How Many People Does the Common Room Feed?

I don't know, but I thought I'd try to count up the meals serves (just assuming a single person for each mouth eating a meal) during the month of July in an attempt to get a grip on menu planning and budgeting:

June 30th thru July 5th- we had the nine people who live here this summer (we have a summer houseguest), plus three extra houseguests- 12. Plus the Equuschick stopped by once or twice and had lunch and I think Shasta ate here once. Oh, yeah- we had one extra dinner guest on the 30th. But then the HG was out of town Independence Day weekend. This is already too hard. But lets say we fed 12 people 3X a day for the six days between 6/30 and 7/5- that comes out 216 meal servings, plus one for the Tuesday night guest= 217 meal servings

July Fifth- three houseguests left after lunch on Sunday afternoon. We arrived home from church Sunday night and three more houseguests were already here. Then the HG got back and Strider spent the night. And then the Chem Grad came. These friends all spent the night. So on July sixth- 14 people for breakfast, but Strider left for work so wasn't here for lunch.
But then a family of six were here for lunch and dinner and my parents, the EC and Shasta came over for dinner. So that makes, um, 19 for lunch and 23 for dinner, plus we grazed all day long as it was a big day with a lot going on.

So it's the sixth of July and we've already served 273 individual servings of food this month, not counting random visits corresponding with meals or refrigerator raids by the EC and Shasta.

July 7: Five overnight houseguests were here for breakfast, plus the 9 people living here= 14.

Of course, in the laid back style of hospitality I have resorted to in order to keep my sanity, I didn't even get up in time to see two of the overnighters off. I am not sure what they had other than coffee.

Lunch: Again, laidback 'hospitality,' we had leftovers. One of the girls just went through the fridge and set out various items and we browsed. Three of the overnight guests, plus the nine of us, plus the Equuschick= 13

Dinner: The last three houseguests left about 2:00. Then we tidied the living room and dining room, did a couple of loads of laundry, watered the plants, read, discussed the train wreck that is often the result of turning a book into a movie (specifically about Harry Potter) and had four more guests in for dinner, plus the Equuschick, and then an additional two for Bible study. Usually Shasta grabs a snack when he comes by to pick up his wife, but I don't think he did this time, so that's 14 servings for dinner, never mind the bedtime snacks and things.

314 individual servings (not counting snacks and seconds and things like second breakfasts and tea).

July 8th- Wow. I think it was just the nine people who live here, and not all of us ate at every meal- so let's say 20 servings instead of 27=
334.
We won't count the plate of cookies baked to take elsewhere.


July 9th: While we did have some friends (family of four) drop in for a visit, they didn't eat with us. And three of us skipped breakfast at home. The Equuschick came for dinner.

359 servings.

July 10th: Only the nine of us who live here were here for breakfast.
Lunch- 9 of us, plus the Equuschick, plus Strider's Mama, who came out for a long day of shopping and dropping together, also looking at wedding venues and the Rattery, and it was great fun.
Supper: Well. Hard to believe, but only four of us were home for dinner. EC went home, HG went back down south with Strider's Mama, everybody but the Cherub and the Boy went to a singing away down south and didn't come back until the next day- and Granny Tea fed the Headmaster, the Boy and the Cherub- so I am the only one who really ate dinner at home. Amazing. Only 21 servings today (we're not counting odds and ends of snacks and things between meals)- making a total of
380 servings for the first third of July.

July 11th: An anomaly, and how quiet it was- Everybody was gone except the Boy, The Cherub, and me. I do think the HM ate breakfast before he left, but I was sleeping.=) The rest of the family didn't get home until dinner time- so 4 for breakfast and lunch, and 9 of us for dinner.

397 servings

July 12th: 9 for breakfast, and then Strider and one of the college girls shared a picnic lunch with us after church: 11
Dinner: we went to a hotdog roast. We did bring pickles and cookies, and the Cherub had her own food (she has too many food allergies to eat hot dogs, except for Hebrew National brand, which are not made with corn syrup), but we won't figure all that in.

417 single servings so far (most of us seldom stop at a single serving, either, but it would just be too hard to figure that part out)

At this point, I felt kind of like I did the time I sat down to figure out how many years I had a child in diapers.

What have I learned? That there is a good reason I cannot get a grip on menu planning and the grocery budget, so I am going to quit trying.