How this calculation works
Measure purchased food, trim and cooked edible output separately. Use the overall cooked-to-purchased ratio to scale buying quantities; use the trimmed-input ratio to describe cooking alone.
Raw purchase = target portions × cooked grams per portion / (1,000 × measured cooked/raw ratio)A worked example
A 2 kg purchase loses 0.2 kg trim and yields 1.35 kg cooked food. Twenty 150 g portions need 3 kg cooked output, so the repeat-batch model requires about 4.444 kg purchased raw food.
Good to know
Measured repeat-batch planning only. No nutrient, calorie, doneness, food-safety or safe-storage conclusion. Purchase cost excludes energy, labor and other ingredients.
Reference: OpenStax: ratios and proportions (opens in a new tab) ↗
Keep two yield bases separate
Cooking yield divides cooked output by trimmed food entering the pot. Overall yield divides the same output by the original purchase. These denominators answer different questions and should not be interchanged.
In the example, cooking yield is 75% while overall yield is 67.5%. Applying only the 75% cooking yield to purchasing would forget the trim and underestimate the required purchase.
The coffee extraction yield and tds calculator adds calculate apparent coffee extraction from beverage mass and measured TDS, with dissolved-solids accounting and a clear strength-versus-yield explanation. The grain moisture shrink and dry matter loss calculator adds separate water removal from entered dry-matter loss, calculate final wet-basis grain mass and compare sale value with a per-original-kilogram drying fee.
Measure a representative finished batch
Record the mass after the preparation stage that matches your serving plan. A drained batch and a batch weighed with cooking liquid are different products even if their raw purchase weights match.
Cooked food may weigh more than the raw purchase because water has been absorbed. The calculator permits that outcome rather than forcing every process to have a yield below 100%.
Scale before rounding a shopping order
The target cooked mass is portion grams multiplied by serving count. Divide by the observed overall yield, then decide separately how a supplier’s pack sizes affect the shopping order.
Full measured portions are rounded down. A leftover fraction is food remaining in the batch, not another full serving. Repeat the measurement if the recipe, trimming method or serving definition changes.
Use the result with the next measurement
The baker’s percentage dough calculator starts from a target dough mass and ingredient percentages. Use that formulation tool before measuring the actual cooking or baking yield; recipe mass alone does not establish the final served mass.
Measured repeat-batch planning only. No nutrient, calorie, doneness, food-safety or safe-storage conclusion. Purchase cost excludes energy, labor and other ingredients.
A few questions, answered
Why are two yield percentages shown?
One measures cooking after trim; the other includes trim in the purchased-food base.
Can cooked mass exceed raw mass?
Yes, water absorption can increase the measured mass.
Does this estimate nutrition?
No, it scales measured food masses only.