Well....I guess that you ought to figure Caesar salad for about 40 if you are having another salad. And since this is a side salad, I wouldn't plan on a big bowlful for every one.
I would figure 2 1/2 gallons of cut up Romaine. I would figure 3 of those packages of 3 Romaine hearts. I think that will be more than enough.
Happy Birthday to your mother!
Linda C

Thank you, Linda C. I'm going to make the salad in the church kitchen - the party is at her church on Sunday. I have to find someone with a salad spinner. The one's I've seen so far are priced at $25-30! I should have packed mine and brought it with me...

seagrass

Linda is way better at this than me but I recently used one of those bags of three "heads" to serve 10 and there was none left.

I would go with 4-5 bags because I'm sure your Caesar will be the favourite ;)

You can toss salad in large new trash bag and then fill salad serving bowl.

Use a clean or new pillow case for a salad spinner....or one of those big square dish towels and do it in batches....put the greens in the bag, close it up, take it outside and whirl it around your head. People think you are nutz....but it works!
3 of those Green Giant bags of Romaine hearts weighs just over 4 pounds. Think of what a pound of cut up lettuce looks like...go to the store and look at a bag of cut up greens....see what it weighs....think how many small side luncheon salads for friends of an 80 year old lady you could make with that.
This is a luncheon, with lasagna.....really 3 bags will be fine.....unless the other salad looks nasty.

If you live near a Gordon Food Service retail outlet they have a, I think it's 2 lbs. , of washed bite size romaine for $4.00. It gives you a lot more edible lettuce than the 3 hearts in a bag. Gordon's is a midwestern retailer but perhaps there is another near you. You just open the bag-washed and dried already. Have fun.

I don't like bags of cut up greens. It's all treated with an anti oxidant and tastes funky to me.
But....maybe enough dressing would cover the taste....and it sure would be easy.....and cheap!!

to mention that Gordon's is a restaurant supplier. but open to the public.

Thanks to all of you. I've developed a technique for making a chopped salad with romaine hearts. I chop the hearts, unwashed, from the stem end and wash the lettuce once chopped and spin dry in the salad spinner.

Sans spinner, I already have considered the pillowcase LOL.

I looked at the packages of hearts at the local Kroger and Giant Eagle stores here and they're kind of puny. So maybe I'll up the packages to 4. I'm used to the big, heavy bags like LindaC describes but I'm not finding them here.

seagrass

I don't know that I'll be any help, but I made caesar salad for 350 for Ashley's wedding and I used 15 bags of those romaine hearts, 3 to a bag. It was the only thing we ran out of, but I bought a big industrial size jug of dressing and there was LOTS of that left. Usually no one eats the vegetables or salad at my family functions and sure enough, no one ate those blasted baby carrots and cauliflower florets, but we ran out of salad. Go figure.

So, at 350 people and 15 bags, that would be a bag for every 23 people, or one "heart" for about 8 people. I was figuring not everyone would eat it and that there were a lot of little kids present that wouldn't want salad when the candy table was right there, but it was hot and many people just made big salads and had a small side of pasta.

So, I'm thinking 4 should be plenty, with another salad available it's one "heart" for every 7.7 people, but half will eat the other kind of salad, making it one "heart" for about 4 people.

Annie

Seagrass, pass along a Happy Birthday from me please.

I have to disagree on the amount you will need. Dad and I generally have a salad every night and one head is just enough for the two of us. Therefore, yoou would get 6 servings of a side per bag. Most of the heads in there are relatively small compared to "loose" romaine. Plus, the bottom stem end is generally pale to white and I don't use it. Tonights trim was a good 2 inches.

Many don't make salads at home, they think it is too much trouble, so when they are out, they indulge. You know, the chopping, the washing, OY! That could be why Annie and Sharon ran out.

For great amounts, try GFS, Costco or Sam's. They sell them in 6 packs. You can always keep some back and take leftovers home for Monday.

To dry, you can always use a big bath or beach towel too. Roll it up like you would a hand wash sweater and gently pat dry. You can wash and dry at home and take it over ina cooler.

This reminds me of a big backyard BBQ a few years ago. We tossed the mixed green salad in the clean bathtub! Toss, bowl and serve. The shower head made for easy clean up too.

You all are forgetting...This is not a salad as a first course, not a bowl of salad as a starter for you dinner. But a side to lasagna at a luncheon for probably mostly elderly people.....and there will also be another salad as well.
Sam's Romaine hearts are good...2 bags of 6 ought to be fine.
Half a cup of greens, dressed with croutons will be a a good side serving. Remember 2 1/2 gallons of cut up greens. If you don't get that out of 4 bags, go get another bag.

Seagrass, I don't know if you're near an Aldi, but they have three-packs of romaine for a $1.99.

Not forgotten Linda, our salads are a side, along with a vegtable or two and a starch.

Do you put your salad on the same plate as your square of lasagna and garlic bread as you are going through a buffet line? When people eat a salad on a separate plate as a course before the "meat,potatoes, and vegetable" they will eat 3 or 4 times as much salad.

Over the past 5 years I have "done" 50 meals for a large group. Never have I run out of salad. once I came close, but that was a marinated vegetable salad, and unbenounced to me, there were a fair amount of vegetarians in the group who ate only salad.

Once I ran out of fruit. We had just cut up fresh melons, berries, kiwi etc, and people were asking..."is there any more fruit"....and I had to tell them...we ran out. I vowed never again!!

I have also discovered that older people eat less than younger people, farmers, those who are used to having their "dinner" at noon, will eat more at lunch than those who have their dinner at night.
Those Dole bags of Romaine hearts weigh 22 oz. Whatever you buy, weigh it and 4 plus pounds will be enough.

I went up and checked our church notebook and it listed 15 heads of romaine for 100 people and 22 heads for 150 people. It wasn't noted whether it was served separately or as part of a buffet.

so for 50 that would be 7 1/2 heads.......which is even less than the 9 heads I recommended for 40 servings.
Churches are pretty good about knowing about cooking for a crowd. They are interested in keeping costs and leftovers down.
If you are cooking for 8 and have a cup of salad left over, that's no biggie, but if you have a cup leftover for every eight people and you are cooking for 100 that quickly becomes 12 cups.

I've bought 3-pack of Romaine hearts and no two brands are alike with regard to size. If you get them at Costco you can return unopened packages. But my guess is you will chop all that you buy so you aren't doing it at the last minute.

You say only HALF the crowd will be elderly and the other ages all over the map? Maybe a few teens with bottomless tummies will be in the mix???? I agree with Chase, Annie and Ruthanna. Buy at least 4 3-packs or 12 hearts minimum. Personally I would go with 5 packages.

The worst case scenario? Donate the leftovers to a facility that serves the homeless. Some cities even have organizations that will pick it up right after your event.

Good luck! My Mom just celebrated her 84th.

Teresa

I just wanted to get back and thank everyone for helping me with this. I made too much salad LOL. There were only about 45 people at the party, and there was another "salad bar" kind of salad...if I had it to do again, I'd cut everything in half and it would have been perfect for 45 with the second salad. That said, if there had only been one salad and 70 people I do believe this ratio would have worked fine, since lots of people were gobbling it up.

I spent about 45 dollars, and here's what I used:

5 18 oz. pkgs. romaine hearts (Trader Joe's)
1 large head of red romaine (regular grocery store)
4 15 oz. jars of Marzetti's refrigerated creamy caesar dressing,2 regular, and 2 lite
2 cartons of grated parm cheese (Trader Joe's), approx. a lb. total
juice of 3 fresh lemons
5 5 oz. bags of caesar croutons

I chopped the lettuces, washed them and spun them in a newly acquired heavy duty salad spinner which my mother will now enjoy :0) I put the chopped lettuce in huge giant ziplock bags the night before for transport to the church kitchen. I squeezed the lemons and strained the juice and put in a jar with a lid. I took everything on Sunday to the church kitchen. They had a huge, enormous salad "bucket" and all of the ingredients filled it well.

I used plastic gloves and tossed everything by hand, rinsing out each of the salad dressing jars with some of the lemon juice to get every last drop. I'd estimate that the salad sat about 1/2 hour before anyone started to fill up their plates from the buffet.

So many people came up to say how much they really loved the salad and wanted to know how I made it. I sent some of the fans home with smaller, large ziplock bags full of the stuff.

The party was great. My mom had a wonderful day. She also really got a charge out of all of the responses I got from people here about the salad. I read them to her each day.

Many thanks.

seagrass

Seagrass, I'm glad your Mom's party went well, and a very happy Birthday to her. Plus, she got a really nice salad spinner.

Well, at least you didn't run out, LOL. Actually, I just hate it when I run out of something, I'd rather have too much than not enough. Strange quirk of mine...

Annie