How much beef, sausage, chicken, garlic bread, charcoal, beer, soda and ice to buy for your crowd, with a shopping list by store section, cost per person and WhatsApp sharing.
The math starts from a simple and widely used rule: at a 4-hour barbecue a man eats about 450 g of meat, a woman 350 g and a child 200 g, adding up beef, pork, chicken, sausage and coalho cheese. For 4 men, 4 women and 2 children that is 3.6 kg. With a 10% safety margin, 3.96 kg. That amount is split among the cuts: in the classic mix, 40% beef (picanha, fraldinha and alcatra), 20% sausage, 15% chicken, 15% pork and 10% coalho cheese, which gives, in the example without margin, 1.44 kg of beef, 720 g of sausage, 540 g of chicken, 540 g of pork and 360 g of cheese. Bone-in cuts such as ribs need more weight at the store: the tool uses 1.4 times for ribs and 1.25 times for chicken thighs and drumsticks, and rounds each cut up to the next 100 g. Duration matters a lot: each hour above or below 4 changes the meat by 12.5%, with a floor of 75% (2 hours) and a ceiling of 150% (8 hours or more). If meat is the only dish, add 25%; with many sides, take off 10%. Big eaters add 30% of the average adult portion, and each vegetarian leaves the meat count and gets 150 g of coalho cheese. Charcoal follows 1 kg per kg of meat (3.96 kg for the example, one 5 kg bag), with coarse salt at 40 g per kg of meat. For drinks, 250 ml of beer per drinker per hour (8 drinkers over 4 hours is 8 liters, 23 cans of 350 ml), 130 ml of soda and 75 ml of water per person per hour, plus 100 ml of non-alcoholic drink per hour for each adult who does not drink beer. Ice is 1 kg per person in hot weather, 600 g in mild weather and 300 g in the cold. The shopping list comes grouped by store section, with the prices you edit, and can be copied, sent on WhatsApp or printed. The default prices are only examples. None of these amounts is an official standard: they are common practice that you adjust to your group.
Paste the code into your HTML and the tool shows up on your page, without J-Kit's navigation and ads. It still runs in the browser of whoever visits your site.
<iframe
src="https://jkit.tools/embed/en-US/bbq-calculator"
width="100%"
height="600"
style="border:0"
loading="lazy"
title="BBQ Calculator (Brazilian Churrasco)"
></iframe>These references help contextualize formulas, standards, APIs and limitations used on this page. They do not replace professional validation when a result has legal, financial, medical or operational impact.
Common practice is 400 to 500 g per adult over 4 hours. The tool uses 450 g per man, 350 g per woman and 200 g per child, counting all meats and cheese. For 4 men, 4 women and 2 children that is 3.6 kg, or 3.96 kg with a 10% margin.
Each adds 30% of the average adult portion.
They leave the meat count and get 150 g of coalho cheese.
Planned surplus on meat, sides and drinks.
Rule of thumb: 1 kg of charcoal for each 1 kg of meat.
Relative weights: the total is rescaled to 100%. Set a cut to zero to drop it from the list.
Order on the grill
Shopping list
Example values from 2026-10, estimated by the author to fill the screen. They are not quotes: replace them with your butcher and store prices. They are saved on this device.
There is no official standard for meat per person. The tool uses common practice from public guides: 450 g for a man, 350 g for a woman and 200 g for a child at a 4-hour barbecue, adding up all meats and cheese. Duration changes the amount by 12.5% per hour against 4 hours (2 hours = 75%, 6 hours = 125%, capped at 150%). Meat as the only dish needs 25% more, and plenty of sides 10% less. Meat is split by the mix weights (classic: 40% beef, 20% sausage, 15% chicken, 15% pork, 10% cheese). Ribs and chicken have bone, so the weight you buy is higher than the edible weight (ribs 1.4 times, chicken 1.25 times). Charcoal is 1 kg per kg of meat, coarse salt 40 g per kg, beer 250 ml per drinker per hour, soda 130 ml and water 75 ml per person per hour, and 1 kg of ice per person in hot weather. These are practical rules, not standards: adjust them to your group.
References checked on 2026-10-18.