How much food to order for a party, and when it should arrive

To work out how much food to order for a party, plan for fewer portions than you have expected guests, then fix the delivery time backwards from the meal. For 30 expected guests, applying NEA’s 10–15% cut gives 26 or 27 portions and its rice tip of 1 tray per 10 people gives 3 trays (our arithmetic). For a 6pm meal, NEA says delivery should be at most 1 hour earlier, so 5pm.

The Waste Less Food Handbook says, in its “Tips for Events and Parties”, to cater for less than the actual number of guests and that 1 tray of rice will do for 10 people. The 10–15% figure is a separate line in its “Tips for Festive Gifting and Feasting”. NEA’s guidelines for ordering catered meals set the delivery and “CONSUME BY” rules. If guests bring the dishes instead, see our potluck plan for twelve.

Check the age of the sources. The two NEA catering guidelines are dated 31 December 2016 (“Updated as at 31 Dec 2016” on each PDF), almost ten years before we rechecked them on 17 October 2026. The handbook has no overall date: its only date line, “Information accurate as of December 2025”, is on the donation-organisations page, not the party or festive tips, though NEA’s food waste strategies page, last updated 29 May 2026, offers it for download. This is general information, not legal advice.

How much food should you order for 30 guests?

NEA’s handbook gives a percentage in its festive feasting tips and a rice figure in its party tips, and little else on quantity. Start from the guests who have said yes, not the people you invited:

• 30 guests × 0.85 = 25.5 portions.
• 30 guests × 0.90 = 27 portions.
• Round 25.5 up and order 26 or 27 portions. Our suggestion: 27 if this is the only food and everyone is staying, 26 if there is cake, snacks or guests leaving early.

Background from NEA’s strategies page: a 2016 household study found more than half of household food waste could have been prevented, for example by not over-ordering, and rice, noodles and bread were the most commonly wasted foods. That study covered households; the handbook makes the catered-event point itself.

NEA gives no portion weights, so give the caterer a number of portions and ask how many people each tray serves, then divide and round up. Illustrative (the tray size is assumed, not NEA’s): trays that feed 8 give 27 ÷ 8 = 3.4, so 4 trays. Our suggestion: count vegetarian, no-pork and allergy dishes inside the 26–27, not on top.

Our inference: the 10–15% cut suits a shared buffet, not packet meals ordered by name against a confirmed list, such as a staff lunch, where it could leave someone without a meal. For those, the handbook’s office tip is to order just enough by checking the list of confirmed attendees. Combining the festive 10–15% line with the party rice line is also our reading, and neither promises that 26 portions will satisfy your group.

How much rice do you need for 30 people?

At 1 tray per 10 people, 30 guests need 3 trays. The reduced 26–27 portions give 2.6 to 2.7 trays, which also rounds up to 3 (our rounding), so on our arithmetic the cut changes the portion count but not the rice order. NEA does not say how big a tray is; ask the caterer, and if its tray serves more or fewer than 10, our suggestion is to use the caterer’s figure and treat NEA’s as a starting point. Illustrative (assumed tray size): a tray serving 15 gives 27 ÷ 15 = 1.8, so 2 trays.

When should catered food be delivered?

NEA’s catered-meals guidelines say to request delivery at most 1 hour before meal time and not earlier. Count back from when you plan to start eating: for a 6pm meal, ask for 5pm. NEA also says to check that hot food arrives in hot boxes or insulated bags (above 60°C) and cold food in coolers (below 5°C); if the caterer lacks that equipment, eat the food no later than the CONSUME BY time. It advises avoiding raw or uncooked food if guests include young children, pregnant women or older people, and says sushi should arrive chilled below 5°C. Our potluck plan covers the same guidelines’ serving rules.

What does the CONSUME BY time mean for your party?

NEA’s guidelines call the time stamp a mandatory requirement with effect from 15 February 2012: a label on each packed meal, or a sign on each buffet table, showing when the food was cooked or made ready to eat and when it should be consumed by. That time should be no later than 4 hours after cooking, for food kept between 5°C and 60°C. NEA says it is an offence to remove or alter the time stamp sign or label.

The clock starts at cooking, not delivery. An illustrative timeline for a 6pm meal:

1. 3:00pm: the caterer cooks; CONSUME BY is 7:00pm at the latest (3:00pm + 4 hours).
2. 5:00pm: delivery, 1 hour before the meal.
3. 6:00pm: the meal starts; three of the four hours have gone.
4. 7:00pm: CONSUME BY. Whatever is left is discarded.

That leaves 7:00pm − 6:00pm = 1 hour to eat. Cooked at 4:00pm, the same dishes would last until 8:00pm. So ask when each dish will be cooked and what CONSUME BY will be printed (NEA says no later than 4 hours, so a stamp can be earlier), and ask guests to be punctual, as NEA advises.

What if guests stay longer than 2 hours?

NEA’s festive-season guidelines say that if an event lasts beyond 2 hours, show only small portions and replenish, or ask the caterer for a second batch later. In the 6pm example the first batch expires at 7:00pm, so for guests still eating at 8:00pm, plan a second batch. NEA does not set a separate delivery time for a second batch; our inference is to apply its general 1-hour rule, so 7:00pm for an 8:00pm serving. Whether a caterer offers one is for the caterer to say. An open house run in visiting windows, like the plan in our Deepavali 2026 open house guide, may need a delivery per window, in our view.

For packet meals, NEA says each packet needs its own time stamp label and that staggered meal times call for staggered deliveries. Illustrative (our application of the 1-hour rule): sittings at 12:00pm and 1:00pm mean deliveries at about 11:00am and 12:00pm.

Can guests take leftover catered food home?

NEA’s sources differ. The catered-meals guidelines say leftovers should be discarded and not kept for later, and that guests should not pack food to eat after the CONSUME BY time; for packet meals they say to discard all uneaten packets and not pack food home. The handbook’s party tips are looser: guests can safely enjoy food taken home if eaten within 4 hours, with no start point given. Our inference, and the cautious reading for buffet food, is that guests may take food home only if they will eat it before CONSUME BY; when in doubt, do not pack it. In the 6pm example, a box packed at 6:30pm must be eaten by 7:00pm.

How do you check that a caterer is licensed?

Both NEA guidelines say to engage only licensed caterers, and the catered-meals guideline adds a good hygiene grading. The festive-season guidelines say hygiene grading, demerit points and suspension history can be looked up on the NEA website. On 3 October and again on 17 October 2026 the licensed-caterer list address printed in the guidelines returned “page not found” (HTTP 404), and the track-record lookup and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) website could not be reached from our research connection. NEA’s current Practices and Guidelines page, last updated 22 September 2026, does not list these catering guidelines, which does not by itself show they were withdrawn. Ask the caterer for its licence details and hygiene grade, check them against the official lookup that applies today, and look for newer NEA or SFA guidance before relying on the 2016 wording.

What should your catering order sheet say?

Copy this into a note or message to the caterer:

• Date, and time the meal starts (T): ________
• Guests confirmed (G): ________
• Portions: G × 0.85 = ____ to G × 0.90 = ____
• Rice or noodles: people per tray (ask) ____; portions ÷ people per tray, rounded up = ____ trays
• Delivery: T minus 1 hour = ________, not earlier; address, lift access, who receives it: ________
• Cooking time of each dish: ________; CONSUME BY on the stamp (cooking time + 4 hours at most): ________
• Hot boxes or insulated bags for hot food, coolers for cold; time stamp sign on every table or label on every packet: yes / no
• Covered chafing dishes; clean serving spoons, tongs and ladles: yes / no
• Second batch if the party runs beyond 2 hours: time ____, portions ____
• Clear-up: caterer collects leftovers and equipment at ________
• Caterer’s licence and hygiene grade checked on: ________

Filled in for 30 guests and a 6pm meal (illustrative): 26–27 portions; 3 trays of rice; delivery 5:00pm; cooked 3:00pm, so CONSUME BY 7:00pm; second batch at 7:00pm only if guests will stay past 8:00pm.

For the venue, entrance and guest messages, use our small-gathering checklist. If you are hiring a room or park venue, see our comparison of park venue hire in Singapore and ask about outside caterers before fixing a delivery time. More plans are under hosting. Before you order, look for newer NEA or SFA catering guidance than the 2016 PDFs; on the day, the stamp wins over this article’s illustrative times.

Common questions