As-Purchased Quantity

This formula tells you how much raw ingredient you need to buy when only part of it ends up usable after trimming, peeling, deboning, or cooking loss. Because yield is the fraction that remains edible, dividing the desired edible amount by the yield scales the purchase amount upward to cover waste and loss. In other words, if only 80% of the product is usable, you must buy more than the amount you plan to serve.

Use this in recipe costing, food prep, and kitchen purchasing whenever an ingredient has a known yield after trimming or processing. It is especially helpful for meats, produce, seafood, and other items where the usable portion is less than the weight bought.

• Using the yield as a percent number like 85 instead of converting it to a fraction like 0.85
• Multiplying by the yield instead of dividing by it
• Confusing edible portion needed with the amount to purchase