You can choose to count a recipe during inventory, not just individual ingredients. When you do this, [me] will automatically break the recipe into its ingredients for reporting. This means if you count “1 batch of soup,” the reports will still track onions, tomatoes, etc. You can control the count-by unit by adding an alternate option or creating a new recipe.
You can use this feature if you want to:
- Count prepared items (not just raw ingredients)
- Keep inventory flexible with alternate count-by units
- Still get accurate ingredient-level reporting
What you'll learn
- Quick Steps to Inventory a Recipe
- Counting a recipe multiple ways on your inventory
- How an inventoried recipe looks on reports
Video Walkthrough
How to turn it on (quick steps)
- Go to your recipe
- Click "Edit Recipe"
- Check “Recipe should be inventoried”
- Choose which count sheet(s) it should appear on
- Save
Choosing how you count it
By default:
- The recipe is counted by its total yield (e.g., 1 batch)
But you can change it:
- Check: “I count this recipe by something other than its yield”
- Enter:
- The unit (e.g., “each”)
- How many units are in the full recipe
For example, if 1 batch = 20 portions, you can count 20 each instead of 1 batch
Note that MarginEdge can automatically convert a unit of measure that, for example, goes from gallons to cups, or pounds to grams. We just need your help getting it right when when it changes from weight to volume or is counted by something like "each".
Important limitation
Each recipe can only have one count-by unit on the count sheet. If you need more options for counting:
- Create a separate recipe for that portion size (read more below)
For example, keep the main recipe on to count the full batch and create another recipe that pulls in the original recipe as an ingredient to count an individual serving.
PRO TIP: If you often create extra “portion” recipes, group them using a special recipe type so they stay organized.
Counting a recipe multiple ways with additional recipes
When taking inventory, there will only be one count-by available for each recipe. The yield is the default, but as explained above, you can change this by adding a new count-by unit to a recipe.
If you need multiple ways to count a recipe, we recommend creating a nested recipe that uses the original recipe as an ingredient. This will pull the specific portion size from the original recipe - the yield of this new recipe will create the additional unit of measure for your count sheet.
The bonus here is that original recipe is the only one you need to maintain! Any edits done to this original recipe will flow through to all nested recipes that utilizes it as an ingredient.
PRO TIP: If you have multiple recipes that need multiple count-by options, consider creating a specific Recipe Type to organize the ones that exist solely to offer additional inventory county-bys.
How will the inventoried recipe translate to my reports?
Even though the recipe will show on your inventory as one item that is available to count, you won't see that recipe appear as a single item on any other reports. Instead, the separate ingredients will be broken up and displayed proportionally as individual products in reports such as the Usage Report.
This means that if your recipe includes a combination of products that fall under dairy, proteins and dry goods, the recipe will break down proportionally on the [me] reports to reflect these component costs across each of the categories.
PRO TIP: If these are commissary recipes, see this article for best practices!