Kitchen Yield Calculator

Kitchen yield is the usable weight you get from raw food after trimming, peeling, boning or draining. It is expressed as a percentage: yield % = usable weight ÷ raw weight × 100. Waste % is simply 100 − yield %.

Weigh the food as purchased (raw), prepare it, then weigh what is actually usable. Divide usable by raw and multiply by 100. For example, 1 kg of raw carrots that yields 800 g of peeled carrot is an 80% yield with 20% waste.

It depends on the ingredient. Whole vegetables like onions and carrots run about 10–20% waste, leafy greens 20–30%, fish fillets from whole fish 40–50%, and shell-on meat can reach 30–40%. This calculator lets you enter your own numbers.

Divide the usable weight you need by the yield percentage. If you need 4 kg of peeled potatoes and the potato yield is 75%, you must buy 4 ÷ 0.75 = 5.33 kg of raw potatoes.

Because you pay for the whole raw item but only use part of it. Edible-portion cost per kg = purchase price ÷ yield %. If carrots cost £40/kg and yield 80%, the usable carrot costs £50/kg. This is the same math behind edible-portion costing.

Yes. Use the second card: enter the usable weight your recipe needs and the ingredient’s yield % — it returns the raw weight you must buy, plus the waste you will throw away.