What size chafing dishes do I need
Krista
09/25/09 		I am having a party for about 60-65 adults and somewhere around 20-25 kids. I am serving roast beef, roast pork and baked ziti as main dishes. I figure on 10 pounds of each meat and a few large roasting pans of baked ziti. What size chafing dishes will hold all of this and how many?
ellen
09/25/09 		That is not enough meat, unless they are very light eaters. Everyone will take meat and they will treat the ziti as a side dish. I would do a minimum of 35 pounds raw meat (about 20 beef and 15 pork) plus about 8 pounds of dry pasta cooked up in your favoritte recipe. 1 pound fills a 9x13, 2 fill a half pan (the aluminum chafers yuou see in the store are usually half pans). Full size chafer/ steam table pans come in 2 1/, 4 and 6 inch depths, holding about 4 to 8 quarts.
Krista
09/28/09 		I thought 5 sandwiches per pound of meat, which would give me 100 sandwiches, plus the ziti. I failed to mention fresh salad, potato salad and pasta salad as side dishes. Do you still think I need more meat?
ellen
09/28/09 		The shrinkage roasting raw meat is almost 1/3, so if that is raw weights you will only end up with about 1 pounds. When people make their own sandwiches from homesliced meat (not the thin deili type slice), they only make bout three sandwiches per cooked pound, which comes out to 910 sandwiches per 4 pounds raw. If those are raw weights, you do need more meat. If it is cooked weight it will make about 80 sandwiches, counting the kids that is about 1 per person. Just a warning, if you put out sliced home roasted meats, some people will take a dinner serving, not a sandwich serving.