How much turkey per person (and how much of each side)

How much turkey per person for a whole bird, a breast or a roast?

For a whole turkey, 1 pound per person, or 1½ pounds if you want leftovers. Those are the numbers in the University of Wyoming Extension's Let's talk turkey guide, and they sit in the middle of what other extension services give: UGA Extension says at least 1 pound per guest and up to 1½ or 2 for big eaters, and N.C. Cooperative Extension quotes the National Turkey Federation's ¾ to 1 pound.

The pound looks generous until you carve. On a whole bird a large share of the weight is the frame, the neck, the wing tips, skin, and the fat and juice that end up in the pan, so 1 raw pound per guest gives each plate a fair serving of meat with some left to send around a second time. A bone-in breast has less frame and no dark meat, and a boneless roast is close to all meat, which is why their numbers drop. The "with leftovers" column for the breast and roast is our own extension of the same 50% margin.

Pre-stuffed frozen turkeys get more per head because the stuffing is part of the weight. Buy one only with a USDA or state inspection mark on the package, and cook it straight from frozen.

What size turkey do you need for 6, 10 or 20 people?

Multiply your guests by 1 pound for the meal or 1½ pounds for leftovers, then round up to the nearest bird the store has. Small children (under about 8) eat roughly half a portion, so count two of them as one adult.

Past 20 pounds, buy two turkeys. The USDA's roasting timetable gives an unstuffed 12 to 14 pound bird 3 to 3¾ hours at 325°F (165°C), and a 20 to 24 pounder 4½ to 5 hours. In a giant bird the breast sits at temperature for most of that extra time while the thighs catch up, and that's where dry white meat comes from. Two medium birds cook in the shorter window and give you four drumsticks. If two roasting pans won't fit in your oven at once, make the second one a bone-in breast, which roasts in 1½ to 3¼ hours for 4 to 8 pounds.

The size also sets your thaw date. A frozen bird needs about 24 hours in the fridge for every 4 pounds (Wyoming Extension), so a 12-pound turkey needs 3 days and a 20-pounder 5. How long a thawed turkey keeps in the fridge covers the other end of that window. Count back from Thursday and write the day the turkey moves from freezer to fridge on the calendar now, because it's the one Thanksgiving job that can't be caught up later.

How much mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy per person?

About ¾ cup each of stuffing and mashed potatoes, ½ cup of gravy, ¼ cup of cranberry sauce and a cup of vegetables in all, per adult. The starting point is the holiday servings guide from Whole Foods Market. Where sources disagree, the table takes a side and says why below it.

Gravy is where guides split most. Some say ⅓ cup a head. We'd make ½ cup: it goes on the turkey, the potatoes and the stuffing, it's cheap, and an empty gravy boat at second helpings is the shortage every guest notices. Leftover gravy also turns cold turkey into a hot sandwich on Friday. If you're short on drippings, gravy without drippings can be made days ahead.

A 14-ounce can of jellied cranberry sauce is labeled as about six ¼-cup servings, so 12 guests need two cans. Rolls go faster than the guides assume once there's gravy on the table, so we plan 1½ per person. For pie, plan at least one slice each. Offer two kinds and people take a sliver of both. One 9-inch pie per 6 guests keeps everyone covered.

Cut back if the menu is long. The amounts above are for a menu with five or six sides. With nine dishes on the table, each one gets eaten less, so take a quarter off the starches and keep the turkey and gravy where they are.

How much extra turkey should you buy for leftovers?

Half a pound per person on top of the pound, which is the 1½-pound rule. That covers a plate of sandwiches or a soup for most families. If the whole point is a week of turkey, go to 2 pounds a head, but be sure you'll eat it: the USDA gives cooked turkey 3 to 4 days in the fridge, which from a Thursday dinner means Monday.

Get it put away fast. The USDA's leftovers guidance says to refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking: carve the meat off the bones, slice the breast, and spread it in shallow containers so the middle cools quickly. Whatever you won't eat by Monday goes in the freezer, where the FDA's storage chart gives cooked poultry about 4 months at best quality, or 6 months if it's covered in broth or gravy.

Decide before you shop what the leftovers become, say sandwiches on Friday and soup on Sunday. In Hedgehog's meal planner, Plan leftovers… on the Thanksgiving meal puts a second meal on the day you pick and raises the turkey's servings to cover both.

How to scale your side recipes to the guest count

If your stuffing recipe serves 8 and you're feeding 14, multiply every ingredient by 1.75, and do it before you shop. Scale the salt, herbs and pepper too, but hold back a quarter of each and taste before adding the rest.

The free recipe scaler does the multiplying for you. Paste the ingredient list, enter the servings the recipe makes and the number you want, and it gives back amounts in real fractions and readable units, so 8 tablespoons of butter doubled reads 1 cup.

For the full list of what to buy and when, the Thanksgiving grocery list uses these amounts, and the shared shopping list lets whoever is bringing the pies see what's already covered.