Meal planning cheat sheet series#
Meal planning cheat sheet free#

In actuality, especially in the beginning when you’re first trying it out, it can be overwhelming to come up with a meal planning system that indeed allows for all of the benefits mentioned above to come into play. Who doesn’t want to save time, money, headache for something that happens every day just by thinking ahead for it? In theory, the concept of meal planning is glorious. When you think about meals ahead of time, you’re more likely to plan for healthier meals and not resort to take out (another money saver too).Īnd the last big benefit is the amount of time you save can be spent on more precious things like spending time with your kids or, more realistically, getting through an entire episode (or two) of your fave show (wink). It helps you to save money since you know beforehand what you need to buy so food is not going to waste. Meal planning is hailed not only for taking out the stress of meal time as it creeps up every day, but also allowing you to plan for variety so you’re not eating said spaghetti every night. It’s basically thinking of your meals ahead of time so that by the time 6:00pm rolls around each day, that is not the first moment (oops) you give thought to what’s for dinner.

Like spaghetti.), let’s talk about what meal planning even is. If this is an option, schedule your meal just before the other in-house group’s time so that you don’t have to worry about the kitchen running out of food.First of all, for those who are not keen in the kitchen (yup, totally me as one who stresses out over preparing a simple meal. You may be able to choose the same menu and save the hotel time and money in preparing a different meal.

Ask if another group is having a lunch or dinner near your scheduled time.

If the hotel’s menu prices don’t meet your budget, work with your catering manager or chef to design a meal within your budget.

If you are serving hord d’oeuvres on a buffet, use small plates to help stretch consumption.

To conserve on food, use butler passed hors d’oeuvres instead of buffet style.

Reception only – 8-12 per person (passed and buffet combo).

Before dinner – 4-6 per person or one of each kind per person.

Alternatively, you can count the number of main plates and subtract the number remaining after the function.

Too get an accurate count of the number of attendees served, count empty place settings with folded napkins and subtract from total seats.

One server for every 30-40 people for buffet style.

Estimate 50% beef, 40-45% chicken or fish and 5-10% vegetarian.

1 double-sided food station per 75-100 guests.

If you have left over pastries, ask to put out for the AM break or have them delivered to your office or committee meeting.

If you do this, you may need signage stating who the buffet is for to discourage those outside of your meeting from consuming. Consider putting the buffet table outside the meeting room to limit attendees from returning to the buffet once the meeting begins.If you’re doing a multiple day event, be sure to change things up a little each day.Order breakfast breads conservatively as it is usually simple to add more cold food if needed.Minimize pastries, unless they look very appealing (i.e. Bagels and muffins are usually the most popular.1 item (bagel, muffin or pastry) per person for 75% to 90% of attendeesĮxample: For 100 people, order 75 to 90 items (most groups experience at least a 10% no-show factor for breakfast).So, the time to begin food and beverage negotiations is during the contract stage.

Meal planning cheat sheet free#

Often hotels give free meeting space based on the amount of money spent for food and beverage. Most venues consider food and beverage as a significant revenue center. Here’s the first tip sheet: Meeting Planners Cheat Sheet: Beverages.

Meal planning cheat sheet series#

Here’s the second in a series of four quick tip sheets for meeting and event professionals regarding food and beverage, and meeting room setups.