Available in: Agile | Aware | Analyzer | Multi-Outlet
Why it's important
Converting between weight and volume is essential when calculating food costs. Ingredients are often purchased by weight but used by volume. This conversion helps ensure accurate measurements, which is critical for both cost control and consistency in food preparation. For instance, if you purchase flour by the pound but measure it by the cup, you need to know the weight-to-volume conversion to accurately determine how much flour you need and how much it will cost. This ensures you're not over or underestimating your ingredient costs, leading to more precise budgeting and cost management.
Conversions are a powerful tool for financial accuracy!
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Lets you convert weight to volume and volume to weight.
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Calculates yield % and shrinkage, which can have the effect of changing the actual cost of your item
- Please look at the directions below or watch a video that walks you through several conversions.
You do NOT need to perform conversions for weight-to-weight or volume-to-volume measurements.
If you purchase a product by the gallon, reciProfity can calculate any volume required in a recipe. reciProfity can determine the cost of any teaspoon, tablespoon, quart, liter, fluid ounce, etc., of that ingredient used in a recipe. You do NOT need to create a conversion when it's volume-to-volume.
If you purchase by the lb, reciProfity can calculate ounces, kilograms, and grams. You do NOT need to create a conversion when it's volume-to-volume.
Conversions are at the top of every ingredient. View screen:
Check the Book of Yields pull-down to find your ingredients.
1) You must be in the Ingredient Edit screen.
2) Go to the Conversion section:
3) Click +Select Book of Yields Conversion
4) Type in the ingredient name. If you find a match, you may see several choices.
You may need to be creative. For example, if you type cheese, you will not see mozzarella. Type mozzarella, and you will.
If your ingredient is not listed in the Book of Yields, you can create a manual conversion.
5) If you find your ingredient, the first item on the list is the actual ingredient as a whole. Additional items are usually the prep.
In this example, we have cauliflower and the prep of Cut 1" florets.
The first conversion is for cauliflower to be trimmed and cleaned.
6) reciProfity now calculates that a whole head of cauliflower is approximately 30 oz, but once you've trimmed and cleaned it the yield is only 60%.
There is a 40% shrinkage of the cauliflower!!
The cost of that item will reflect this new yield. It's no longer 100%. Now, it's a 60% yield.
7) The after shrinkage price will be used in recipes. Instead of .086 per ounce it's now .144 per ounce. In terms of lbs, your lb usage over the course of the year will really add up if you don't use the after shrinkage price.
9) Click in the +Select Book of Yields Conversion again and type cauliflower. Now choose the second option Cauliflower, Cut 1" florets
After trimming and cleaning and accounting for the shrinkage The Book of Yields is calculating both a weight to volume and volume to weight conversion for use in recipes.
These conversions let you use either weight or volume units of measure in your recipes!
When you are in Ingredient View Mode you will see Conversions appear this way:
Manual Conversions
Let's start easy with Shrinkage Only:
- Click the +Add Manual Conversion button
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In this example, we purchase butter by the lb, use it by the lb and have a 5% shrinkage.
Why 5%? Think about how much butter is left on the paper, cutting board, utensils, etc. You can lose 5%.
- Enter 1 lb in the There Are field (you purchase by the lb)
- Enter lb in the Per field (there are 1 lb per lb)
- Then enter 95 in the Yield field (this is a 5% shrinkage)
- We calculate the cost field for you.
- Enter 1 lb in the There Are field (you purchase by the lb)
With a 95% yield, we get only .95 lbs instead of a full 1 lb, and the price is $2.692 a lb instead of $2.557.
We'll use the after-shrinkage price of $2.692 in your recipes.
Now let's convert weight to volume and see the Yield %
In this example, we purchase butter by the lb, but we want to use it in a recipe by the cup and calculate a 95% yield.
- In the There are field you'll tell us how many cups of butter there are in a pound (2 cups
- In the Per field you'll enter lb (there are 2 cups per pound)
- In the Yield% field, you'll enter the yield after any loss or shrinkage
In addition, you can see the new after-shrinkage price:
In Ingredient View mode you will see this: