How the meal rate is calculated: fixed, weighted & market rate
Your meal rate is the single number that turns a month of groceries and meals into what each person owes. MessBuddy can work it out three ways — here is how each one works, with examples.
What a meal rate actually is
At its simplest, the meal rate is the cost of one meal. Multiply it by how many meals you ate and you get your food bill for the month.
Everything in a mess flows from this one number, so the only thing that really matters is that everyone agrees on how it is calculated. MessBuddy shows the same live rate to every member, so there is nothing to dispute.
Market rate — the popular default
Market rate = total bazar spend ÷ total meals eaten by everyone. If the mess spent ৳18,000 and members ate 400 meals between them, the rate is ৳45 per meal.
It is the truest reflection of what was actually spent, which is why most messes pick it. The rate moves naturally with how much you buy and how much everyone eats.
Fixed rate — predictable
You set a price per meal up front — say ৳30 for breakfast, ৳60 for lunch and ৳60 for dinner. Members are charged that regardless of what the bazar totals.
It is predictable and easy to budget. If bazar spending ends up above or below what the fixed charges collected, MessBuddy splits the small gap or surplus across everyone who ate, so the books still balance.
Weighted ratio — for uneven meals
Not every meal costs the same. Weighted ratio gives each meal a multiplier — for example breakfast 0.5×, lunch 1× and dinner 1× — and splits the bazar across those weighted units instead of flat meals.
A heavy dinner then carries more of the cost than a light breakfast, which is fairer for messes where meal sizes differ a lot.
Which should your mess pick?
Choose market rate if you want the truest split of real spending, fixed rate if you value predictable monthly costs, or weighted ratio if breakfast, lunch and dinner differ a lot in size.
You are not locked in — change the algorithm any time in Settings, and MessBuddy applies it from the start of the next month so the current month stays consistent.