Costing means calculating the cost of a dish or a meal. Learning to be economical when cooking will help you stay within your budget. To be able to cost a dish you need to know the price of each ingredient (look at receipts or online shops, e.g. supervalu.ie, tesco.ie). You may have to use your calculator to calculate exact amounts. For example, if a 1 kg box of rice costs €1.29 and a recipe uses 200 g of rice, you must calculate how much you used. Do not put in the price of the total box.
Be Numerate
How do you work out the costings for a meal?
Revision Toolkit
Practise costing all the dishes you make. This will help you compare homemade and ready-made products for your CBA2 and Practical Food Skills examination.
Revision Questions U
1. State the advantages of meal planning. 2. List the factors that affect meal planning. 3. Explain the differences between a table d’hôte menu and an à la carte menu. 4. Explain how to write a menu. 5. Plan a three-course meal for a family, including the following steps: (a) Design a menu card for the meal. (b) Draw a place setting for this meal. (c) Cost the main course of this meal.
6. Compile a set of guidelines for shopping wisely. 7. Explain why it is important to store food correctly. 8. Describe how to store (i) dried, (ii) frozen and (iii) perishable foods correctly.
