Iowa State University Extension and Outreach

Authority

Academic

Territories

US

Primacy

secondary

Commercial interest

none

Retrieved

2026-08-20

State

Read and citable

Original document

By Marlene Geiger, 3 March 2026, and retrieved because per-person portions are the largest evidence gap in the product. It is the second land-grant extension source here to publish planning quantities and the first to do so in the last forty years — MSU's pig barbecue bulletin is from 1982. WHAT IT IS AND IS NOT. It gives 'Protein 6-8 oz' and 'Burgers 4-6 oz' per person under the heading 'In general, plan for 1 to 1.5 pounds of food per guest', for a buffet with sides. It is not barbecue-specific and does not name a cooking method, so BBQHQ records the general figure as general and does not attach it to a food. AND ONE THING IN IT IS DELIBERATELY NOT USED. The same passage advises planning for 60% of the guests invited, because a graduation party is an open house and attendance is uncertain. That is a fact about American graduation parties rather than about appetite, and applying it to somebody cooking for a fixed guest list would tell them to buy a third less food than they need.

Culinary practice

• Explicitly not safety: It restates the two-hour rule correctly and it is a party-planning column, not a food-safety instrument. BBQHQ's cooling, storage and reheating rules continue to trace to the FSA and Food Standards Scotland, and its endpoints to the named regulators.