How to Calculate Ground Beef Needed for a Recipe

How much ground beef would need to be purchased to provide 10 pounds of edible portion?

If the ground beef is known to have a cooking yield of 45%, then the ground beef would need to be purchased weight to provide 10 pounds of edible portion is 22.22 lbs.

This data represents the weight "as purchased" (AP). We have 9 pounds of usable flesh after cooking, removing the skin, and separating the meat from the bones. This is the weight of the edible portion (EP).

Your processed or edible product (EP) weight will be what remains after deducting the trim weight from the AP weight. Waste weight subtracted from AP weight equals EP weight. By converting the weight of the edible product into a percentage, you can obtain your yield percentage.

Percentage of ground beef yield = 45%

Weight of the eatable portion = 10 lbs.

To determine how much ground beef we need to purchase, we must determine the AP weight, also known as As Purchased Weight:

(EPwt / APwt) * 100 = Yield %

(10 / APwt) * 100 = 45

APwt = 1000 / 45 = 22.22 lbs

Therefore, the amount of ground beef to be purchased is 22.22 lbs.