Food diary problems, can't find Mexican foods...HELP!

ramonramirez1975
ramonramirez1975 Posts: 36 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I'm having tons of trouble tracking my food intake in my diary due to the food that I eat. My diet consist of mostly Mexican food and most of the time I can't find them when I search for them, for instance I had a chille relleno for lunch yesterday, which is a large pepper battered with eggs and stuffed with cheese inside. Because I'm in a calorie diet and fasting after 3 pm I removed the cheese and the egg around. How do I log that in my diary? Also having problems logging in other Mexican foods.

Replies

  • Middangeard
    Middangeard Posts: 47 Member
    There are several entries for chile relleno, but none that I saw with your modifications. I would suggest looking up the basic recipe (if you didn't make it yourself) and using the recipe creation tool to get as close of an approximation that you can.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    I just checked the food diary. It has several restaurant listings for chile rellenos. If you make your own, use the recipe tool, the old version, to account for all the ingredients you use.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited March 2017
    Middangeard wrote: »
    There are several entries for chile relleno, but none that I saw with your modifications. I would suggest looking up the basic recipe (if you didn't make it yourself) and using the recipe creation tool to get as close of an approximation that you can.

    Second this. The recipe builder tool is indispensable if you prepare your own dishes. I only use the database for brand name items or to get the USDA stats for individual generic items like an egg, fruits, veggies, etc

    If my dish is a single serving and just a few ingredients, I will just add each ingredient separately into my diary and not do the recipe builder unless I plan to make it often.
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    Anytime you prepare your own foods use the recipe builder. It will be far more accurate than any entry in the database. No two people make their chille relleno exactly the same. The only time I use the database entries is for the individual ingredients, prepackaged foods, and when someone else did the cooking and I have no idea how it was made. Also, were you spelling "chille" with two "L's" like in your post? You might have better luck using the Americanized spelling of "chile".
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    Anytime you prepare your own foods use the recipe builder. It will be far more accurate than any entry in the database. No two people make their chille relleno exactly the same. The only time I use the database entries is for the individual ingredients, prepackaged foods, and when someone else did the cooking and I have no idea how it was made. Also, were you spelling "chille" with two "L's" like in your post? You might have better luck using the Americanized spelling of "chile".

    Actually, "chili" will bring up the most results
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    Anytime you prepare your own foods use the recipe builder. It will be far more accurate than any entry in the database. No two people make their chille relleno exactly the same. The only time I use the database entries is for the individual ingredients, prepackaged foods, and when someone else did the cooking and I have no idea how it was made. Also, were you spelling "chille" with two "L's" like in your post? You might have better luck using the Americanized spelling of "chile".

    Actually, "chili" will bring up the most results

    LOL, what? That is just the worst spelling ever. Chili is a stew, but this is MFP, where "loose" and "lose" are synonymous, so why not?
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited March 2017
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    Anytime you prepare your own foods use the recipe builder. It will be far more accurate than any entry in the database. No two people make their chille relleno exactly the same. The only time I use the database entries is for the individual ingredients, prepackaged foods, and when someone else did the cooking and I have no idea how it was made. Also, were you spelling "chille" with two "L's" like in your post? You might have better luck using the Americanized spelling of "chile".

    Actually, "chili" will bring up the most results

    LOL, what? That is just the worst spelling ever. Chili is a stew, but this is MFP, where "loose" and "lose" are synonymous, so why not?

    Nope. Chili is the preferred spelling referring to the stew as well as the peppers which give it it's name. Chile is typically used for the country. (even Wiki used chili with chile and chilli only as alternate spellings, not the preferred one)

    ETA: I worked for an internationally known spice merchant
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    Anytime you prepare your own foods use the recipe builder. It will be far more accurate than any entry in the database. No two people make their chille relleno exactly the same. The only time I use the database entries is for the individual ingredients, prepackaged foods, and when someone else did the cooking and I have no idea how it was made. Also, were you spelling "chille" with two "L's" like in your post? You might have better luck using the Americanized spelling of "chile".

    Actually, "chili" will bring up the most results

    LOL, what? That is just the worst spelling ever. Chili is a stew, but this is MFP, where "loose" and "lose" are synonymous, so why not?

    Nope. Chili is the preferred spelling referring to the stew as well as the peppers which give it it's name. Chile is typically used for the country. (even Wiki used chili with chile and chilli only as alternate spellings, not the preferred one)

    ETA: I worked for an internationally known spice merchant

    Oh, brain fart. I do spell it chili pepper. It's right here on my grocery list. Haven't had enough coffee today. Chile is a country.
  • ramonramirez1975
    ramonramirez1975 Posts: 36 Member
    Thank you all for you feedback, as suggested I'll log in things seperally instead, for instance for chile relleno and since I'm only eating the pepper and not everything else I will just log 1 poblano chile instead. Thanks again..:)
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    Always try alternate spellings. It's a plain search engine, not like Google which will work out what you mean however you spell it.
  • ramonramirez1975
    ramonramirez1975 Posts: 36 Member
    Lol sorry about the bad spelling, my phone autocorrect most of what I wrote in Spanish.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    Anytime you prepare your own foods use the recipe builder. It will be far more accurate than any entry in the database. No two people make their chille relleno exactly the same. The only time I use the database entries is for the individual ingredients, prepackaged foods, and when someone else did the cooking and I have no idea how it was made. Also, were you spelling "chille" with two "L's" like in your post? You might have better luck using the Americanized spelling of "chile".

    Actually, "chili" will bring up the most results

    LOL, what? That is just the worst spelling ever. Chili is a stew, but this is MFP, where "loose" and "lose" are synonymous, so why not?

    Nope. Chili is the preferred spelling referring to the stew as well as the peppers which give it it's name. Chile is typically used for the country. (even Wiki used chili with chile and chilli only as alternate spellings, not the preferred one)

    ETA: I worked for an internationally known spice merchant

    Oh, brain fart. I do spell it chili pepper. It's right here on my grocery list. Haven't had enough coffee today. Chile is a country.

    LOL. We all have those mornings. :(
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    ramonramirez1975 wrote: »
    Lol sorry about the bad spelling, my phone autocorrect most of what I wrote in Spanish.

    The database can be finicky. Sometimes I find nothing if I enter something like "raw chicken breast" but will find several entries if I enter "chicken breast meat, raw".
  • veronicav0502
    veronicav0502 Posts: 112 Member
    I have to use the recipe builder on a lot of the foods I eat especially enchiladas or since not everyone makes them the same and I don't use the canned stuff. Yuck! It might take a bit of time to search every ingredient, but once it's saved then it's easy.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    veronicav0502 wrote: »
    I have to use the recipe builder on a lot of the foods I eat especially enchiladas or since not everyone makes them the same and I don't use the canned stuff. Yuck! It might take a bit of time to search every ingredient, but once it's saved then it's easy.

    Me too. I often need to make a few slight changes each time I make something, like adjust the weight of the meat depending on how much I have on hand or change the weight of the onion. These are simple changes.
  • joseccastaneda
    joseccastaneda Posts: 267 Member
    My only comment is that if the pepper was fried (the process for keeping the egg on the pepper), i would assume it would have picked up some of the oil. It just depends how accurate you need to be with what you are tracking. I always have some margin for error so i don't worry too much about it.
  • ramonramirez1975
    ramonramirez1975 Posts: 36 Member
    joseccastaneda wrote: »
    My only comment is that if the pepper was fried (the process for keeping the egg on the pepper), i would assume it would have picked up some of the oil. It just depends how accurate you need to be with what you are tracking. I always have some margin for error so i don't worry too much about it.

    You're right, it will be impossible to track every bit of ingredients so I'll leave a little margin for error which in my opinion is not much, thanks.
  • DonM46
    DonM46 Posts: 771 Member
    As a guide, you could also check some Mexican restaurants websites & look at their nutritional info. You won't know all the ingredients nor quantities, but you can see if the results of your recipe compares favorably with the commerically prepared items. Their sodium content will likely be considerably greater than your results because of the preservatives.
    As has been said, use the recipe section of MFP to enter the quantity of each ingredient which YOU use to attain the greater accuracy. Spices are usually negligible, but if you're unsure, include them.
    Once you name your recipe, then you can refer to it directly from your diary for future convenience.

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