Batch costing
Recipe cost calculator
Free · no signupYou buy by the case and cook by the batch. Enter the packs: the calculator handles the conversion and returns the batch cost, plus the per-100 g figure that lets this recipe feed other dishes at its true cost.
Pack size
Recipe uses
Line
$12.00
Pack size
Recipe uses
Line
$1.55
Pack size
Recipe uses
Line
$1.30
This batch makes
Batch cost3 lines
Tomatoes, tinned 6 each$12.00
Olive oil 150 ml$1.55
Onions 600 g$1.30
Whole batch costs$14.85
Cost per 100 g$0.74
what a dish using this as a component would be charged
Batch cost is the building block
Menus are priced per plate, but kitchens cook in batches, and every batch that goes into several dishes needs one cost, kept in one place and kept current. The per-100 g number this page produces is that cost. In LineCost Pro batches become sub-recipes: cost the sauce once and every dish that uses it recosts automatically when an ingredient price moves.
Common questions
- How do I calculate the cost of a recipe?
- For each ingredient: pack price divided by pack size gives cost per unit; multiply by the amount the recipe uses. Sum the lines and you have the batch cost. The mistakes hide in the unit conversions, a $31 three-litre jug of oil used 150 ml at a time, which is exactly the part this calculator does for you.
- What does cost per 100 g mean and why does it matter?
- It is the batch cost divided by what the batch makes, normalised. It is the number that lets a sauce, stock or dough be charged correctly into every dish that uses it: 300 g of a sauce that costs $0.42 per 100 g adds $1.26 to a dish, whatever the dish is.
- How is this different from the food cost calculator?
- This page answers what a recipe costs to make: batch and per-unit. The food cost calculator carries on to the menu: portions, food cost percentage against a selling price, and target-margin pricing. Cost the components here; price the plate there.
- Why does it refuse to convert cups to grams?
- Because the answer depends on the ingredient: a cup of flour is roughly 120 g, a cup of honey roughly 340 g. A built-in guess would produce confident wrong costs. Weight converts to weight and volume to volume; pick the matching unit and the number stays honest.