If you sell weekly meal prep plans, your cost does not end at the stove. Every box carries its container, its share of your cooking hours, its share of the energy and its share of the delivery run. Delivery is where most of the surprises are: a route costs about the same for 10 boxes as for 60, and every extra delivery day is paid in full. If you cost only the food, a plan can leave you a lot less than you think.
Where the money slips away in meal prep
- Delivery. Fuel, a driver or a courier. You pay per route, not per box.
- Containers, lids and labels. On an $11 meal they weigh more than they seem to.
- Cooking loss. Chicken, beef and rice change weight in the pan. What you buy by the kilo is not what goes in the box.
- Late cancellations. You have already shopped and cooked. Nobody pays for that box.
- Delivery days. One customer wants Monday, another wants Thursday. Each extra day is another route.
- Menu rotation. A new dish each week means new ingredients, new leftovers and new prep time.
The guide on how to price weekly meal prep plans covers cost per box by plan size and delivery days.
Worked example: a 10-meal plan at $110
You have 60 boxes a week. You cook them on Sunday in 6 hours and deliver on Monday in one route.
| Item | Working | Per box |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients (chicken, rice, vegetables, sauce) | $3.90 | |
| Container, lid and label | $0.60 | |
| Your time | 6 h × $20 ÷ 60 | $2.00 |
| Energy | $12 ÷ 60 | $0.20 |
| Delivery route | $48 ÷ 60 | $0.80 |
| Loaded cost per box | $7.50 |
The plan is $110 for 10 meals, so 110 ÷ 10 = $11.00 a box.
- Each box leaves you 11.00 − 7.50 = $3.50, a margin of 3.50 ÷ 11.00 = 31.8%
- Per week: 60 × 3.50 = $210, with your hours already paid
Now some customers ask for a Thursday drop. You run two routes at $48 each:
- Delivery per box: 96 ÷ 60 = $1.60
- Loaded cost: 7.50 + 0.80 = $8.30
- Each box leaves you 11.00 − 8.30 = $2.70, a margin of 24.5%
- Per week: 60 × 2.70 = $162
Same menu, same customers, $48 less a week for one extra delivery day. You can charge for the second day, set a minimum order per drop or group customers by area. But you need to see the number first.
These prices are before sales tax. Check your local tax rules for what to add.
The numbers that matter most
Cost per box with everything. Food, container, your hours, energy and delivery. The guide on delivery packaging cost per order helps you add up every piece of the packaging.
Delivery cost per box. What a route costs divided by the boxes on it. The guide on your own delivery or apps compares the options, and the one on minimum orders and delivery fees shows how to set a minimum.
Protein yield. Weigh your chicken raw and cooked a few times and use your own average. The guide on meat costing with bone, trim and cooking loss shows how, and the yield and trim calculator gives you the cost of each usable kilo.
Orders confirmed before you shop. Taking payment in advance stops you cooking for people who cancel. The guide on preorders and subscriptions explains how to set it up.
Frozen or fresh. Frozen meals widen your delivery window but add freezer energy and different packaging. The guide on costing frozen meals shows what changes.
How much to cook. From the week's orders to a shopping list. The guide on production planning helps you avoid buying more than you need.
How to keep track
One sheet per week: customers, boxes per customer, delivery days and routes, what each route cost, receipts, cooking hours and boxes that were not paid for. After a month you see what each delivery day costs you and which plan size pays best.
Do it with the calculator
The food cost calculator costs one recipe at a time and saves nothing, so note the result or copy the link. Treat the week's cook as one batch: boxes as units, everything you buy as ingredients, the container and lid as packaging per unit, your cooking minutes as labour, and energy plus delivery as other costs per batch. It returns the loaded cost per box and the price for your target margin.