Recipe cost calculator: what a batch costs and what each portion costs

By The PrepSheet team · 10 Oct 2026

Put in each ingredient the way you buy it (the pack price and pack size) and how much of it the recipe uses. The calculator does the division, adds the lines, splits the batch into portions and tells you what to charge at your target GP. If you weighed an ingredient after prep, give its yield and the cost of the trim goes in too.

How the cost is worked out

Each line is pack price × amount used ÷ pack size, with the pack size and the amount in the same unit (grams with grams, millilitres with millilitres, or items). A 5 kg bag of mince at £29.99 is 5,000 g, so 700 g of it costs £29.99 × 700 ÷ 5,000 = £4.20. Add the lines for the batch cost, divide by the portions and you have the cost per portion.

The yield column is for anything you weigh after prep. If the recipe says 1 kg of peeled, diced onion and onions come out at 83% usable, you bought 1 kg ÷ 0.83 = 1.2 kg of them, and the calculator costs it that way. Leave it at 100 for anything you weigh as it comes out of the pack. Yields for 28 common ingredients are on the ingredient yield chart.

Worked example: cottage pie

Our costed cottage pie uses 14 ingredients at dated wholesale prices. The batch comes to £18.99 for 10 portions, so £1.90 a portion. At 70% GP that is £6.33 ex VAT, or £7.59 on a menu with 20% VAT. Choose it from the list above to see every line, then change the prices to your own.

Three things that make recipe costings wrong

Pricing the bought weight of something you trim. Leeks lose more than half their weight to prep; costing them as bought understates the line by more than half.

Leaving out the small lines. Oil for frying, seasoning, garnish and the dressing on the side add up. A round 2–5% of the batch for "sundries" is better than nothing, but a line each is better still.

Using last quarter's prices. Costings drift when supplier prices move and the sheet does not. Recost the dishes that sell most whenever an invoice changes; the guide to keeping costs accurate shows a routine for it.

Questions people ask

Do I put prices in with or without VAT?

Without. Most food you buy is zero-rated, and if you are VAT-registered you reclaim the VAT on things that are not, so the ex-VAT price is your real cost. VAT only comes back in on the selling price.

What GP should a recipe make?

Most UK restaurants and pubs aim for 65–70% GP on food, which is a food cost of 30–35% of the price before VAT. The UK GP benchmarks page breaks that down by type of business.

Should labour go in the recipe cost?

Not in the food cost. GP covers labour, rent and everything else, which is why the target is as high as it is. Cost the food here and manage labour as its own percentage of sales.

How do I cost an item I buy by the each?

Choose "each" as the unit, put the number in the pack as the pack size and the number you use as the amount. A tray of 30 eggs at £3.49 with 4 used costs £3.49 × 4 ÷ 30 = 47p.

Other free tools: Menu price calculator · Cake pricing calculator · Recipe scaler · GP calculator · Food cost calculator · Ingredient yields · Costed UK dishes · Put a calculator on your site