crawfish |
| Tail meat yield | ~15% of live weight (range 8–23% by size and season) — 6–7 lb live = 1 lb peeled tails | LSU AgCenter Pub 2637 Ch.10; Pub 2353 |
| Purging weight loss | Effectively zero — gut content is 0.07% of whole wet weight. Do not deduct. LSU's "15–25% higher" for purged crawfish is a price premium, not a yield loss. | LSU AgCenter purging studies (2014, 1999) |
| Add-ins per person | 1 ear of corn · ~0.45 lb small potatoes · ~5 oz sausage. Onions, garlic and lemons are boil aromatics — counted per pot, not per head. | Tasting Table; Louisiana Seafood; Cameron's; LSU Pub 2353 |
Charcuterie & sandwich platters
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Charcuterie, appetizer | 2 oz meat + 2 oz cheese per adult | Wisconsin Cheese; The Daily Meal |
| Charcuterie, as the meal | ~5 oz of each per person | Wisconsin Cheese (the only industry body addressing it) |
| Cheese per person | 1–3 oz as an app (~2 typical); 3–5 as a main. Note: Shelburne Farms' "1–1.5 oz" is per cheese, not total — blogs routinely garble this. | America's Test Kitchen; Vermont Creamery; Shelburne Farms |
| Cheese varieties | 3–5, flat — not per guest. The circulating "1 cheese per 5 guests" rule is unsupported by any source and breaks at scale (50 guests → 10 cheeses, contradicting the universal ~5 ceiling). We do not publish it. | Wisconsin Cheese; ATK; Shelburne Farms |
| Board accompaniments & board size | No published convention exists. Our figures are house guidance from Marisol's events, labeled as such on the page. | — (Illinois Extension gives nutrition-plate amounts only) |
| Deli meat per sandwich | 3–4 oz pre-sliced; 1 oz (a slice) of cheese. Hand-sliced roast meats use up to twice as much. | Iowa State Extension AnswerLine; Ellen's Kitchen; USDA Food Buying Guide |
| Sandwiches per person | Office lunch ~1 (correction — 1.5 over-orders by ~50% for a desk lunch); open-house party 1.5. Both sourced, different events. | Iowa State Extension (1.5, graduation open house); Panera / Jimmy John's / Subway / McAlister's catering menus (0.7–1.0) |
Cookout & dessert & appetizers
| Value | Figure | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Burgers & dogs together | 1 patty + 1 dog per adult + a 10–30% buffer — the counts SPLIT, they do not add. Standalone: 1.33 burgers if burgers only; 2 dogs if dogs only. Adding the standalone figures gives 3–3.5 items a head, which is the internet's most expensive cookout error. | Ellen's Kitchen; Food Republic; Sur La Table |
| Patty size & shrink | ¼ lb (4 per lb) is the backyard standard. Shrink ~32% for 80/20 (USDA label: ¼ lb raw → 2.7 oz cooked), 38% for 75/25 (correction — 25% is only right for very lean beef) | University of Arkansas Extension (USDA label data); USDA Food Buying Guide |
| Hot dog packaging | 10 dogs vs 8 buns is the classic mismatch (correction — "8 and 8" has no mismatch at all). NHDSC break-even: 4 packs of 10 dogs + 5 packs of 8 buns = 40/40. Both counts exist because dogs sell by the pound (8/lb = 2 oz each; 10/lb = 1.6 oz). | National Hot Dog & Sausage Council; USDA Food Buying Guide |
| Cake per person | 1 slice each; with a dessert table, cut for ~70% of the headcount (under 50% if the table genuinely feeds everyone) | The Knot; The Party Teacher (dissents, keeps a full slice) |
| Cake servings | Wilton rounds (finger slices, 4″ two-layer): 8″ = 20 party / 24 wedding. Cut in normal wedges a host gets ~55% of that — an 8″ round is 8–12 servings by one bakery and 20–24 by Wilton. A 2–3× spread, purely by how you cut. | Wilton official Cake Baking & Serving Guide; Mayfair Bakery; Muddy's Bake Shop; Veena Azmanov |
| Sheet cake | Correction: Wilton's 9×13 = 36 servings is a TWO-LAYER, 4″-tall cake. The quarter sheet you actually buy is single-layer ~2″ and serves 12–29. And "quarter/half/full sheet" has no industry standard — a full sheet is 16×24, 18×24 or 18×26 depending on the bakery. Always order in inches. | Wilton (own rule: cakes under 3″ yield half); The Cake Girls; WebstaurantStore |
| Appetizers per person | 4–6 before a dinner (correction — 3–5 was low) · 8–12 at a 2-hour cocktail party · 12–15 as the meal | What's Cooking America; The Takeout |
| Appetizer pacing | 5 pieces the first hour, 3 each hour after — consumption front-loads, so counts scale sub-linearly. The .edu guides quoting "14 per person per hour" all trace to a single source (Conferon) and sit far above every independent reference. | What's Cooking America |
Change log
- July 17, 2026 — Wave 2 foods added. Wings, corned beef, crawfish, chicken, charcuterie, sandwich platters, cookout, coffee, beef tenderloin, sides and dessert tables verified and added. Nine more corrections adopted over widely-published figures: party wings per pound (~10–12, not the 4–5 that actually describes whole wings — a 2.5× error); cookout counts split rather than add when burgers and dogs share a grill; corned beef shrink ~30%, not 40–50%, per USDA's own raw-to-cooked portion; the hot dog mismatch is 10-vs-8, not 8-vs-8; "one cheese per five guests" is unsupported and removed; chicken's bone-in penalty is per-cut (1.54–2.13×), not a flat 1.5×; the famous "72% USDA chicken breast yield" is bone-in, so boneless uses the Food Buying Guide's 0.73 instead; appetizers before dinner are 4–6, not 3–5, and pace at 5-then-3 per hour because consumption front-loads; Wilton's 9×13 sheet figure is a two-layer cake and roughly doubles a real quarter sheet. Three figures we declined to publish because they could not be verified to our standard: charcuterie board sizes and accompaniment counts (no convention exists anywhere — ours are labeled house guidance), and any tenderloin-vs-prime-rib price ratio (retail beef prices are volatile and regional).
- July 16, 2026 — Baseline. All portion conventions verified against two or more sources each; all safety figures verified against live USDA FSIS pages. Five corrections adopted over common internet figures: boneless turkey breast (0.5 lb, not 0.75), pulled-pork sandwiches (4 per cooked lb, not 3), taco-bar cheese (1–1.5 oz, not 2), full-bar split (50/25/25 wine-led, not 40/40/20), rice mains (1–1.5 cups cooked, not 2). Next scheduled re-verification: January 2027.
Questions about a number, or a source you think beats ours? Tell me — corrections make the tables better, and the party food calculator gets them the same day.