The shopping, before the recipe
How much do I need?
Four hundred to five hundred grams of raw meat per adult — that is the South African rule of thumb, and it sits well above what you would budget in Europe. Exactly where in that range depends on how many sides are standing next to it.
For how many?
How many sides?
This calculation is a link — the address above carries your inputs.
What to buy
- Total meat, raw
- —
- of which boerewors
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- of which steak, chops, chicken
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- Braaibroodjies
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- Salad and sides
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- Pap (dry maize meal)
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- Braai wood
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- Firelighters
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The short version
For the usual group sizes, worked out with plenty of sides. Serving only salad? Add a fifth.
| Guests | Raw meat | of which wors | Braaibroodjies | Wood |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1.6 kg | 0.6 kg | 8 | 1 × 7 kg |
| 6 | 2.4 kg | 0.8 kg | 12 | 2 × 7 kg |
| 8 | 3.2 kg | 1.1 kg | 16 | 3 × 7 kg |
| 10 | 4.0 kg | 1.4 kg | 20 | 4 × 7 kg |
| 20 | 8.0 kg | 2.8 kg | 40 | 12 × 7 kg |
Where the numbers come from
400 to 500 g of meat per adult
The range is not uncertainty, it is the sides question. With pap, potato bake and bread, 400 g is enough; with nothing but salad, 500 g is the honest number. Europe budgets 200 to 250 g — which is why guests from further away reliably underbuy.
About a fifth disappears on the fire
Meat loses roughly 20 to 25 percent of its weight in water and fat while it cooks. A 250 g raw rump ends up as just under 190 g on the plate. Every figure here is raw weight — the number on the scale at the shop.
Children count as half a portion
A rough but workable assumption for children up to about twelve. With teenagers at the table, count them as adults — at least.
A third wors is the standard split
Boerewors is cheaper than steak, it fills people up and it never goes wrong. A third to a good third of the meat weight is the usual share; the rest is split between chops, steaks and chicken.
Wood by running hours, not by headcount
Three kilos to get going plus about four kilos per hour of grid work for four people. A bigger grid means more area and therefore more wood — so the figure climbs with the guest count, but not in a straight line.
And now?
The braai planner
Pick the recipes, set the eating time — out comes the whole afternoon worked backwards, shopping list included.
Open →Where do you buy the wood?
What is actually on the shelf in Cape Town, what a bag costs, and how to spot dry wood.
Open →Meat glossary
Tjops, rashers, silverside — what each one is at the counter and what to do with it at a fire.
Open →