Bring your ingredients and recipes in one CSV.
Download a sample file, edit it in Excel or Google Sheets, and preview an import into your MenuCostFlow workspace.
This is an import template, not an Excel calculator with formulas. MenuCostFlow calculates costs after reading the inputs. Arbitrary spreadsheet layouts and formulas are not supported.
What is in the sample?
The file has 17 columns and three record types: ingredient, recipe and line. The sample includes a 2 l oil package priced at $20, a density of 0.9 g/ml, and a sauce recipe using 450 g of oil with a 500 ml output. These are illustrative values.
At that density, 450 g is 500 ml. The recipe uses one quarter of the 2 l package, so its ingredient cost is $5, or $0.01 per ml of recipe output. Replace the sample with your own recipe inputs.
Use the right columns for each record
| Record type | Fields to fill | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| ingredient | id, name, package_price, package_quantity, package_unit, usable_yieldOptional: grams_per_ml, price_date | Purchase inputs. Yield is a fraction such as 0.8 for 80%. |
| recipe | id, name, output_quantity, output_unitOptional: grams_per_ml | Finished batch or portion output. |
| line | recipe_id, line_number, kind, ref_id, usable_quantity, unit | Connect an ingredient or subrecipe to the recipe that uses it. |
Every row starts with record_type. Leave columns that do not apply to that record type blank. Ingredient units are g, kg, oz, lb, ml, l; recipe output can also use portion. Line kind is ingredient or recipe.
Download, edit, preview, confirm
- Keep the headers. Open the CSV in your spreadsheet editor. Do not rename or remove the 17 header columns.
- Use stable IDs. Choose IDs you can reuse later. Imports identify ingredients and recipes by ID, not by their display names.
- Check quantities and references. Each line references a recipe and an ingredient or subrecipe ID. Supply all the lines you want for an updated recipe, because its imported lines replace its previous lines.
- Export as UTF-8 CSV. Upload the CSV—not an .xlsx file—to the import page. Keep it within your plan's recipe and ingredient limits.
- Read the preview. Sign in to preview against your saved workspace. Check additions, updates, source-date warnings and errors before committing.
Before updating existing data
Export your current workspace first. Omitted records are not deleted. Importing a changed existing ingredient price is also a price change: inspect the preview and date warnings rather than treating an import as an invisible bulk overwrite.
Use dates in YYYY-MM-DD format and never a future date. Older source dates require explicit confirmation. The template accepts files up to 5 MB and 5,000 data rows, while your plan's saved-data limits still apply.
Free and Pro use the same format
Free saves 2 recipes and 40 ingredients. Pro saves 500 recipes and 5,000 ingredients; subrecipes count as recipes. Compare the plans. Exports contain workspace inputs, not saved price-change history, and archived inputs have a separate export.