How Much Food to Cook? Ideas?

I would say to start with about 10 pounds of meat at least because it really cooks down a lot. For sides I'd do a giant bowl of cole slaw & probably a potato salad or macaroni & cheese or maybe hashbrown casserole as others have suggested, a couple of bags of chips, pickles.

If you're looking for a different direction altogether you could do a few trays of lasagne, giant tossed salad, bread & butter.

You could also do a ham with potato salad, deviled eggs, bread for people who want to make sandwiches, cole slaw & pretzel salad.

Shoot - I cook for that many every other weekend it seems (or more).......I like to make sure I have plenty of food - I would plan on one pound per person for sure, plus it cooks down, fat cooks off etc so it'll end up being less than raw weight. I think sliders sound great, maybe some slice mozz or provolone cheese to put on? Pickles on the side? Coleslaw? chips?

Can I come too? mmm.

Have some BBQ sauce too, maybe some good deli pepper rings, cheese.

Sides: a big bowl of marinated cucumbers (either in Italian dressing, or in sour cream, lemon, salt, pepper, dillweed).

You could keep frozen french fries in the freezer in case you need them.

Potato or pasta salad.

A big watermelon.

sliders sounds good..also, something very easy I always make for a crowd is a bag of frozen meatballs, throw them in a crockpot with jarred sauce, simmer all day for meatball sub sandwiches..just get some provolone cheese for the top..

Rule of thumb is 1/2 lb meat per person. But I ALWAYS overcook! Can't help it. I am more afraid of not having enough. I would get a 12 to 15 lbs brisket or any beef roast. (Here in Tx I would never do anything with a brisket but slow cook on the smoker!! LOL!! But that's just a Tx thing!)
You could do a veggie tray, dips/chips, and some sort of potatoes.
Good luck! I am sure you will have a great time!
D.

Sure great idea. Brisket is delicious! Figure on about 8 lbs. It cooks down alot. Sides that would go nicely would be cole slaw, potato salad also a good green salad would be fine. I ALWAYS second guess my menu choices when I am having people over!!!

Keep it simple. Make it no work for you so you can enjoy and entertain your guests. This will be nicest for you and hubby. Happy birthday to him!

Sounds like a good idea to me!
You could make mac & cheese or a crockpot cheesy potato casserole and a tossed green salad.
As for the amount of beef for 10-12 people, I'm thinking TWO 3.5-4 lb briskets would be plenty.

I think it's a great idea! I would probably buy at least a 10 lb brisket (or two smaller ones that make up that amount). It depends on if the bone is in or not, but I like to usually do a pound per person. Good luck!

Another fun thing to top a slider with is french-fried onions! Yummy!!! I'll eat just about anything with those on it!

I agree with a 12 to 15 pound trimmed brisket in order to have enough!!

Go to the public library and see if they have copies of Taste of Home magazine from the beginning. There used to be a section called cooking for a crowd and they had recipes for 12 up to 100. I think for something like this where men are going to pile on the meat you are going to want at least 1/2 meat per person. Women and kids are not going to eat that much but men will eat about a pound each so it would average out I think.

As for the rest of the menu think about your favorite BBQ place to eat. What is good? Fix that and keep it in the fridge until it's time to put it out or heat it up.

Brisket is an easy do ahead main dish. Rule of thumb is to figure 1/2 lb. per person. I like to serve this with sour cream cheesy potatoes. Here are the recipes. I like to serve with a nice green salad, green beans almondine, and rolls. Enjoy! Oh, and the potatoes can be made ahead too.
Brisket

5-6 lbs. flat brisket (not whole) trimmed
1/1/2 tsp onion salt
3 tsp. clelery salt
1/1/2 tsp. salt
1/1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. liquid smoke

Sir salts and pepper together, mix in worcestershire sause and liquid smoke. Line a 9 x 13 in pan with extra heavy foil. Lay brisket in pan and cover with sauce. Wrap and seal tightly in the foil. Let marinate at least one night, but several days is fine. Leave wrapped and bake at 225 degrees for 6-8 hours. Slice against the grain and serve with pan juices or bbq sauce. Can be made and sliced ahead of time and then reheated.

Sour Cream – Cheese Potatoes

2 lbs frozen hash browns, thawed
1 pt. sour cream
1 cup butter
1 tsp. salt
1 can cream of chicken/mushroom soup
dash of garlic salt
8 oz. cheddar cheese
½ cups chopped onion
2 cups cornflakes

Preheat oven to 350º Mix everything but one stick of butter and cornflakes. Place in a greased 9 x 13-in baking dish. Melt remaining margarine and mix with cornflakes. Sprinkle over top and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Serves about 12

Always overestimate on things like like that where you can freeze the leftovers for later! Sloppy joes is good for a crowd and the leftovers freeze awesome too.

Another easy one is Lil' Smokies, potatoes and green beans-- in fact it's my Dad's standard for a houseful of company-- infinitely expandable and you can vary the smokie/green breen/potato ratio depending on whether you're feeding carnivores, herbivores or craving starches!

A big old ham is always good too and there are at LEAST a GAJILLION ways to use up leftover ham!

Brisket is good idea but you could also buy pork loin (get them at Costco or Sam's Club) it is pretty big. Then cut in 1/2 so you can cook in a couple of crock pots. Cook on low for 10 hrs and then shred and serve on buns. I usually let everyone put what BBQ sauce they like others might mix it in the pork before hand. Then you could add chips and maybe a salad then a dessert. Good luck and have fun.