Estimating amount of turkey needed...

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HuskerMan

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So this Thanksgiving we will be celebrating with both sides of the family at the same time. Wife’s idea, not mine. There will be people coming and going all day. Some will only stay for lunch but some will be there for lunch/dinner. How do I go about a rough estimate of how much turkey to cook to last for both meals? As a side note for meat there will also be a couple hams available. I think the difficult part is not knowing 1000% for sure who is going to be all eating when.
 
From your post, it sounds like this will be an impossible question to answer, but if you had to take a wild guess, how many people would you estimate for lunch and how many for supper?
 
A 12Lb whole turkey should give about 3-4 Lbs of meat after it's cooked. Most people stick with 1/4Lb as a serving, so a 12Lb turkey should do between 9-12 people depending on number of kids and adults. If you put out bread and encourage turkey sandwiches you stretch that meat a bit further.

Note : MUCH BETTER to cook multiple smaller turkeys than to do one massive bird.
 
How many guests are you expecting? I agree, cook a couple of turkeys throughout the day so your guests have a better chance of a freshly cooked turkey. Ham can be eaten at room temp no problem. Always figure 1lb turkey (raw, uncooked) for each guest. Then subtract some weight to account for the ham.
 
3/4 lbs per person to be safe. you can go as high as 1 lbs per person if you have alot of dark meat eaters but the breast only goes so far
 
KClandcruiser said:
From your post, it sounds like this will be an impossible question to answer, but if you had to take a wild guess, how many people would you estimate for lunch and how many for supper?
Click to expand...

I’m guessing we will have about 25 people give or take for both lunch and dinner.
 
In my previous experience,90-95% want a slice of turkey breast.I will be feeding 60- 80 so I will prepare 4 whole turkey breasts and 2 spiral sliced hams.There is really not much meat on a turkey breast.I may even cook 6 breasts because I like leftovers.
 
I think I have settled on 2 birds about #18 each. Although I keep on asking myself if I need a third even though there will be two hams also.
 
You can find turkey at several places around here for $.33/lb. my usual is at least 2 pounds a person minimum. I cooked 4 last year for about 20 adults and obviously it was way too much but at ~$4 a bird (I stick around 12 lbs each max since That fits in a hotel pan after spatchcocking) I go for leftovers and lots of them for everyone to take home. Leftovers are never a bad thing in my book especially at that price. You can’t get meat that cheap any other time.

One whole Turkey actually was for my brother the next day since his in laws were coming and my brother and his wife don’t cook.
 
2 turkeys, and you mentioned 2 hams. All you need now is lot's of sides and lot's of Desserts!


Side note, Confiscate all phones at the table (or airplane mode) and announce NO political discussion at the table. Just from experience... It Works.
 
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