Cooking calculator
Fish, wines and karambwan, priced raw against cooked at the live market.
Cooking is one of the cheapest skills in the game to train, and several methods turn a profit rather than a cost. The margin between raw and cooked food is set by the market and moves constantly.
Wines are the fastest experience by a wide margin. Whether they are also the cheapest depends on the current grape price, which the table below accounts for.
Cooking levels
1 to 99
Must be higher than current
Methods
8 methods| Method | Level | XP each | XP/hr | Actions | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuna | 30 | 100 | 130K | 130,345 | 100h |
| KarambwanCooked below level 30 they become poisonous and worthless. | 30 | 190 | 247K | 68,603 | 53h |
| Jug of wineThe fastest Cooking experience in the game. Ferments into bad wine below level 68. | 35 | 200 | 280K | 65,173 | 47h |
| Lobster | 40 | 120 | 156K | 108,621 | 84h |
| Swordfish | 45 | 140 | 182K | 93,104 | 72h |
| Monkfish | 62 | 150 | 195K | 86,897 | 67h |
| Shark | 80 | 210 | 273K | 62,069 | 48h |
| Anglerfish | 84 | 230 | 299K | 56,672 | 44h |
Actions and hours assume you use one method the whole way, which almost nobody does. Rates are for steady play with the usual setup; treat them as a planning figure rather than a promise. Methods above your current level are dimmed.
How this is calculated
Experience per action and the level each method unlocks at are game data. Everything else is arithmetic on the experience table:
experience needed = xp at target level − xp at current level
actions = experience needed ÷ experience per action
hours = experience needed ÷ (experience per action × actions per hour)Actions per hour is the one estimate in there. It assumes steady play with the setup people normally use for the method, and it is the number to be sceptical of — a rate quoted for someone with perfect banking is not the rate you will hit on a first attempt.
What this does not account for
- Cost. This site no longer reads live Grand Exchange prices, so nothing here is ranked by what it costs. For most skills the cheapest method and the fastest are different, and this tool only answers the second.
- Failure rates. Where a method can fail or burn, every attempt is counted as a success. The notes flag the methods where that matters most.
- Switching methods. The actions and hours columns assume you use one method for the whole range, which almost nobody does. Read them as a per-method comparison rather than a plan.
About training Cooking
- Burn rates are not modelled here. Below the level where you stop burning an item, the real cost is higher than shown — sometimes considerably.
- Cooking on a range rather than a fire reduces burning. The Hosidius kitchen reduces it further with the Kourend favour bonus.
- Jugs of wine never burn, but they can ferment into bad wine below level 68, which is the equivalent problem.
Worth knowing
Recipes, levels and experience values are game data. If you spot one that is wrong, please tell us — accuracy is the only thing that makes a calculator worth using.
Actions per hour assume steady play with the usual setup. Your first hour at a new method will be slower than the figure here.