A prep list is the kitchen's to-do list for a cook day: every component to make, how much of it, by when and by whom. A useful one is worked out, not guessed. Start from what was ordered, multiply by what goes into each meal, add a little overage, take off what's already made and in the walk-in, then turn the cooked weight back into the raw weight to start with, through each component's yield. That last step is the one people skip, and it's why a kitchen runs out of pork at tray 70: a pound of raw pork shoulder doesn't make a pound of cooked pork. In the example below, a meal prep kitchen's 180 orders for Sunday become a prep list of seven components, from 20.58 kg of raw pork shoulder on Friday to 10.22 kg of greens on Sunday morning. Below is what goes on a prep list, the example, getting yields right, and a free template.
The short version
- Start from the orders, not from last week's list.
- Write what goes into each meal, in grams of the finished component.
- Add up each component across meals, then add a small overage.
- Take off what's already prepped and in the walk-in.
- Divide by yield, cooked weight ÷ raw weight, to get what to weigh out raw.
- Give every line a day and a name, and tick it off when it's done.
- TaroStack keeps the recipes, sub-recipes and yields, and planning turns the week's orders into what to make. More below.
What goes on a prep list
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Component | Each thing made separately: a protein, a sauce, a starch, a vegetable |
| Cooked needed | Portions × meals ordered, added up across every meal it's in |
| Overage | A small extra for spills, tasting and a short portion, such as 5% |
| Already prepped | What's in the walk-in from earlier and still in date, in cooked weight |
| Yield | Cooked weight ÷ raw weight, from your own kitchen |
| Raw to start with | What to weigh out, after yield |
| Day, who, done | When, by whom, and a tick |
A worked example
Windward Roots, the made-up taro business I use in these examples, runs weekly meal prep from a rented kitchen: orders close Thursday, delivery is Sunday. This week's orders:
| Meal | Ordered | What goes in, per meal |
|---|---|---|
| Kalua pork with taro | 84 | Kalua pork 140 g, steamed taro 120 g, greens 60 g |
| Shoyu chicken | 62 | Shoyu chicken 150 g, rice 180 g, greens 60 g, shoyu sauce 40 g |
| Vegetable bowl | 34 | Steamed taro 120 g, rice 180 g, roasted vegetables 150 g |
Added up across the meals, with 5% overage and each component's yield, the prep list reads:
| Component | Cooked needed | With 5% over | Already made | Yield | Raw to start with | Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalua pork | 11.76 kg | 12.35 kg | 60% | 20.58 kg pork shoulder | Friday | |
| Shoyu sauce | 2.48 kg | 2.60 kg | 1.20 kg | 100% | 1.40 kg to make | Friday |
| Shoyu chicken | 9.30 kg | 9.77 kg | 70% | 13.95 kg chicken thighs | Saturday | |
| Steamed taro | 14.16 kg | 14.87 kg | 75% | 19.82 kg taro | Saturday | |
| Rice | 17.28 kg | 18.14 kg | 250% | 7.26 kg dry rice | Saturday | |
| Roasted vegetables | 5.10 kg | 5.36 kg | 85% | 6.30 kg vegetables | Saturday | |
| Greens | 8.76 kg | 9.20 kg | 90% | 10.22 kg greens | Sunday |
Steamed taro is in two meals, so its 14.16 kg is 118 portions of 120 g; greens are in two others. The shoyu sauce made last week is still in date, so only 1.40 kg more is made. And the pork shows why yield matters: 12.35 kg cooked takes 20.58 kg raw, not 12.35. Yields like these are examples; how to measure your own is in batch yield formula, and how a recipe is scaled to a batch is in scaling recipes for production.
Getting the yields right
The yield column is the one that makes or breaks a prep list. Meat and vegetables lose weight to cooking and trimming, so their yield is under 100%; rice and grains take on water, so theirs is over. Weigh the raw and the cooked a few times, on ordinary days, and use your own average. A yield that drifts, the pork coming out at 54% instead of 60%, means a short tray on Sunday unless the prep list knows. How the cost of a meal follows the cooked yield is in meal prep business startup cost.
From prep list to shopping list
The raw weights are also the shopping list, less what's in stock: 20.58 kg of pork shoulder needed, against what's in the freezer, is what to order on Thursday. Bought in cases, it rounds up to whole cases. The whole week's plan, from orders to purchases, is in how to prepare a production plan, and for a catering kitchen the same list is in catering inventory checklist.
Get the template
Download the prep list template. The Orders sheet takes this week's meals and counts; the Portions sheet lists what goes into each meal, in grams; the Prep list sheet adds each component up, applies overage, takes off what's already made, and works out the raw weight to start with, with a day, a name and a box to tick. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A prep list in a spreadsheet is only as current as the last order typed into it. A late order on Friday, a customer who cancels, a yield that's been slipping for a month, or the sauce in the walk-in that turns out to be past its date, and the list is wrong on the morning it matters. The shopping list built from it is wrong too, and nobody finds out until a tray is short.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps the recipes, the yields and what's in the walk-in, so the prep list comes from the orders.
Recipes with sub-recipes and yields. Each meal is a recipe with versions, and the sauces and marinades in it are sub-recipes, made and stocked in their own right. A scrap % covers what cooking takes, and units convert: buy pork by the case, cook by the kilo. "What could I make right now" shows what the shelves allow.
From orders to what to make, on Standard. Each order is a sales order for its delivery date. Planning, on Standard, works out what to make and what to buy, and by when, through each recipe and its yield, counting what's already made. It's shelf-life aware, so a batch made too early for a customer's minimum days-left is flagged before you make it.
And every batch, recorded. Recording a batch takes ingredients off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, and divides by what came out good. Recipe truth shows, from your own batch history, whether a recipe yields what it claims, so a pork yield slipping from 60% to 54% shows up before Sunday does. Each batch goes into a lot with its use-by date, and lot labels print with its code.
| The question | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What do we prep this week? | Retyped from the orders | Worked out from the sales orders |
| How much raw pork? | The yield someone remembers | The recipe's yield, checked against batches |
| Is last week's sauce still good? | Look in the walk-in | Its lot and use-by date |
| What do we buy? | A second list | Planned with what to make |
Recipes with sub-recipes, batches and lots are on every plan, from $49 a month; planning, which turns the week's orders into what to make and buy, is on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.