Tracking when you never make a recipe the same way twice...

sarahmichelef

the title says it all. I am a ... creative cook - rarely make something the same way twice, depending on what ingredients I have on hand, what's in season, etc.

For example: I just made some tuna salad that included carrots, scallions, red onion, and cucumber. But next time I make it, I might sub in or add peppers, or garlic, or whatever else I have in the fridge that needs to get used up.

I could create a new recipe every time but that would get unwieldy and confusing... my custom recipe tab is already overfull and hard to navigate.

How do other folks handle this?

smotheredincheese

I just edit the recipe every time, take out the things I omitted and add in the extras, and save the recipe again.

Toadstool_

I'm the same, I don't follow recipes, and nothing ever ends up the same. If its something totally different, I'll start fresh and create a new recipe, but for example if I were making a beef stew, I'll log it with what I put in first time, and when I next come to make a beef stew I will just edit that one - remove whatever ingredients I didn't use, add any different ones and alter quantities. The chances of me ever re-using the original recipe are slim to none anyway and it saves starting from scratch!

For things like salads, I use the meals tab though and just delete / add any differences in the diary.

sixxpoint

Recipes are just meant to be a loose guideline to jog memory so you don't forget to do something. Great cooks don't follow recipes cautiously, step-by-step.

If you know what you are doing in the kitchen, you cook based on instinct and you use your senses (taste, sight, smell, sound, feel). Cooking is not really that difficult if you have a cook palate and good instincts.

sarahmichelef

That was kinda my point... but that is also what makes logging your food accurately difficult!

sixxpoint

sarahmichelef wrote: »

That was kinda my point... but that is also what makes logging your food accurately difficult!

Any differences should be quite minor... It's not like you're making pasta bolognese with vastly different amounts of meat and pasta. But maybe you use 1/2 cup less tomatoes this time, or 1 tsp more olive oil...

I wouldn't stress so much about logging with extreme precision. It is never going to happen. Just try to be consistent and measure your progress. If you notice unwanted loss or gain, then take steps to correct it.

ForMe2No

If you change the recipe...doesn't it update your diary so that the last time you had it it now reflects the new numbers...calories etc? So now your historical data is incorrect?

sarahmichelef

I was wondering the same thing, @ForMe2No ... I don't care that much about my historical data, but it would be good to know for sure.

ForeverSunshine09

I jusr update my recipes each time I make them. Then I get the accurate info for that particular day. It doesn't change your last time. Just this time. I just did that yesterday with our beef strognaff

PikaKnight

smotheredincheese wrote: »

I just edit the recipe every time, take out the things I omitted and add in the extras, and save the recipe again.

^Exactly this. Doesn't take me long at all to edit as needed. And the extra 1-4 minutes it takes to do (depending on how much I'm changing) is worth it, in my opinion.

Timorous_Beastie

I'll either update the recipe, or just log each ingredient.

blankiefinder

I edit my recipe every time. Or if it's something I'm just making for myself, I save it as a meal, then when I add it to my diary as a meal, I can adjust the quantity of each ingredient from within my diary, or delete and add as needed.

fulltimelife

I just log everything that I used. So if it is tuna salad, then I calculate how many calories are in the tuna, how much in the vegetables, how much in the mayo or yogurt, etc. I figure out the calories for the entire amount, then divide it by how many servings I got out of it.
If a can of tuna is 120 cals, 1.5 cups assorted vegetables 75, and 1 tbs mayo 90, the entire amount is 285. If I ate half, then I log 1/2 can tuna, .75 vegetables, 1/2 tbs mayo. And so on.
Since I don't follow a recipe, or don't make the same thing exactly twice, I don't put the recipe into MFP, just list what I used. If it is a large pot of something that will last multi meals, then I do the same, but just use the quick add from previous meal to get the information, and adjust serving as needed.
Hope that helps.

Toadstool_

ForMe2No wrote: »

If you change the recipe...doesn't it update your diary so that the last time you had it it now reflects the new numbers...calories etc? So now your historical data is incorrect?

No, when you alter the recipe, the previous logs stay the same as they were.

sarahmichelef

Thanks for all the perspectives, folks!

ForMe2No

Toadstool_ wrote: »

ForMe2No wrote: »

If you change the recipe...doesn't it update your diary so that the last time you had it it now reflects the new numbers...calories etc? So now your historical data is incorrect?

No, when you alter the recipe, the previous logs stay the same as they were.

Thank you!