Sausage and mash with onion gravy: how much it costs to make, per portion
Three Cumberland-style sausages on buttery mash with onion gravy and peas. Costed from JJ Foodservice wholesale prices dated 9 October 2026. Onions and peas are from our 7 September prices.
The menu price is the one ChefSums uses for this dish on its sample pub menu, a realistic UK menu price. The lowest price is the one that just reaches 68% GP, the UK food GP benchmark (UKHospitality × Christie & Co, 2022: 65.9–69% food GP across every segment). It covers the ingredients at a normal margin, not staff, rent or energy, and most cafés, pubs and takeaways charge more for simple dishes. Check what places near you charge. GP is worked out on the ex-VAT price.
Open in ChefSums — edit, cost, scale →
Ingredients and cost, 10 portions
| Ingredient | Pack price | Pack size | Used | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pork sausages, Cumberland style (6 to the lb) | £15.99 | 3630 g | 2250 g | £9.91 |
| Potatoes (chipping, for mash) | £16.99 | 25000 g | 3086 g | £2.10 |
| Unsalted butter | £30.49 | 5000 g | 150 g | £0.91 |
| Whole milk | £1.69 | 2000 ml | 150 ml | £0.13 |
| Onions | £6.99 | 10000 g | 667 g | £0.47 |
| Gravy granules | £25.79 | 5000 g | 150 g | £0.77 |
| Frozen peas | £5.29 | 2500 g | 800 g | £1.69 |
| Table salt | £10.99 | 6000 g | 10 g | £0.02 |
| Ground black pepper | £15.99 | 1000 g | 3 g | £0.05 |
| Batch total | £16.05 | |||
| Per portion (÷ 10) | £1.60 | |||
Cost per line is pack price × (amount used ÷ pack size), the same sum the tool runs. Change one pack price and every line that uses it moves.
What it really costs: waste and staff time
| Ingredients | £1.60 |
| Waste allowance, 5% (trim, ends, the odd one binned) | £0.08 |
| Staff time: 20 min hands-on for the batch of 10 at £12.71/hr + 25% on-cost | £0.53 |
| Food, waste and staff per portion | £2.21 |
At the sample pub menu price (£11.63 ex VAT) that is 19% of the price, before rent, energy and everything else. Many UK sites aim to keep food plus staff (prime cost) at or under 60–65% of sales. The staff line counts hands-on prep only, not unattended cooking, and uses the April 2026 National Living Wage; put your own rate, minutes and waste in the calculator's real cost section or the prime cost calculator. Every dish side by side: the UK dish cost index.
Method
- Roast the sausages at 190 °C for 20-25 minutes, turning once.
- Boil the peeled potatoes in salted water until soft, drain well, let them steam dry, then mash with the butter and hot milk; season.
- Slowly cook the sliced onions in a little of the butter for 20 minutes until soft and golden, then whisk in the gravy granules with about 1.5 litres of boiling water.
- Plate mash, sausages, gravy over, peas on the side.
Costing notes
Three 6s sausages is 225 g raw, so sausages are well over half the plate. The mash needs 2.5 kg of peeled potatoes, so the potato line above is the weight to buy. Making the gravy from granules keeps it consistent, but the slow-cooked onions are what customers taste.
Prep loss is costed in: each fresh vegetable line is the weight you buy, not the prepared weight that goes in the pan. Potatoes: 2,500 g peeled is 3,086 g as bought at 81% (potato yield); Onions: 600 g peeled is 667 g as bought at 90% (onion yield).
Where the prices came from
JJ Foodservice collection prices as shown on its public search pages on 9 October 2026 (delivery runs about £1-2 a case higher). A few lines JJ did not list in that day's searches reuse the dated prices already on our other starter recipes (7 September 2026, JJ Foodservice or Tesco retail, marked on each line). JJ does not label VAT on most lines: raw food is zero-rated in the UK, while soft drinks, alcohol, confectionery and some ingredients carry standard-rate VAT. Your supplier's price is the one that matters: open the recipe and type it in.
- Pork sausages, Cumberland style (6 to the lb): JJ Butchers Cumberland Style Pork Sausages 6s 1x3.63kg, 3.63 kg, £15.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Potatoes (chipping, for mash): Chipping Potato 1x25kg (POT112), 25 kg, £16.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Unsalted butter: Lakeland Unsalted Butter 20x250g (DAI186), 5 kg, £30.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Whole milk: Fresh Whole Milk 1x2L (DAI005), 2 L, £1.69 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Onions: Brown Cooking Onions 1x10kg (VEG655), 10 kg, £6.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Gravy granules: Dinaclass Original Gravy Mix 2x2.5kg (SAU538), 5 kg, £25.79 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Frozen peas: Darta Frozen Choice Peas 1x2.5kg (VEG497), 2.5 kg, £5.29 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Table salt: DP Table Salt Tub 1x6kg (SPI277), 6 kg, £10.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Ground black pepper: Ground Black Pepper 1x1kg (SPI293), 1 kg, £15.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
More costed dishes: pub and restaurant classics
- Macaroni cheese — £0.76 a portion
- Spaghetti bolognese — £1.82 a portion
- Steak and ale pie with chips and peas — £2.85 a portion
- Beef lasagne with garlic bread — £2.27 a portion