The creation of the PSMU or Personal Single Meal Unit may be the greatest thing I've created that doesn't have a number associated with it and/or isn't alive. As modest as that may sound I believe it is the truth.
Unless you were with me around the end of November of last year you are probably wondering what the heck is a PSMU. Let me take you back several months.
::Fade in, at my work cube::
I was sitting at work at lunch going over my shopping list for TH2.5 and I realized I wasn't quite sure if I would have enough food. Anyone who has seen my near the end of November knows I get a bit antsy about this. You would think from previous years I wouldn't have this issue. Well, I thought what if I had some number I could shoot for. If you check around the web you can find out that for Thanksgiving 1 you should buy a turkey based on about 1 pound of turkey per person. For all you future TH2 party throwers let me warn you. There is no goose calculator, no ox-tail stew calculator. So what should I do? I should come up with my own system of course!
Since TH2 is an all day event I had to do some math. I figured if I had 60 people (I was being optimistic there) and they would eat 2 servings of a main dish. Whether the main dish is a a few slices of turkey or a goose leg or even half of a quail doesn't matter. Simple math says 60 people multiplied by 2 meals equals 120 PSMU's. 120 portions of the main dish would be needed, nice and simple. 120 seems like a lot of food at first, but once I figured that each fried turkey would yield around 20 PSMU each and since I would have 2 fried turkeys, that's already 40 PSMU's with just 2 dishes. I'm sure you're asking "How did you decide that each turkey is 20 PSMU's?" Over the last 10 years I have carved so many turkeys I have a pretty good grasp on how many chunks of food you end up with. For example here is a 14 pound turkey: 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, then each breast gets sliced into around 7 thick slices each. 2+2+2+2+7+7=20 PSMU's The unit is an average. Some people will eat a whole leg while some will only eat a few small slices. There is the key, know your food and know how you would carve/slice/serve it.
Liquid PSMU's were much more difficult for me to figure out. I decided this past year that I want a large beer selection at all TH2 gatherings from here on out. Thankfully beer, soda and juice boxes come in single serve containers. The way I figured out drink servings was a little different than the food. I started with 60 people again, but (get ready for an incredible leap of logic here) the longer someone is at a place, the more that person will drink. Since I wanted to have the maximum amount of drinkable items I had to use the full 60 people and the full 12 hours of time I had allotted for the party. Again this math is based on my observances and past history. I figured 5 drinks per 8 hours. A "drink" in this case refers to any of the following: 1 beer bottle, i glass of wine, 1 juice box, 1 glass of water, 1 can of soda, or 1 cocktail. So 1 person over 12 hours = 8 drinks. 8 x 60 = 480 Liquid PSMU's for the event. I won't lie, this is the one place I got overly concerned with before the event. Thanks to some of my friends, my wife and Taco Bell I managed to avoid a mini breakdown in the Total Wine in Delaware. I should have trusted in my PSMU math because at the end of the night of TH2.5 I had quite a bit of a surplus of drinks (I had 55 people come, not 60).
For the very first event to use the new PSMU calculations I think it went incredibly well. I ended up with considerably fewer leftovers than the last 3 years, and everyone had a full belly.
This system does work! I've seen it in action!
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