mac n cheese for 150!

My experience w/mac and cheese at buffets, etc. is - if it's there, people with gobble it up! So even tho it's a 'side' be sure you make enough for at least one serving for everyone. Hope you have a wholesale cheese supplier. ;)

3/4 cup pp?
I've not broken down amounts of dry pasta to mac/cheese ratio....your bech & cheese make up at least 35%.....so 1/3cup of dry pp....don't have any around to weigh.

Hoping Ed or BDL will have the answer at their finger tips.

FOO FOR FIFTY suggests 3 lbs 8 ounces for 2 - 12x20x2 hotel pan serving 48 - 8 ounce servings, so

tripling that is 10 lbs 8 ounces

I find that it takes about 1 quart of cheese sauce per pound of dry macaroni, cooked.

The weight conversion is roughly 1 : 2.5. That is, 1 pound of dry pasta will yield about 2-1/2 pounds of cooked pasta.

IThe Food for Fifty suggestion seems way too thin as a major side. I can't really see 48 8oz portions from 3-1/2 pounds of dry noodle. Basically, they're telling you that you'll get 14 covers from a pound of pasta -- which is how much I use to make a 9 x 13 pan. Sorry dudes and dudesses, but I don't think so. 25 covers per pan doesn't make senxe either. And speaking of nonsense, the whole 8 oz thing Pete said they say doesn't work unless their mac is very, very creamy and wet.

Mine isn't. Mine isn't actually mac and cheese, it's baked ziti; and the egg/cheese/noodle is more like a firm noodle custard than a cheesy noodle soup. If that sounds like a suggestion, it isn't. It's only recognition that there are a lot of ways to make mac and cheese. You'll have to make adjustments for your way -- whatever that is.

You may also want to consider my analysis in the light that I estimate generously -- more food than strictly necessary, tending towards the ridiculous. Still, better too much than too little. You're not going to break the bank because you made an extra pan or two of mac.

I'd go one pound of pasta per 10 covers (4 oz cooked pasta), or at most one pound per 12 (3-1/3 oz). Multiply it up to 150 covers and call the product 12 to 15 pounds of dry noodles. Break that down, and you get an ultimate yield of 8 or 9 no. 1 pans.

Hope this helps,
BDL

PS. Thanks to shroom for the h/t, but she has TONS more experience catering large groups than I ever did. Not that I didn't do a few barbecues, but I was a lot more about 20 than 200.

PPS. I'm also looking forward to hearing from Ed. He's the man.

_________________
Ex owner/operator Predominantly French catering; ex cook at a couple of decent joints

I would use 15# pasta creamy style or 20# Ziti ala BDL ! To much for this event is OK but to little is never good (don't know and am not ever going there).
Really a piece of cake since you are only making one item for the pot luck:roll:
Now for the cheeses, perhaps tomatoes ( yes I like them with), and a crunch!
OK, enough! Whens dinner?

I would go 1 1/2 ounces raw pasta PP, which will double depending on type and quality of macaroni when cooked. Therefore combined with the medium bechamel and :chef:cheese, should give a yield of 5 ounces pp. More then enough for a side.

Note for the Arithmetically Challenged

Just an aside and addendum to Ed's excellent analysis. 1-1/2 oz uncooked per person, equals a scant 1 pound per 10 people, or 14 pounds total.

BDL