BBQ Quantity Calculator — Food & Fuel for Your Barbecue

Plan 300-400g of raw meat per adult for a BBQ main — UK caterers typically allow around 1 burger, 1-2 sausages and a piece of chicken or a skewer each. This calculator defaults to 300g per adult and you can change it under Advanced options, where it directly scales the burger, sausage and chicken counts. Teenagers eat about 85% of an adult portion and children about 50%. A dinner BBQ adds a 15% uplift over lunch.

Allow roughly 1kg of charcoal per hour to keep the grill hot, plus about 0.15kg per meat-eater per hour for the food being cooked, so fuel scales with both the length of the BBQ and the number of guests (Hillside Woodfuels: ~1kg/hour rising with group size). For example a 3-hour BBQ for 20 adults (about 17 meat-eaters at the default 15% veggie split) works out near 11kg. If using gas, expect about 0.5kg of propane per hour.

The default allows for 15% vegetarian guests. Halloumi, veggie burgers, corn on the cob, and stuffed peppers are popular BBQ veggie options. Plan 2 vegetarian items per veggie guest.

One roll per burger plus one hot dog roll for every two sausages. Not everyone eats sausages in a roll. Always buy 10-15% extra as backup.

Plan 2 side portions per person. This includes coleslaw, green salad, potato salad, and corn. About 80g of coleslaw and 60g of green salad per person is standard.