Budgeting – How to cost a recipe
Sometimes you will have to work to a budget when planning meals and this means that you will
need to know about food prices and be able to work out how much you have spent on your dish. If
you are not sure of the cost of the ingredients for your dish you can investigate using the internet
and online supermarket shopping sites to find out.
Costing is easy to calculate using a computer spreadsheet. You can set up a spreadsheet with
formulas to automatically calculate the cost.
Task 1 - Calculate
I am going to make chilli nachos. I need the following ingredients:
450g lean beef mince
1 x 410g can red kidney beans
1 jar (500g) chilli con carne sauce
150g tortilla chips
40g reduced fat Cheddar cheese
To work out the cost of each ingredient used, divide its total cost by its weight. Then multiply this
number by the weight needed. Here is an example:
Cheddar cheese costs £2.70 for 400g.
To find out how much 1g costs: 270 ÷ 400 = 0.675 pence
The recipe needs 40g: 0.675 x 40 = 27 pence
Activity
Work out the cost of the ingredients for the chilli nacho recipe.
Ingredient
Lean beef mince
Weight bought
Total cost
Remember! For some
ingredients you will need
to buy more than you
need for the recipe, e.g.
Cheddar cheese. You will
need to buy 200g even
though you only need 40g.
Weight needed
Cost used
Red kidney beans
Chilli con carne
sauce
Tortilla chips
Cheddar cheese
© Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2014. This resource may be reproduced and used in all educational settings.