How the barbecue calculator works

This calculator builds the shopping list for a Brazilian-style barbecue (churrasco). Enter how many men, women and children aged 5 to 12 will come, how many hours the party lasts and how many adults drink alcohol, then tick the meats, extras, side dishes and drinks you want to serve. The result lists how much of each item to buy, plus charcoal, coarse salt and ice.

The amounts follow the consensus of popular barbecue calculators: 450 g of raw meat per man, 350 g per woman and 200 g per child for a four-hour party, 10% more or less for each hour above or below four (between 80% and 140%). Meat is split 50% beef, 20% sausages, 20% chicken and 10% pork among the groups you ticked, and equally among the cuts of each group; cuts with bone get 20% more. Drinks and ice grow with the duration: one 350 ml can of beer per drinking adult per hour and 1 kg of ice per person every four hours. Charcoal is about 1 kg per kg of meat (at least 3 kg) and coarse salt about 3% of the meat.

Example: 10 men, 10 women and 5 children for 4 hours, with picanha, flap steak, sausage, chicken drumettes and chicken hearts: about 9.2 kg of meat (2.5 kg of each beef cut), 80 cans of beer if every adult drinks, 25 kg of ice and 10 kg of charcoal. Quantities are rounded up to the next 100 g; treat them as a starting point.