Where is Linda when you need her?! Ok, so here's my thought, I'm probably off.

200 ounces=12.5 pounds. So I'd start by using a 10 pound bag of potatoes. After you add all the suff one adds to it to make it potato salad, it'd be 12.5 pounds, don't you think?

Oh wow. I'd try to get her to go mashed! :)

Do you need to provide the serving cups? I'd start with how it's served. Don't get me wrong--I'd still be off!--but it's a starting place. It's easier to go by 1 oz. servings (or whatever) than "bites".

Guess that's one of those school assignments that seem really cool until someone has to make potato salad for 200....

Offhand I would say 7 servings per cup. So a little less than 2 gallons of potato salad.
So that would be about ten pounds of potatoes.

Think like this: if a small serving is about 1 tbs, and you need 200 servings, you'd require 12.5 cups of potato salad.

A normal typical serving size of potato salad is 1/2 cup, which is equal to 8 tablespoons (8 tiny servings). You need to think as if you're making potato salad for 25 people who will only take one serving each. :)

Something to consider; are you providing the cups or are they? If they are getting them they will most likely get the 1 oz. cup that is 1" tall and 3/4" across. Hard to put potato salad in them unless you chop the ingredients very small.

There is a 1 oz "squat" cup. It is 1.5 inches across and only 1/4" tall. A much better choice for potato salad. Also if you decide to purchase potato salad you have no control over the size of the chunks.

If you are making the potato salad I assume you will add celery, onion and maybe eggs. Or maybe not due to allergies.
The 1 oz cups are a liquid measure, not a weight measure. That said, I will agree that 12-15 pounds of potatoes with celery and other ingredients would be plenty. I don't know how old the kids are but not all of them will take potato salad.

I would look into the type of cups they are using; it should not be a problem for them to get the shorter cup. It will make your chopping job easier if you go with homemade salad.

Welcome out of lurkdom - even if it is only temporary.

Teresa

I agree that you need to break the math down into manageable portions like tablespoons. I have no idea how much a tablespoon of potato salad would weigh, but I can take a cup of potato salad and make it 16 tablespoons.

I don't know what you put in your potato salad but mine has eggs, pickles, celery, onions in addition to potatoes, so you need to add those ingredients to your calculations.

So, 100 tablespoons equals 6.25 cups but you're going to have to give yourself some leeway unless you intend to measure out those tablespoons. I'd go with 8 cups, at least. Probably more, and then my family could have some for dinner as long as I was peeling, chopping, etc.

Here potatoes no longer come in 10 pound bags, they come in 8 pound bags. I'm assuming you will peel them, but if you add other ingredients I think you'll have enough for the class but will need more if you intend to make the extra for family. (grin) Something like potatoes don't weigh out exactly, but the old "pints a pound the world around" is a good kind of rule of thumb. So, that would be 16 cups unpeeled, probably 12 or 13 peeled, depending on bad spots, etc.

Have fun!

Annie

I agree that 10 pounds should do it. Do cut into fairly small cubes so that they'll fit in the cups easiest. I like to make it the day before and then check in the morning to see if it might need a bit more mayo and spices. Good luck and have fun.

Thank you all so much for the input - this has been really helpful. I think I panicked when I saw the date it was due. I'm embarrassed to say that approaching the problem using math never occurred to me! I was trying to picture a "serving" of potatoes - ha ha.

All of your points are good - Teresa, I'll be getting the cups, so will chop/dice accordingly, and plan for north of 10 pounds, plus the celery, eggs, pickles, etc. Fori, agreed that there are easier choices. My personal one was potato chips, but she was having none of that. Annie, if I could convince myself that not peeling the potatoes would work, I'd be feeling far better :) I'm thinking for a grade school crowd, it's going to have to be peeled (and that the Moms are the more likely eaters of it).

You guys are awesome - thank you so much. I hope to return the favor in the future. If anyone is near LA and has a hankering to do some peeling, come on over - coffee is on!

Thanks,
Alyssa

Alyssa - I meant to post this link to a photo of the cups. One box is 250 count.

Teresa

Here is a link that might be useful: 1 oz squat souffle cup

You could always do red potatoes and not peel but they cost more.

Oh potato chips would have been great! :)

I would just buy a few gallons at the deli or grocery store--even if I had to spread it out in batches in a jelly roll pan and chop it up better.

Cooking for kids is a thankless task.

I would plan to make a more coarsely mashed potato type of potato salad and skip the chopping of those potatoes into little dice. Often the cubed cooked potatoes get smushed somewhat when mixing it altogether anyway. In this case, I don't think it will matter. Or, yes, get the deli salad and mash up the larger potatos.

Do you have or can you borrow a small scoop - the size for cookie dough is what I'm thinking off here. That would make your portioning much faster and easier.

Teresa

As a double check, you could get a bag of roughly even sized potatoes, see how many pieces you're cutting each into, multiply by the number of potatoes, and make sure you've got at least 2 or 3 potato chunks per kid. For a little one-ounce cup, I think that will be all you need.

Does the teacher really expect you to prepare a food item for 200 or more ppl? Any allergies or sensitivities? Personally, I think that is crazy and out of line

Thank you all - I have all the ingredients to make the salad now, but am still considering buying as I'm feeling quite lazy :) . But then I'd have to figure out how to use a whole bunch of celery! I do have the souffle cups now (Smart & Final), and a scoop.

Westsider, I am constantly amazed / annoyed by how many of the kids' assignments are actually assignments for the parents. I get that they want to make sure we're involved, but it really gets over the top at times from both a time and money perspective (not certain what they're learning from it either). I find that the teachers who are also parents tend not to send home these types of assignments...

I'd be thinking about sending a letter to the school board and shoving a bowl of potato salad in the teacher's face. Providing food for 200? Nutzo.

It's probably too late now, but I would have roasted 200 small red potatoes with some olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe some fresh garlic, then explained to my daughter that some people are allergic to eggs, potato salad has to be refrigerated, etc. and it's a heck of a lot of work to make. Esp for a group of 5th graders who likely won't appreciate any aspect of that.