The figure everyone needs
For a bone-in turkey, plan on roughly 500g of bird per person. That sounds like a lot until you consider how much of a turkey is frame — the ribcage, backbone and drumstick bones account for a significant share of the total weight. A 5kg bird will feed around ten people comfortably, with leftovers, which is exactly as it should be.
Boneless turkey crown or rolled breast is a different calculation. Without the frame, 250g per person is a reliable guide. The meat goes further, portion for portion, but you lose the theatre of carving a whole bird at the table — a trade-off worth thinking about before you order.
Goose is a different animal
Goose has a devoted following for good reason: the fat renders into the roasting tin and the flavour is richer and more complex than turkey. But goose yields less usable meat per kilogram than turkey does. The cavity is large, the carcass is substantial, and the fat layer — wonderful as it is — doesn't translate into slices on the plate. As a result, you need to be more generous with your planning figures. If turkey runs at 500g per person on the bone, goose demands more. A bird that looks like it ought to feed eight may realistically feed six.
This is not a reason to avoid goose. It is a reason to order a slightly bigger bird than instinct suggests, and to embrace the fact that what you get in return — flavour, fat for roasting potatoes, a carcass for stock — is worth the premium.
Beef, lamb and the bone-in rule
The same logic applies across the table. A bone-in rib of beef follows the same rough principle as turkey: the bone adds weight and structure but not edible meat. For a bone-in joint, 400–500g per person is a sensible starting point. For a boneless rolled joint — sirloin, topside, rolled rib — 200–250g per person will serve well.
Lamb on the bone, whether a whole leg or shoulder, sits in similar territory. A bone-in leg of lamb at 500g per person accounts for the bone running through the centre. Boneless, and you can pull that figure back. The principle is consistent: always ask yourself whether you're paying for bone.
Sides do half the work
Every experienced Christmas cook knows this, and it is worth saying plainly: the roast potatoes, the stuffing, the braised red cabbage, the bread sauce — these are not supporting acts. At a full Christmas table, they feed people. A generous spread of sides means the meat goes further than the raw numbers suggest, and nobody leaves hungry because the turkey was slightly smaller than planned.
This cuts both ways. If your table skews towards serious meat-eaters who treat the vegetables as an afterthought, err upward. If you're feeding a mixed crowd who pile their plates with potatoes and stuffing first and take a modest slice of turkey, the standard figures will serve you well.
The case for erring bigger
The leftovers are not an accident — they are part of the point. Cold turkey in sandwiches, goose fat saved in a jar for weeks of better roasting, beef carved cold with mustard and pickles the following afternoon: these are pleasures in their own right, not consolation prizes for over-ordering.
If you are genuinely torn between two sizes, the larger one is almost always the right choice at Christmas. Storage is manageable, the uses are many, and running short of the centrepiece dish is the one outcome worth avoiding. Order with confidence, and resist the urge to second-guess yourself in the queue at the butcher.
