The Party Food Planner answers the question every host asks the week of a cookout, graduation party, or holiday dinner: how much food do I actually buy? Most tools answer it one dish at a time. This one plans the whole menu at once — mains, sides, drinks, ice, buns, and supplies — and hands you a single shopping list, grouped the way a grocery store is laid out, with an estimated cost at the store you pick.
Open the plannerEvery amount starts from the standard per-person planning rules caterers and experienced BBQ cooks use — for example, 6 ounces of cooked pulled pork per adult, or one pound of ice per guest. The planner then adjusts for real life:
Cost estimates come from a built-in book of typical US grocery prices, adjusted for each store's general price level (Aldi and Walmart run lower; Publix runs higher; Costco is cheapest per unit but sells in bulk). They are planning estimates, not live shelf prices — your store's actual prices will vary with sales, region, and brand. The planner always labels them that way, and shows the total as a range rather than pretending to be a receipt.
Party Food Planner is a small, independent project from PartyTools. The tool is free, needs no account, and runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is sent anywhere or stored. Questions, corrections, or an idea for the next calculator: hello@partyfoodplanner.com.