For Christmas, we recommend planning for leftovers: allow around 350–400 g of raw boneless meat per adult. A little extra gives you options for easy family meals over the holidays, without starting from scratch every time.
If you are catering only for the Christmas Day meal, 250–300 g per adult is the baseline. These are raw boneless weights, allowing for some weight loss during cooking. Allow a little less for kids.
Serving a few different meats? Your allowance is the combined total across the raw boneless meats, not a full allowance of each protein. Plan the feast and the leftovers together.
How much meat do I actually need for Christmas? It is one of the questions we get asked most at this time of year. In this Ask the Butcher episode, Luke Iles from The Lucky Pig in Bentleigh gives you a simple place to start.
Watch: how much meat do I need for Christmas?
Watch this Ask the Butcher episode on YouTube.
Christmas meat quantities at a glance
For a relaxed holiday season, start with the 350–400 g per adult column and have a couple of leftover meals in mind. Use the lower allowance if you only want to cater for the day. These examples are for raw boneless meat, before cooking.
| Adults | Plan for leftovers: 350–400 g each | Day meal only: 250–300 g each |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1.4–1.6 kg | 1–1.2 kg |
| 6 | 2.1–2.4 kg | 1.5–1.8 kg |
| 8 | 2.8–3.2 kg | 2–2.4 kg |
| 10 | 3.5–4 kg | 2.5–3 kg |
| 12 | 4.2–4.8 kg | 3–3.6 kg |
Allow a little less for kids, depending on their age and appetite. Think about the sides and how hungry your guests are likely to be, too.
Serving ham, pork, turkey or more than one meat?
A Christmas spread gives everyone a choice, and a few planned extras can make the next round of family meals easier. Whether you are serving ham, pork, turkey, chicken or seafood, think about both the feast and what you would like to make afterwards.
For example, using the upper end of the leftovers guide, 8 adults × 400 g = 3.2 kg of raw boneless meat in total. If you are serving two raw boneless roasts, you could split that into 1.6 kg of each. That is your combined buying allowance, rather than 400 g of every protein per person.
A note on ham: already-cooked Christmas ham is not on the same raw-weight basis as an uncooked roast. Bone-in meat and shell-on seafood also include weight you will not eat. If you are mixing these on the menu, tell us what you are serving and we will help turn the overall portion plan into the right buying weights.
Make room for leftovers — and allow for the bone
We would lean towards the higher allowance for holiday entertaining. How far the leftovers go depends on appetites, the dishes you make and what else you serve; it is not a promise of a set number of extra meals. If you want to cover a particular lunch or dinner afterwards, tell us when you order and we can help size the cuts for your plan.
If you are buying something with the bone in, allow extra again. The amount depends on the cut, so ask us rather than treating the whole weight as meat.
Turn Christmas leftovers into easy family meals
Planned leftovers give you a head start on family lunches and easy dinners. Choose a couple of recipes before you order so your Christmas ham or roast pork has another delicious job lined up:
- For Boxing Day breakfast or lunch: our Boxing Day Ham & Veggie Frittata puts leftover ham and cooked potatoes or pumpkin to work.
- For a fresh summer lunch or side: make Russian Salad with Leftover Christmas Ham, with potatoes, eggs, pickles and dill.
- For a proper loaded lunch roll: try the Porchetta Roll with Fennel & Gremolata, made for leftover cooked porchetta or roast pork.
Find more ideas in our Recipe Hub. Start with what you would like to cook, then we can help you choose the right Christmas cuts and quantities.
Choose your Christmas meat and plan the cooking
Browse our Christmas collection, then use the guides below for the meat you have chosen:
- Turkey breast roll: how to cook your turkey breast roll.
- Pork loin roast: tips for perfect pork crackling.
- Christmas ham on the bone or boneless leg ham: our guide to preparing, glazing and carving ham.
Not sure what to order? Drop into The Lucky Pig at 452 Centre Road, Bentleigh, or send us a message. Tell us how many adults and kids you are feeding, which meats you would like and the leftover meals you have in mind. We will help you plan a generous Christmas spread and make the most of what you take home.
Based on Luke Iles’s Ask the Butcher episode.