# The mysterious Yield Percentage column of Recipe Costing



## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

I have been trying to decipher the yield percentage column of my recipe costing sheet and am having absolutely no luck. Is there a way to logically figure this out or should I just invest in the Book of Yields?? Say if I peel and eggplant......what would the yield percentage be? 80% ? 75%? 

These are the times that I wished I had paid more attention to my Math teacher in High School.  I guess I paid more attention to the algebra, chemistry and physics equations than I did the basics I guess. 


Edit: Errr....not asking you to do the actual calculating for me....just point me in the right direction. Whether it is a book I should get or some part of Math I have to review and get used to again. Thanks.


----------



## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Your combined yield would be the finished weight divided by the starting weight of EVERYTHING. But you're trying to estimate, so, take the estimated yield of each individual like 80 percent of eggplant plus 60 percent of pork and then divide it by the initial weight of both ingredients. Say you're making pork and eggplant goulash and you have a pound of pork and a pound of eggplant, 60% out of a pound of pork is 

0.6 x 16oz = 9.6oz

and 80% yield from your peeled eggplant is 

0.8 x 16oz = 12.8oz

12.8oz + 9.6oz = 22.4oz

22.4 / 32 = 0.7 or 70%.

If your portion is 8oz per person then this will feed about 2.5 people. Since you know now that a pound of pork and a pound of eggplant will feed 2.5 people and you want to make it feed 4, you divide the original amounts by 2.5 and then multiply by 4. To convert the recipe to feed 4...

16oz pork divide by 2.5 = 6.4oz

multiply by 4 = 25.6oz or about 1lb 10oz

Same thing with the eggplant, you will need 1lb 10oz.

if you're making a batch with 50lb pork and 50lb eggplant (you'll get 70lb yield. 

If you're given a bulk recipe the yields should be given, although this can vary (a lot) if you have different people making the recipe. But you're trying to estimate, and this makes things more difficult. The ONLY way to get a reasonably true yield figure is to average the yields over a period of time, like have someone make the recipe once a week for six months.

Kuan


----------



## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

Drat......I am beginning to see that I really suck at outlining problems. I sould have said the yield of individual ingredients in the yield percentage column. 

Wait a minute............if I start out with 1 pound of eggplant and after peeling I have 8 ounces.......16 ounces makes a pound right? So shouldn't 50% be the yield after peeling??

That's not an equation....its a fraction. 8/16 = 1/2 = 50%  Sorry if I seem a little happy and silly but I haven't touched a math problem in a while and I think I stumbled into a brick wall in my mind. Just have to exercise the old bean. Been at a desk job where you weren't required to do much in the way of thinking before jumping into cooking.

Thanks Kuan.......needed that little push to see the answer that was right in front of me.

Thanks, thanks, thanks


----------



## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

Well I guess Im not the only one.......my cousin is going back to college to be an RN....she called to ask me if I remembered how to do chemistry problems.


----------



## leisa m (Sep 17, 2002)

Buy MasterCook. It has a function that allows you to tell it how many servings you want to have and it changes the recipe for you.


----------



## catciao (Jan 23, 2002)

I've been searching for MasterCook and just found out that it has been discontinued by Sierra Software along with several other home software titles. The company is currently looking for buyers for this division and will likely succeed but who knows when. Does anyone know of any other software that can perform yield and multiply recipes?


----------



## leisa m (Sep 17, 2002)

I have heard of MasterCook being found on amazon.com put out by ValuSoft. You might check there. I think that ValuSoft had bought the MasterCook. I hope this helps, if not go to the Cooking Light (cookinglight.com) Bullitin board and do a search for MasterCook. There is bound to be a link, or some information there.

I hope this helps.


----------



## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

Well........I already have a program that already does this (ERM) but one day my son decided to feed my laptop a bottle of juice......  .....I need to know how to do it manually so I don't have to wait for my computer to be fixed and sent back to me. 

Master cook can also be found on ebay. I think I saw it going for a few bucks.


----------



## lumpia (Sep 21, 2002)

Well, friends, I wanted to add my two cents here. I just purchased MasterCook from ValuSoft online. You can click on the link I provided and it'll take you directly to the MasterCook item itself. I have seen a lot of talk about this MasterCook item since the time I registered and now I have wanted my own copy. I can't wait to get it!:bounce:


----------



## shadezey (Feb 29, 2012)

i have 2 problems that i cant seems to wrap my finger around. i would appreciate some help

a) 20lbs of onions r needed. if the yield percentage of the onions is app 85% how much onions must be purchase to get 20%

b) what is the edible portion of a fish which has a yield percentage of 56.5%. given that the purchase is made each day for a restaurant what is the max # of patrons that can daily order fish in their meals if each patron is served .75kg


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

shadezey said:


> i have 2 problems that i cant seems to wrap my finger around. i would appreciate some help
> 
> a) 20lbs of onions r needed. if the yield percentage of the onions is app 85% how much onions must be purchase to get 20%


You mean to get 20lbs? Then your equation, where N is the number of pounds of onions needed to get 20lbs yield:

20 = 85/100 x N

N = 20 x 100/85 = 23.53 lbs


> Originally Posted by *shadezey*
> 
> b) what is the edible portion of a fish which has a yield percentage of 56.5%. given that the purchase is made each day for a restaurant what is the max # of patrons that can daily order fish in their meals if each patron is served .75kg


750 g fish per person? That's over a pound and a half. Nobody's going to eat that much fish. Nevertheless, the question cannot be answered with the information provided. We would need to know the weight of the fish in order to calculate the max # of patrons that can be served.

If W is the weight of the fish in grams, then N, the number of patrons you can serve, is:

N = W x (56.5/100) / 750


----------

