How much cold cuts should I buy for 40 people?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Buy 2 of those packages of hillshire farms with turkey, smoked turkey, and ham
Get the platters and decorate them with pieces of lettuce and then fold 1 whole package on the tray to make it look like a lot and pretty. But if your going to feed 40 people just buy 1 package and they sale those variety packages of cheeses get 1 package. Trust me if there's going to be other food there they'll only get 1 or 2 sandwiches the most.

Not knowing how much other food you will be serving or how filling it might be makes it a little difficult. I would say if you're expecting everyone to have a typical sized sandwich, figure on about a 1/4 lb. per person - more if you think people will have more than one sandwich. 40 people at 1/4 lb each would be 10lbs of meat.

Well 4 ozs. / person would be 10 lbs or 8 ozs. / person would be 20 lbs.
Go with 10 lbs if all ladies, 20 lbs if all men, or 15 lbs if half'n'half.
I'd suggest more meat than cheese, so 2-3 lbs of the meats,1-2 lbs of the cheeses.

killo