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Ingredient prices

Flour price per pound

All-purpose white flour, US city average. Cheap per pound, and the base of the highest-margin items on most menus.

Also known as all-purpose flour or wheat flour.

October 2026 · US city average

$0.55

per lb

1 month
−0.5%
3 months
+0.2%
12 months
−3.2%

2024-01 to 2026-09

0.570.52Jan '24Sep '26

What the last 12 months did to a plate

Representative portions and volumes — substitute your own. The point isn't the exact figure, it's that a −3.2% move on one ingredient turns into a specific annual number on a specific dish, and that number is usually larger than it feels.

DishUsesCost todayChange per platePer year at 268/wk
Pizza dough (12in base)8.8 oz$0.30−$0.01−$137.97
Bread roll2 oz$0.07−$0.00−$75.44
Fresh pasta portion3.5 oz$0.12−$0.00−$37.07
Batter / dredge per portion1.4 oz$0.05−$0.00−$13.98

Volumes differ per row — each is a plausible weekly count for that dish. Computed from the BLS series above; your supplier price will differ by region, volume and grade.

What moves this price

  • Wheat harvests and global supply. Weather in major exporting regions moves wheat, and wheat moves flour with a lag.
  • Energy and freight. Milling and moving a low-value, heavy commodity makes fuel a real share of delivered cost.
  • Protein content. Bread flour and all-purpose track differently; a pizzeria's cost curve isn't the same as a general kitchen's.

Buying notes

  • Flour is why pizzerias and bakeries run food cost percentages in the low twenties — the ingredient is pennies and the finished item carries a full menu price. It's also why those formats are unusually sensitive to labour, since the value is added by hands.
  • Even a large percentage move on flour is a small absolute move per plate. A 20% rise on a 12-inch pizza base is about eleven cents. Don't reprice a pizza because flour moved; do reprice it because cheese did.
  • Buy on protein specification, not on brand. A dough recipe developed on 12.5% protein flour behaves differently at 11%, and the resulting waste costs more than the price difference.

This is the national average. Yours is the one that matters.

Review a supplier invoice and the affected recipe in Marji to check your own plate cost. Quantities, units, usable yields and ingredient costs need review before a margin can guide a price decision. Ongoing costing starts with a free 14-day trial, with no card required; continued costing access requires a paid plan.

Start a 14-day costing trial →See it in the index

When a price change means a new menu price, a free QR menu lets you update it without reprinting.

To cost a recipe with your own purchase price and usable yield, compare free recipe costing apps and their plan limits. The guide includes a calculation you can check before entering your full menu.

Recent ingredient cost and pricing guides

Put market changes in context, check a dish with your own costs, and decide how to explain a menu price change.

Related terms