Conversions and the Book of Yields

Available in: Agile-Free | Aware | Analyzer | Multi-Outlet 

Why Conversions Matter

When you're calculating food costs, converting between weight and volume is key. Ingredients are often bought by weight—like pounds—but used by volume—like cups. If you buy flour by the pound but measure it by the cup, you need to know how those units translate. Otherwise, you risk miscalculating how much you need and what it costs. Getting this right helps you stay on budget and keep your recipes consistent.

What Conversions Can Do

Conversions help you:

• Switch between weight and volume (and vice versa)
• Calculate yield percentages and shrinkage, which affect the actual cost of your ingredients

You don’t need conversions for:

• Weight-to-weight (like pounds to ounces)
• Volume-to-volume (like gallons to cups)

How reciProfity Handles It

If you buy something by the gallon, reciProfity can figure out the cost of any amount, whether it's a teaspoon, tablespoon, quart, liter, or fluid ounce, used in a recipe. Same goes for weight: if you buy by the pound, it can calculate ounces, kilograms, or grams. No need to set up conversions for those.

Use conversions when:

• You’re switching between weight and volume
• You need to factor in yield or shrinkage (like trimming cauliflower or accounting for butter lost on packaging)

These adjustments make sure your ingredient costs reflect what you actually use, not just what you buy.

 

Using the Book of Yields for Conversions

You’ll find the Conversions section at the top of every ingredient in reciProfity, as shown below:

 

Step-by-Step: Add a Book of Yields Conversion

1. Open the Ingredient Edit screen. That’s where all the conversion tools live.
   
    
2. Scroll to the Conversion section.
   
    
3. Click +Select Book of Yields Conversion.
   
    
4. Search for your ingredient. Be specific! Typing “cheese” won’t show “mozzarella” but typing “mozzarella” will. If your ingredient isn’t listed, you can always create a manual conversion.
   
    
5. Choose the right match. The first option is usually the whole ingredient. Additional options are prepped forms (e.g., “Cauliflower, Cut 1" florets”).
   
    
6. reciProfity will calculate yield and shrinkage. For example, a whole head of cauliflower weighs about 30 oz. After trimming and cleaning, only 60% is usable. That’s a 40% shrinkage!
   
    
7. reciProfity updates the cost automatically. Instead of $0.086/oz, the adjusted cost becomes $0.144/oz. That difference adds up over time, especially when you're using pounds of it across recipes.
   
    
8. Need a different prep? Click +Select Book of Yields Conversion again and choose another form, like “Cauliflower, Cut 1" florets.” This gives you both weight-to-volume and volume-to-weight conversions.
   

These conversions let you use either weight or volume units in your recipes—whichever works best for your kitchen.

 

What Conversions Look Like in Ingredient View Mode

When you're viewing an ingredient in Ingredient View Mode, the Conversions section appears just like this, clearly showing any yield adjustments, shrinkage, and unit conversions you've applied. Here's a visual example to help you recognize it at a glance:

Conversion Rules

Before you work through the following manual conversion examples, it helps to understand how reciProfity interprets the “There Are” and “Per” fields. These fields control how yield, shrinkage, and usable amounts are calculated, which directly affects your ingredient costs and recipe accuracy. 

• Per = the purchase unit or the recipe’s yield unit. This field always represents the core, unprepped unit of measure the system uses for calculations.
• There Are = the amount you will use in a recipe that comes from one purchase unit or one yield unit. This expresses how many cups, ounces, pounds, or eaches come from the Per unit.

Do not swap these fields. Even if the math appears to work, the conversion will eventually break because the Per field must always remain tied to the purchase or yield unit. The system links the Per column to the core unit of measure, so reversing them leads to incorrect calculations.

Manual Conversions

If your ingredient isn’t listed in the Book of Yields, don’t worry. You can still create a manual conversion to keep your costing accurate.

 

Example 1: Shrinkage Only

Let’s say you buy butter by the pound and use it by the pound, but you lose about 5% during prep (think: what’s left on the wrapper, cutting board, or utensils).

Here’s how to enter that:

• Click +Add Manual Conversion
  
   
• In the There Are field: enter 1 lb (the usable amount that comes from one purchase unit). 
  • This field expresses how much of the unit you will use in a recipe per purchase unit or yield unit.
• In the Per field: enter lb (the purchase unit).
  • This field must always match how the ingredient is purchased or the yield unit of a prep recipe.
• In the Yield % field: enter 95 (to reflect 5% shrinkage)
  

reciProfity will automatically calculate the adjusted cost. Instead of $2.557/lb, your cost becomes $2.692/lb, and that’s the price used in your recipes.

 

Example 2: Weight to Volume with Yield

Now let’s say you still buy butter by the pound, but you want to use it in a recipe by the cup, and you still expect a 5% shrinkage.

Here’s how to set that up:

• In the There Are field: enter 2 cups (the amount you will use in a recipe that comes from one purchase unit).
  • This field expresses how many units derive from one purchase or yield unit.
• In the Per field: enter lb (the purchase unit).
  • This field must always match how the ingredient is purchased or the yield unit of a prep recipe.
• In the Yield % field: enter 95
  

reciProfity now knows how to calculate the cost of any amount of butter, whether you use cups, tablespoons, or ounces, and it will use the after-shrinkage price in your recipes.

 In Ingredient View Mode, you will see this: