How do I create a recipe in Prepsheets?

Go to Recipes, click Create a recipe and give it a name. Then click Add Ingredient to search your database and add ingredients, set the quantities, and Prepsheets automatically calculates cost, calories, portion size and allergens.

Does Prepsheets tell me the portion size of a recipe?

Yes. As you set ingredient quantities, Prepsheets calculates the total serving weight (portion size) along with cost, calories and allergens. This is part of the recipe intelligence Prepsheets provides for every recipe.

How can I tell which ingredient is causing an allergen in a recipe?

Hover your mouse over any allergen in the recipe's Contains list and Prepsheets shows a tooltip listing the exact ingredient or ingredients it comes from, so you know precisely which one to swap if you need to remove that allergen.

Do I have to add recipe ingredients in a set order?

No. Add ingredients in any order, then drag and drop them into sections that match how you cook the dish. The handle on the left of each row lets you reorder and group them.

How does Prepsheets calculate recipe cost and margin?

As you enter the quantity of each ingredient, Prepsheets fills in the cost and calories per line. When you set a tax rate and a selling price, it shows the split between food cost, VAT and the margin you keep, both including and excluding VAT.

Can I set a recipe price from a target margin?

Yes. Instead of typing a selling price, enter your target food margin percentage and Prepsheets back-calculates the selling price you need to charge.

Does Prepsheets work out allergens for a recipe automatically?

Yes. It rolls up the allergens from every ingredient and shows what the finished dish contains, so you can see exactly which ingredient to swap if you need to remove an allergen.

Why do my recipe calories or cost look too high?

Usually because an ingredient is set to a unit rather than a weight. Switch it to grams and enter the weight you actually use — for example around 80 to 100 grams for two slices of bread.

Help Centre › Recipes

Create & Cost Your First Recipe

⏱ About 10 minutes · Before you start: add ingredients and set your tax rates

Once your ingredients are in, building a recipe is fast — and as you go, Prepsheets costs it, counts the calories, works out your portion size and flags the allergens automatically. That's the recipe intelligence at the heart of Prepsheets: every recipe hands you its cost, nutrition, portion weight and allergens without you working any of it out by hand. This guide builds a simple "Hot and Spicy Breakfast" sandwich from scratch and prices it for a healthy margin.

Step 1: Create the recipe

Go to Recipes and click Create a recipe.
Give it a name — here, Hot and Spicy Breakfast.

A newly created recipe with an empty overview

The recipe is created with no data yet. Everything fills in as you add ingredients.

Step 2: Add your ingredients

Click + Add Ingredient and search your database. Type bread and Prepsheets shows every match, cheapest priced first.

The Add Ingredient search showing bread matches from your database

Click Add on each one you need — bread, butter, sausages, bacon. Don't worry about the order; just throw them in. They drop straight into the recipe.

Step 3: Build it the way you cook it

Here's a lovely touch: you can arrange the recipe to match how you actually make the dish. Add a section with Add Section — for a sandwich that might be Toast, Slather and Fill — then drag and drop each ingredient into the right section using the handle on the left of its row. The ingredients you threw in in any old order become a clean, cook-along recipe.

The recipe organised into Toast, Slather and Fill sections

Tip: Drag-and-drop means you never have to add ingredients in a particular order — get everything in first, then reorder and group it into sections however your kitchen works.

Step 4: Set the quantities

Enter how much of each ingredient you use. As soon as you do, Prepsheets fills in the calories and cost per line, and the Nutrition panel builds a full per-serving breakdown.

Quantities entered, with per-line cost and calories and a full nutrition panel

Tip: Watch your units. If an ingredient is priced per unit but you actually use a weight, switch it to grams — otherwise the cost and calories will look far too high. Two slices of bread is around 80–100g.

Step 5: Price it and check your margin

Set your Tax Rate (for example Hospitality Rate 9% — set these up first in tax rates), then either type a selling price or type a target food margin and let Prepsheets back-calculate the price for you.

The recipe overview showing food cost, VAT and margin breakdown

The bar shows exactly where each portion's price goes — food cost, VAT, and the margin you keep. Prepsheets shows your price both including and excluding VAT, and turns the margin green when it's above your alert threshold, so you can knock a price down to something like €9.95 and instantly see you're still safe.

Step 6: Add a photo, method and notes

Drop in a cover photo, write your method and any notes (like which plates to use). The method is a great thing to draft in an AI tool like Claude and tighten into short steps.

Allergens are automatic

Prepsheets rolls up the allergens from your ingredients and shows what the finished dish contains — here barley and milk from the bread and butter, sulphites and wheat from the sausages.

The finished recipe with photo, costing and allergen summary

Here's the clever part: hover your mouse over any allergen and Prepsheets tells you exactly which ingredient (or ingredients) is bringing it in. Hovering Wheat Gluten here shows it comes from the Bread Loaf and the Kearns Sausages — so if you needed to make the dish wheat-free, you'd know precisely which two ingredients to swap.

Hovering over the Wheat Gluten allergen shows a tooltip listing the ingredients it comes from

Next: batch recipes & sub-recipes

Making it in batches, or building a sauce that goes into other dishes? Here's how.

Read the guide →