Pizza, rice, BBQ, turkey, drinks and recipe scaling — worked out exactly for your headcount
Tell us who's eating and how you like your crust — we'll work out how many pizzas to make and exactly how much dough for each one.
Who's eating?
Pizza size & style
Yeast & rise time
Advanced: fine-tune hydration, salt & oil
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Ingredient
Per pizza
Total (all pizzas)
How this works: Dough ball weight is based on the "22 grams per inch of diameter" rule of thumb (adjusted by crust style), then split into flour, water, salt and yeast using standard baker's percentages. These are proven starting points, not exact science — actual results vary with your flour, altitude and kitchen temperature. Weigh ingredients on a digital scale for the most consistent dough.
Rice by the plate — split by men, women and children so the pot comes out right, whatever the mix.
Who's eating?
Meal & rice type
Advanced: fine-tune grams per person
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Group
Per person
Group total
How this works: Per-person amounts start from standard side-dish (≈50g raw) and main-course (≈90–115g raw) guidelines, then adjusted for typical appetite differences between men, women and children — actual appetite varies a lot person to person, so treat this as a solid starting point, not a rule. Cooked yield and cooking water use standard ratios for each rice type: white rice roughly triples in weight when cooked (1:2 rice:water), brown rice yields about 2.5× (1:2.25 rice:water).
How much meat and sides to buy for a cookout, by headcount.
Who's eating?
Meat & sides
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How this works: Raw/purchase-weight guidelines per adult: pulled pork & brisket ≈0.5 lb, bone-in chicken ≈0.6 lb, sausages ≈0.4 lb, burgers ≈0.5 lb, ribs ≈3 ribs (≈1 lb bone-in). Kids are counted at roughly half an adult portion. Sides figure on ≈0.3 lb per person per side dish. These are solid catering-industry starting points, not exact science — adjust for known big eaters or picky kids.
How big a turkey to buy, and how long to roast it.
Who's eating?
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Roast at 325°F (163°C). Always confirm doneness with a meat thermometer — the thickest part of the thigh should read 165°F (74°C). Times are estimates; oven and bird shape vary.
How this works: Sizing follows the standard "1 lb per adult, ½ lb per child" rule (1½ lb / ¾ lb with leftovers), with a bump for small birds (under 12 lb) since they carry more bone relative to meat. Roasting time is interpolated from the National Turkey Federation's 325°F roasting chart.
How much beer, wine, spirits and soft drinks to lay in for a party.
Who's coming?
Drinker mix (% of drinking guests)
Alcohol mix (% of drinks)
Drink
Servings
Buy
How this works: Total drinks are estimated from your drinker mix — light drinkers ~0.5 drinks/hour, medium ~1 drink/hour, heavy ~1.5 drinks/hour — rather than a single flat rate, since a crowd of mostly-light drinkers needs a lot less than a crowd of mostly-heavy drinkers. A 750ml wine bottle pours ~5 glasses (150ml each); a 750ml spirits bottle pours ~16 measures (45ml each); soft drinks assume one serving per non-drinking guest per hour, plus one. Adjust the percentages above to match your crowd.
Please drink responsibly. These figures are a shopping estimate only — not a recommended intake or a safe limit. Actual consumption varies enormously by person, and MultiSwitch accepts no liability for guests who drink beyond these baseline estimates. Always provide food and non-alcoholic options, never serve minors or anyone already intoxicated, arrange safe transport home for anyone who needs it, and know the signs of alcohol poisoning.
Scale any recipe up or down to a new number of servings.
Original
Scaled
How this works: Each line's leading quantity (whole number, decimal, or fraction like "1 1/2") is multiplied by the target ÷ original servings ratio, then rounded to the nearest practical kitchen fraction (⅛, ¼, ⅓, ½, ⅔, ¾). Lines with no leading quantity (like "salt to taste") are left as-is.
FAQ
Why are pizza, rice, BBQ, turkey, drinks and a recipe scaler all on one page?
They're all versions of the same party-planning question — how much do I need for this many people. Grouping them means one page covers most of what comes up planning a meal or event, instead of needing six separate single-purpose pages.
How is pizza dough weight worked out from the size I choose?
A "22 grams per inch of diameter" rule of thumb, adjusted for crust style, gives the total dough ball weight, which is then split into flour, water, salt and yeast using standard baker's percentages.
How reliable are the BBQ, turkey and rice quantity guidelines for a real event?
They're solid catering-industry starting points — for example roughly 0.5 lb of pulled pork per adult and half that per child — not guarantees. Adjust upward for known big eaters, hot weather or a mostly-adult crowd, and downward if you're serving a lot of sides or younger children.
How does the recipe scaler handle ingredient lines like "1 1/2 cups flour"?
It reads the leading quantity — whole number, decimal or fraction — multiplies it by your target-to-original serving ratio, then rounds to the nearest practical kitchen fraction (⅛, ¼, ⅓, ½, ⅔, ¾). Lines with no quantity, like "salt to taste", are left unchanged.
