You might not have 50 people in your home for a tea but you might one day be in charge of a fundraiser tea or the Mother and Daughter Tea at your church. It can be really confusing to know how much you’ll need to serve your guests and how many ingredients to purchase to make each dish. Here’s a chart of amounts for cooking for 50.
Soup – 2 ½ gallons
Salad – 6 pounds of bagged salad mix, with 6 sliced cucumbers and 4 boxes of cherry tomatoes
Salad dressing – 1 ½ quart
Tea sandwiches – 1 of each kind per person
Quiche – 8 nine-inch pie plates or 50 individual mini quiche
Chicken or ham salad – ½ cup per sandwich if served on a roll – 1 ½ gallon chicken salad or ¼ cup per sandwich, if using ½ slices of bread - ¾ gallon chicken salad
Cheese – 3 pounds
Deli meats – 3 to 4 pounds
Crackers – 2 pounds
Potato salad or coleslaw – 1 ½ gallons
Fruit or veggie dippers – 16 dozen pieces
Dip – 1 ½ quart
Fruit salad – 6 quarts
Strawberries – 2 pounds large
Grapes – 4 pounds
Melon – 3 pounds
Pasta salad – 7 cups dry pasta
Nuts – 2 pounds
Pickles – 2 quarts
Lemonade – 3 dozen lemons, 2 pounds sugar, 3 ½ gallons water
Coffee – 1 ¾ pounds
Punch - 2 ½ gallons
Tea – Brewed – 38 cups water, Loose – 1 cup, Bags – 50
Cakes – 9x13 – 3 cakes
Assorted bars – 2 per person, 36 pieces per 9x13 pan
Cookies – 8 dozen
Ice cream – 2 gallons
It is always better to have too much than not enough to offer each guest. Extras can always be frozen, divided among the helpers or un-opened, un-served items can be donated to a soup kitchen.
