Game planners · Cooking
Multi-step recipe cost.
Some recipes charge you again at each phase. Enter every phase to get the real total, the cost per item, and what you would wrongly think you were paying.
When a recipe has more than one phase, the price on the first screen can be only the first instalment. Players of one farming game described exactly this: a two-stage dish that looked like one price and charged the same amount again when the second stage began. This calculator makes you list every phase so none of it goes missing from your profit figure.
Short answer: total cost = the sum of the coins and the item values charged in every phase. In the example below a recipe that shows 790 on its first screen really costs 1,580, so 790 is easy to miss.
Adding every phase
For each phase, cost = coins charged + items consumed x the value of one item. The recipe's total cost is the sum over all phases, and cost per item is that total divided by how many items the recipe makes. If you add a sale price, profit per item is the price minus cost per item, and margin is profit divided by price.
The wrong number to avoid
The tool also shows the profit you would get if only phase 1 were counted. A big gap between that and the true profit is the signal that the recipe is dearer than its first screen suggests, and that a margin quoted from the first screen is wrong.
What to enter for items
Value an item at what you could sell it for, or at what it cost you to grow or buy it. Be consistent across phases. If a phase consumes nothing, leave its item fields blank.
Worked example
The numbers below follow the pattern players describe, but they are invented for the example and were not checked against any game. A dish charges 750 coins and 1 item worth 40 when phase 1 starts, then the same again when phase 2 starts. Phase 1 costs 790 and phase 2 costs 790, so the running total is 1,580 and the cost per item is 1,580. If the dish sells for 2,000, profit is 420 per item, a 21% margin. Counting only phase 1 would suggest 1,210 profit, which overstates it by 790.
What this page does not cover
It supports up to three phases with one item line each; merge several ingredients in a phase into one value (quantity x value, entered as one item). It does not know about time spent, quantities that change with level, or discounts. Whether a particular game charges at each phase is for you to check in that game.
Frequently asked questions
Does every game charge at each phase?
No. This is for recipes that do. Check the game's own recipe or help screen before assuming.
How do I enter a phase with several ingredients?
Add up quantity x value for them and enter the total as one item at a value of that total with quantity 1.
What value should I give an item?
What you could sell it for, or what it cost you to make or buy. Use the same basis in every phase.
Why does the tool show profit if only phase 1 counted?
To show how far off a margin would be if you read the cost from the first screen only.
Can I use this for non-cooking recipes?
Yes. Any recipe or upgrade that is paid for in several instalments works the same way.
Is anything saved?
No. The sums run in your browser.
Sources and how it is calculated
Retrieved
The thread was read on 26 October 2026: a player reports that a Fried Egg showed 750 coins plus 1 Egg, that 750 coins was taken when stage 1 began and again when stage 2 began, and that it "takes everything twice, once for each step". Another player replied that each phase requires payment in money, diamonds or resources. That is a player account of an early-access game, not developer documentation, so treat it as the reason this calculator exists, not as a statement of the game's current rules.
- Steam Community, Farm Together 2 General Discussions: "Confused over Cost of Cooking" (6 replies, 20 Dec 2024)
- Wikipedia, Markup (business): markup = (sale price - cost) / cost; profit margin = (sale price - cost) / sale price
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent or stored. Game names appear only as references to the forum threads above; this site is not affiliated with any game or publisher.
Check the numbers in your game
The examples use invented numbers. Games patch recipes, prices and speeds, so enter the values from your own screen and treat the result as a planning estimate.