Recipe Cost Calculator

How the calculator works

Each ingredient line is one small sum.

cost of an ingredient = price paid / package size x amount used

The first part, price divided by package size, is the unit price: what one gram, one ounce or one egg costs. Multiplying by the amount used gives the cost of that ingredient in this recipe.

The calculator then adds every line.

total cost = sum of all ingredient costs

cost per serving = total cost / servings

You can enter the package and the amount used in different units, as long as they measure the same kind of thing. Buy flour by the pound and use it in grams, or buy oil by the liter and use it in tablespoons, and the conversion is done for you.

Worked example

A batch of 24 cookies uses four priced ingredients.

• Flour: $4.00 for a 5 pound bag, 300 grams used. A 5 pound bag is 2,268 grams, so 4.00 / 2,268 x 300 = $0.53.
• Butter: $5.00 for 1 pound, 113 grams (one stick) used. 5.00 / 453.6 x 113 = $1.25.
• Sugar: $3.50 for a 4 pound bag, 200 grams used. 3.50 / 1,814 x 200 = $0.39.
• Eggs: $3.00 a dozen, 2 used. 3.00 / 12 x 2 = $0.50.

Total: 0.53 + 1.25 + 0.39 + 0.50 = $2.67. Per cookie: 2.67 / 24 = about $0.11.

Butter is under a fifth of the weight of those ingredients and nearly half the cost. That is the kind of thing costing a recipe shows you.

Matching units

The package and the amount used have to be the same kind of measure.

• Weight with weight: grams, kilograms, ounces and pounds convert freely among themselves.
• Volume with volume: teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, fluid ounces, milliliters and liters convert among themselves.
• Count with count: use “each” for eggs, lemons, cans and anything else you buy and use by the piece.

A pound of flour cannot be costed against a cup of flour without knowing what a cup of flour weighs. When a line mixes the two, the calculator marks it and leaves it out of the total until you fix it. The Cups to Grams converter will give you the weight to enter.

What to count

Use the price you paid. Enter the shelf price of the package you bought, including any tax that applies to food where you live.

Count the whole can if you opened it. If a recipe uses half a can of coconut milk and the rest goes in the bin, the recipe cost the whole can. If you will use the rest, cost only what went in.

Remember trim and waste. A kilogram of whole chicken is not a kilogram of meat, and an onion loses its skin and ends. For a home budget this hardly matters. For food you sell, cost the amount you bought, not the amount that reached the pan.

Small items. A teaspoon of salt or a pinch of spice costs a cent or two. Skip them at home, or add a small flat amount to cover them.

From cost to price

If you sell what you cook, the ingredient cost per serving is where pricing starts, not where it ends. The price also has to cover your time, packaging, energy, rent and equipment, any fees for selling, and a profit.

A common way to keep track is food cost percentage: ingredient cost divided by selling price. A cookie that costs $0.11 in ingredients and sells for $1.00 has a food cost of 11 percent. What percentage is right depends on the kind of business, so compare with others who sell what you sell.

Tips and common mistakes

Cost the recipe at the size you make it. Buying a 25 pound sack lowers the unit price, but only if you use the sack before it goes stale.

Do not forget the yield. A cake cut into 8 slices and the same cake cut into 12 have different costs per serving. Decide the portion first.

Keep the link. The address of this page updates as you type, so you can bookmark a costed recipe or send it to someone and it will open with the same numbers.