Guides
Costing your products
The full method for costing what you sell: ingredients, packaging, your time, overhead and waste, worked down to cost per unit. Step by step with brownies.
- How to calculate the cost of a food productThe full method for costing what you sell: ingredients, packaging, your time, overhead and waste, worked down to cost per unit. Step by step with brownies.→
- How to calculate the cost per unit of a recipeWork out what each unit really costs: batch cost divided by the yield you actually get, plus packaging per unit. With a worked example for jars of jam.→
- How to cost an ingredient you buy by the packageGet the price per gram, millilitre or unit from any bag, bottle or tray, and adjust it when you peel or trim. With a worked example for a mango hot sauce.→
- Loaded cost: why ingredients are not your real costWhat loaded cost is, what ingredient cost leaves out, and how to work it out per unit with packaging, time, overhead and waste. With a meal prep box example.→
- Fixed vs variable costs in a small food businessWhich costs rise with every unit you sell and which you pay regardless, how to sort them, and why the split changes your pricing and your break-even point.→
- Cost of goods sold for food businesses, explainedWhat cost of goods sold means for a small food business, what goes in it, how to work it out each month from a stock count, and how it leads to gross profit.→
- Food cost percentage: what it is and what is healthyWhat food cost percentage is, how to calculate it, and why no single healthy number fits every product. Work out the right ceiling for each of yours instead.→
- Costing in a notebook, a spreadsheet or an appNotebook, spreadsheet or app for costing your recipes: what each does well, what each misses, and how to keep ingredient prices current whichever you pick.→
- How often to update your costs when prices changeWhen to recalculate your product costs: which price rises matter, a simple threshold rule to decide, and how to handle ingredients that swing by season.→
- Units and conversions for food costingHow to turn kilos, pounds, litres, dozens, bunches and cups into one base unit so your recipe costs come out right. Conversion table and a granola example.→
What does it really cost you?
Put your recipe into the free calculator: ingredients, packaging, your time and the gas. You get the cost per unit and your margin in two minutes, no account needed.