Example: Catering Recipe Cost Calculation

In our previous example (bakery recipe cost example) we explained how easy it is to find out the total cost of recipes and have it break down the cost into servings as well.

In this example we will use the Meal Planner and use multiple recipes to help plan for a catering event.

Part of the evening planned are sandwich trays and we are trying to figure out how much to purchase and how much it will cost.

We know that we need 200 small sandwiches of each kind (Ham & Cheese, Tuna, Chicken Salad).

Our recipes make 32 little sandwiches (sandwich bread cut diagonally, creates four little triangles).

Once we created the recipes we can now use the meal planner feature of our recipe cost calculator to plan for the event.

Place all three recipes on the date of the party we are catering for. Click on each recipe and scale the recipe until it shows that there are at least 200 servings.

To create a shopping list, switch the calendar into shopping mode and select the day the recipes are on or select a date range if we want to combine multiple events into one shopping list.

Press the create Shopping List button and a screen will appear that will confirm the recipes that will be included in the shopping list.

Confirm the list of recipes and a new tab will open that shows the complete shopping list for our recipes. They will be organized into the ingredients categories and will display the needed quantity in the unit of measurement of the last recorded purchase (ie. if you purchase the mayonnaise in pounds (lbs), it will display it in pounds even though the recipe had tablespoons as the measurement unit.)

	NAME:	QUANTITY:	UNIT:
Dairy
	Cheddar Cheese (Medium)[1]	1250	Gram
	Butter[1][2][3]	5.91	Pound
Meats
	Ham[1]	1250	Gram
	Chicken Breast[2]	2125	Gram
Main
	Mayonnaise[1][2][3]	6.06	Pound
	Salt[1][2][3]	0.42	Pound
	White Sandwich Bread[4]	15	Each
Spices
	Black Pepper[1][2][3]	43.12	Gram
Canned Goods
	Tuna - in water (Can)[3]	11.16	Each

If there are items you don't need to purchase, click the small printer icon in front of the ingredient to omit it when printing the list. The small number(s) behind the ingredients indicate on which recipe(s) the ingredient was found.

The Meal Planner of our recipe cost calculator also revealed that the total cost of the sandwiches would be $217.31 in our example.