Recipe Cost per Serving Calculator
What a recipe costs to make, in total and per serving.
Good to know. A home-cooked lasagne costs about what one portion does in a restaurant, and it feeds the whole table.
How it works
In plain words
Add up what each ingredient cost for the amount you used, and divide by the number of servings.
The formula
cost per serving = Σ ingredient costs ÷ servings ingredient cost = pack price × amount used ÷ pack size
Worked example
The ingredients add up to 12.00, so each of the 4 servings costs 3.00.
Sources
No outside data or rates: this is plain arithmetic.
2 automated tests check its answers on every change.
About the recipe cost per serving calculator
Knowing what a meal costs per portion helps with budgeting, meal planning and pricing food for a café, a bake sale or a catering order. List each ingredient with the cost of the amount you used, set the number of servings, and the calculator shows the total and the cost per serving, with the most expensive ingredients first.
Count only what the recipe uses. If a 500 g pack of cheese costs 5.00 and you use 150 g, that is 1.50. Store-cupboard things like oil, salt and spices add up to a little; a rough allowance of 0.50 to 1.00 per recipe covers them. The unit price calculator helps work out the cost per gram or per item from a pack.
The biggest costs are usually meat, fish and cheese. Swapping half the meat for lentils or beans, buying the cheaper cut, or cooking a larger batch and freezing portions can halve the cost per serving without changing the recipe much.
For a business, the cost of ingredients is only part of the price: restaurants typically aim for food costs of about 25 to 35% of the menu price, to cover staff, rent and energy.
Questions people ask
How do I calculate cost per serving?
Add up the cost of the ingredients you used and divide by the number of servings. 12.00 of ingredients for 4 servings is 3.00 each.
How do I cost an ingredient I only use part of?
Divide the pack price by the pack size and multiply by the amount used: 150 g of a 5.00, 500 g pack is 1.50.
What food cost percentage do restaurants use?
Often 25 to 35% of the menu price. A dish with 3.00 of ingredients might sell for 9 to 12.