Nutrinaut ToolsEvidence-aware planning for active adults

Transparent calculator · Grocery 1.1

Grocery & Meal Prep Planner

Plan servings, pantry stock and packs, then audit a cooked recipe yield, weighed portion and reader-entered purchase cost.

By Eugene BlagoUpdated 15 October 2026Method Grocery 1.1

Purpose

What this tool is for

Use this to do the repetitive weekly arithmetic while keeping prices, quantities and choices under your control.

Audience

Who it is for

Adults planning one to fourteen days of ordinary household meals.

Input glossary

What each field means

InputUnit or choiceWhy it matters
Household and dayspeople, daysCreates budget-per-person-day context.
Budget and currencylocal amountUsed only for simple allocation; the site does not fetch prices.
Planned servingscountMultiplies each ingredient’s per-serving requirement.
Buffer%Optional planning margin from 0–25%.
Ingredient rowsamount, pantry stock, pack sizeAll three quantities must use the same unit within a row.

Method · Grocery 1.1

The formula or decision logic

Required = quantity per serving × planned servings × (1 + buffer).

Needed = max(0, required − matching pantry quantity). Buy quantity is rounded up to the entered purchase increment.

Budget per person-day = budget ÷ people ÷ days. Budget per planned serving = budget ÷ servings.

Recipe Ledger 1.0: sum compatible per-100 g ingredient values, then divide by measured finished grams. Multiply by a weighed portion; do not treat unknown nutrition as zero.

For each recipe ingredient, subtract matching pantry stock from the required amount, round missing grams to whole edible-weight packs, and multiply by the entered price per pack. Purchase cost and allocated ingredient cost are separate.

References support the method or context; they do not validate an individual result. See the sources.

Worked example

Example, not a price forecast: four bean-and-rice servings

  1. Four servings need 75 g rice, 120 g beans and 150 g vegetables per serving. Pantry rice: 100 g.
  2. With 500 g rice packs, 400 g bean packs and 500 g vegetable packs: buy 500 g rice, 800 g beans and 1,000 g vegetables.
  3. A €100 budget for two people and four planned servings equals €50 per person and €25 per planned serving.
Displayed result: rounded purchase quantities plus budget context; no promise that local prices will fit the budget.

Interactive calculator

Create an editable shopping list

Nothing you enter is sent to our server. Calculation happens in this browser.

Within each row, per-serving, pantry and pack values must use the same unit.

IngredientPer servingIn pantryPack sizeUnitRemove

Recipe Yield / Grocery · Local lab 1.0

One pot. Your actual portion. Only the packs you need.

Match each ingredient to the right weighing basis, enter the measured finished batch, then separate the cost of ingredients used from the whole packs you need to buy.

  1. Match the ingredient

    Dry, raw, cooked and drained weights are not interchangeable.

  2. Weigh the finished pot

    Use the food’s mass without the pot. A portion is a fraction of that measured batch.

  3. Shop for the shortfall

    Subtract known pantry amounts, round up to whole packs, keep the remainder visible.

All calculations stay in this browser. No uploads, accounts, live prices or saved entries. Blank nutrition, pantry or packaging values mean unknown; 0 means a known zero. This lab is bookkeeping, not a laboratory food analysis or a personalised nutrition recommendation.

1. Enter ingredients on a matching basis

Use values per 100 g from the same food and preparation state as the amount you weigh. Include all added oil, water and other ingredients. Open each ingredient to edit nutrition and optional shopping details.

Ingredient 1: Name neededAmount needed · As sold

For drained food, weigh the drained portion and use drained-food nutrition. A dry ingredient needs a dry-weight source; do not apply it to the heavier cooked amount.

Nutrition per 100 g · leave unknown values blank
Optional grocery inputs · same edible / weighing basis

Use pack and pantry grams on this row’s same edible basis: for a drained ingredient, that means drained weight, not the label’s undrained net weight. Enter 0 for an explicitly zero-cost input; this lab does not assume water or pantry food is free.

Repeated names are not merged automatically. Combine entries only when the food, basis and per-100 g values are the same; otherwise use distinct, specific names.

2. Enter your measured yield and preparation assumptions

A measured final mass fixes the denominator, not cooking retention. Selecting an assumption does not verify it. If nutrient-bearing liquid or fat was discarded and you cannot account for it, keep that state unresolved.

3. Set the grocery plan

Shopping quantities multiply the ingredient amounts by the batch count. Nutrition below still describes one measured batch; future batches may have a different cooked yield. Use one currency throughout. Prices are yours, not current market quotes.

Software limits: 12 ingredients, 50,000 g per ingredient, 200,000 g per finished batch and 20 shopping batches. These are input boundaries, not dietary recommendations.

Your worksheet will appear here after calculation. Any edit clears the previous result. Try a labelled synthetic pot to see the full yield, portion and grocery breakdown.

Method, checking steps and limits

The calculation: each known ingredient value per 100 g × its matching edible amount ÷ 100. We add each nutrition column separately. Where your whole-recipe and preparation assumptions are established, we divide a complete column by the measured finished mass and multiply by 100 g or your portion mass.

What it does not establish: cooking can change composition as well as mass. FAO’s recipe-calculation method considers edible portions, final yield and nutrient changes. This simple worksheet does not estimate retention factors. Unquantified discarded components, an incomplete ingredient list or unknown source values keep the affected result unresolved. Choosing “accounted” is your declaration that the entries already reflect the changes, not our verification.

  • Check the exact product, nutrition basis and edible amount. Do not mix dry lentil values with cooked lentil grams.
  • Include added water and oil. Subtract the vessel’s mass when weighing the finished dish.
  • Do not treat a discarded liquid as plain water unless you have a justified way to account for its other components.
  • Use pack and pantry weights on the same basis as each ingredient. A drained-weight requirement needs drained-weight availability.
  • Purchase packs = ceiling of the positive shortfall ÷ edible pack grams. Cost used = required grams ÷ edible pack grams × entered pack price. Intermediate values are not rounded for cost totals; display rounding can differ by a cent.
  • These results do not assess nutritional adequacy, allergens, food safety, storage time or a personalised eating plan.

FAO: calculation of dishes prepared from recipes · Grocery planning guide · Nutrinaut Learn.

Recipe Yield / Grocery 1.0 · 15 October 2026 · Author: Eugene Blago. Optional inputs stay local and are not saved. Nutrition and prices in the two templates are explicitly synthetic.

Limitations

What the result cannot tell you

  • Units are not converted or guessed within ingredient rows.
  • The planner does not know local stock, seasonality or prices.
  • Allergen tags and meal templates cannot guarantee safety or adequacy.
  • Most cooked leftovers should be refrigerated only 3–4 days; freeze or prepare later for longer plans.
  • Recipe nutrient arithmetic is an estimate from entered food values, not a laboratory analysis or a cooking-retention model. Unknown or mismatched ingredient bases withhold full nutrient totals.
  • The Recipe Ledger uses grams of edible ingredient per pack. It does not infer drained weight, can size or density from a product name.

Questions specific to this tool

Frequently asked questions

How much buffer should I add?

Zero to ten percent can be a practical starting choice, but it depends on waste, appetites and whether pack sizes already create surplus.

Can the planner use current store prices?

Neither planner fetches store prices. In Recipe Yield / Grocery, enter your own price per edible-weight pack; blank prices stay unknown. The original weekly planner provides budget-allocation context separately.

How does pantry subtraction work?

It subtracts only the quantity entered in the same row and unit. It does not guess conversions between cans, grams or cups.

How long can prepared meals stay refrigerated?

USDA guidance generally gives 3–4 days for cooked leftovers. Freeze suitable portions or prepare a second batch for later days.

Does the list guarantee allergen safety?

No. Check labels, preparation surfaces and cross-contact risks yourself, especially for severe allergies.

Evidence and official references

Sources

Found a numerical or source issue? Send a correction with the page URL.

Continue with context

Grocery Planning for an Active Week

Plan servings and pantry stock, distinguish whole-pack purchase cost from ingredients used, and audit cooked recipe yields without inventing missing nutrition.

Read the guide

Apply the method

One Pot, Different Portions: Audit a Recipe Before Logging

Trace ingredient basis, finished mass and a weighed bowl before you interpret a recipe total.

Read Eugene Blago’s field note

Related tools

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