Recipe batch cost calculator
What does each jar, loaf or cookie from this batch cost me?
Showing for United States
Cost per unit
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- Cost per unit
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- Cost of the batch
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- Ingredients in the batch
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- Packaging for the batch
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- Your time, at your wage
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- Profit per unit
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- Profit on the batch
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Give each ingredient's pack size and the amount used in the same unit: both pounds, both grams, both cups or both eggs.
Which foods you may make at home and sell, and how they must be labeled, depends on where you sell. This calculator works out costs only, never recipes or processing times.
Enter your numbers to see the result.
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Get started with TallyTill for freeUse this calculator in an AI chat
You can ask Claude, ChatGPT or another AI app to work this out for you, and this calculator opens right inside the chat. You connect TallyTill to your AI app once. It is free, and there is no account and no sign-in.
AI apps call add-ons like this connectors, apps or MCP servers. They all mean the same thing: a way for the AI to use a tool someone else made.
1. Copy this address
2. Add it to your AI app
Claude (claude.ai and the Claude desktop app)
- Open Customize, then Connectors.
- Press + Add, then Add custom connector.
- Name it TallyTill calculators, paste the address and press Continue.
- Under Authentication choose No sign in, then press Add.
- In a new chat, press + at the bottom left, choose Connectors and switch TallyTill calculators on.
On Claude's free plan you can add one custom connector.
ChatGPT
- In Settings, turn on Developer mode. OpenAI moves this switch from time to time; it is usually with the settings for apps and connectors.
- Add a new connector (ChatGPT may call it an app), paste the address and choose No authentication.
- In a new chat, choose TallyTill from the tools menu, or type @ and pick it.
Not every ChatGPT plan lets you add your own connector. If you cannot find the option, your plan may not include it.
Using another AI app? Look in its settings for MCP, add the address as a remote server, and choose no sign-in.
3. Ask your question
Say "use TallyTill", so the AI uses the calculator instead of doing the sum itself. For example:
"Use TallyTill: What does each jar, loaf or cookie from this batch cost me?"
What you will see
- The calculator opens in the chat with the numbers you gave already filled in. Change any number and the answer updates.
- If a number is missing, the box is highlighted, or the AI asks you for it in plain words.
- The answer links back to this page, so you can check the working.
- The first time, your AI app asks if it may use TallyTill. Choose Allow.
The calculators take numbers only. They never ask for your name, your email or a password.
How this is worked out
Each ingredient costs its pack price times the amount the recipe uses, divided by the pack size, with the amount and the pack size in the same unit. The batch costs those ingredients plus any other ingredients, plus the packaging for every unit, plus any other batch costs, plus your minutes divided by 60 times your hourly wage if you enter both. The cost per unit is the batch cost divided by the units the batch makes, rounded to the cent. With a margin, the price is the exact cost per unit divided by one minus the margin, rounded up to the cent so you never earn less than you asked for. Margin is a share of the price, not of the cost: a 40 percent margin is a price of cost divided by 0.60.
A worked example
Example numbers only; use your own. A batch of 12 jars of jam uses 3 lb from a 4 lb bag of sugar costing 3.49, 4 lb of strawberries at 4.99 a pound, one box of pectin at 2.79 and 0.50 of lemon. That is 25.87 of ingredients. Jars and lids at 1.25 each add 15.00, and 90 minutes at 20.00 an hour adds 30.00, so the batch costs 70.87, or 5.91 a jar. At a 40 percent margin the price is 5.91 ÷ 0.60 = 9.85, which earns 3.94 a jar and 47.33 on the batch.
Nothing you type here is saved.