How Much Ham to Buy Per Person at Christmas

By Arthur Hodgson, Hamper Packing Manager at The Gourmet Pantry.

Allow 250 g of ham on the bone per person when the ham is the centrepiece, and about half that when it is one of several things on a cold table. Ten people need 2.5 kg. Legs do not come in neat 2.5 kg sizes, so the real question is not how much ham you need. It is how much leftover ham you want.

Bone and rind take roughly a third of a leg, so a 3 kg piece carves down to about 2 kg of meat. Work from the meat, not the label. Then buy long on purpose, because the second half of a ham is the useful half: a week of sandwiches, one pot of soup, and a good reason to have decent condiments in the fridge before Christmas Eve.

How much ham do I need per person at Christmas?

250 g on the bone per adult, which carves to about 150 g of meat on the plate. That is a generous serve with sides. Halve it to 125 g if the ham is sharing the table with prawns, a cold chicken and three salads, which at most Australian Christmases it is. Count children under ten as half an adult. Add a little if the ham is glazed, because a sticky honey and chipotle glaze brings people back to the board.

What size ham do I need for 10 people?

2.5 kg is the minimum for ten, and in practice that means a half leg, which runs 4 to 5 kg. That is not overbuying. That is choosing your leftovers.

Sandwich counts assume 80 g of ham in each, which is what a decent one holds.

How much ham is left over from a leg?

More than people expect, which is the point. Ten people and a 4.5 kg half leg leaves roughly 1.4 kg of meat once lunch is cleared. Read that as eight sandwiches, a fried rice and a pot of pea and ham soup, not as a mistake. Carved ham keeps three to four days in a ham bag or damp tea towel, and freezes well in meal-sized portions.

The leftovers are only as good as what sits beside them. We taste everything we range, and the two jars worth having open on Boxing Day are a mustard with heat and a cranberry that is not just sugar. Mustang Dijon mustard and a mini cranberry sauce come to under $20 together. Buy the mustard full size and the cranberry as the 110 g mini: an opened mustard is still good next Christmas, and a big jar of cranberry goes out with the rubbish in February. The Regimental Condiment Company's own note on that cranberry runs one line: enjoy with your favourite ham off the bone. Keep a box of crackers back too, because ham, mustard and a cracker is lunch on the days nobody wants to cook.

We do not sell ham, which is why we can be plain about the size of the leg. Buy for the leftovers, then spend twenty dollars on the condiments that make them worth eating. The rest of the table is in the festive entertaining range, and if you are the guest this year, a Christmas hamper does the shopping for you. This piece is part of our guide to Christmas food in Australia.