A supplier sells ingredients in packs, while a recipe lists grams or millilitres. A useful cost sheet connects those units before adding money. This exercise follows three ingredients from pack price to the amount used, then divides the batch cost by a stated number of portions.
Define exactly what you are costing
Imagine a fictional training worksheet with six portions and three costed ingredients: 350 g dried pasta, 500 g ready-made sauce and 50 mL oil. The quantities are accounting inputs, not a tested recipe or cooking instruction. The worksheet assumes these purchased quantities are fully usable; no trimming or other loss is included.
All prices below are invented in AED and use the same cost basis. They are not supplier quotations. Labour, energy, tax adjustments, accompaniments and garnishes are outside this three-line exercise. A real operation must identify and cost its complete recipe and any relevant yield losses.
Match the units before multiplying
For each line, divide the pack price by its quantity in the same unit as the recipe, then multiply by the quantity used. Keep the unrounded intermediate value when calculating the line cost.
- Dried pasta: AED 24 for 2 kg. Convert the pack to 2,000 g. The cost is 24 ÷ 2,000, or AED 0.012 per gram. For 350 g, the line cost is 0.012 × 350: AED 4.20.
- Sauce: AED 18 for 750 g. The cost is 18 ÷ 750, or AED 0.024 per gram. For 500 g, the line cost is 0.024 × 500: AED 12.00.
- Oil: AED 30 for 1 litre. Convert the pack to 1,000 mL. The cost is 30 ÷ 1,000, or AED 0.03 per millilitre. For 50 mL, the line cost is 0.03 × 50: AED 1.50.
Do not multiply AED 24 by 350: that would treat a two-kilogram pack price as a price per gram. Also, grams and millilitres are different units; this example does not convert oil volume into weight.
Total the batch, then divide by portions
The three lines total 4.20 + 12.00 + 1.50: AED 17.70. With the worksheet's stated six portions, the ingredient cost per portion is 17.70 ÷ 6: AED 2.95. Six is a supplied assumption, not a yield calculated from the uncooked ingredient weights.
Update one price without changing the recipe
If the same 750 g sauce pack instead costs AED 21, its 500 g line becomes 21 ÷ 750 × 500: AED 14.00. The revised batch costs AED 19.70. Dividing by six gives AED 3.28333…; show AED 3.28 per portion when reporting to two decimal places. Calculate from the full batch total rather than multiplying a rounded portion figure back up.
Leave a sheet someone else can check
Record the price date, pack size, unit, recipe quantity, line calculation, batch total and confirmed portion count. Ask a colleague to explain the denominator on each line. Ingredient cost alone does not establish a selling price or profit.
The BC Cook Articulation Committee's Controlling Food Costs explains recipe cost sheets, standard portions and the need to include accompaniments. The numbers here are original practice material. Continue with HCA food and beverage training.
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