How do I create an ingredient list on recipe sheets by copying from a master list in a spreadsheet?

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How do I create an ingredient list on recipe sheets by copying from a master list in a spreadsheet?

Hello, I am creating a budgeting list for baked goods. In my first spreadsheet, I have my master list which includes a list of ingredients per item (ie Brown Sugar (Sugar, Molasses)). On my other sheets, I have exact recipes. I would like to create an ingredient list on my recipe sheets by copying over the information from my master list so that it resembles something you would find on the back of a bag of store bought cookies. Any suggestions?

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MacBook, macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 2, 2025 6:17 PM

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Answer 1

Camelot

Level 9

58,299 points

Apr 7, 2025 5:48 PM in response to LovingSelfMadeProblems

There's a lot to this... it's conceivably possible but, as ever, the devil is in the details, and a lot depends on the layout of your 'ingredients' sheets. How are they formatted? as a series of cells for individual ingredients and quantities? or as single cells.

Knowing that, as well as an idea of what you want the final result to look like will help a lot.

It's probably simple to to a LOOKUP() to retrieve the base ingredients, but it will be trickier if you want to combine them - for example, if the first entry calls for 2 cups of brown sugar, and a later item calls for 1 cup of brown sugar, are you OK with them being two separate lines? or do you want a shopping list of '3 cups of brown sugar'?

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How do I create an ingredient list on recipe sheets by copying from a master list in a spreadsheet?

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