Recipe Builder

Ashers783

Hi, I am fairly new around here so firstly, apologies if this is being posted in the wrong place.

I have tried to use the Recipe Builder but it seems to pick the wrong ingredients, for example I used this link https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-chicken-casserole

but it told me it was several more calories than it actually is. Am I doing something wrong? Any tips?

Thanks

CyberTone

It picks the wrong ingredients more than 50 percent of the time. It is the worst search engine, based on the worst search indexer, MFP could have chosen.

fruoshea

@Ashers783 I make a lot of BBC Good Food recipes (love BBC Good Food ) but I never use the automatic recipe builder - always the manual.

First, there are sometimes quantities that are less than perfect for calorie counting - e.g. a knob of butter, 2 carrots or 2 celery sticks in that recipe. Second, I live in Sweden, so most of the time the ingredient I use may not 100% match the calories or nutrition of whatever they use. Third, I have never used exactly spot on the same amount as they say.

So I much prefer to enter it myself. That way I get to pick the brands I use, and add exactly the weight of my 2 carrots, etc Considering I use a lot of non-British brands I find that quicker than adding the recipe by adding a link and then having to go in and change everything.

fruoshea

P.S. I've been eyeing that recipe - is it good?

Cat3141

I use the builder and then go through and replace the items that are wrong. It's not super convenient but it's better than the old one.

OldHobo

Not sure I understand this discussion. I tried using the "Import Recipe Button" when I first came to MFP. It didn't work for me. Ever. Many times in a row.

Now I always use the old recipe calculator button labeled "Enter New Recipe." Wouldn't call it elegant but it works well enough given the nature of MFP food database.

Ashers783

fruoshea wrote: »

P.S. I've been eyeing that recipe - is it good?

Hi, thank you for your help in your first post, I am glad it wasn't just me being daft, I guess it is just too good to be true!

I haven't tried the recipe yet, but definitely going to, I love using a slow cooker!

kmsoucy457

Cat3141 wrote: »

I use the builder and then go through and replace the items that are wrong. It's not super convenient but it's better than the old one.

This is what i do, and always review the database's selections before saving my recipe. I DO end up changing a lot of the ingredient quantities or "replacing" the ingredient entirely (lookin' at YOU, 1,035cals-per-gram shallot!), but it's easier than typing everything out.

paganjaggermama

Can you share your made recipes with another users (husband) on their account. I have to make the recipe on both of our accounts every time. So frustrating

CyberTone

paganjaggermama wrote: »

Can you share your made recipes with another users (husband) on their account. I have to make the recipe on both of our accounts every time. So frustrating

You can not share recipes directly with another user, and another user will not find your recipes through a search. Your recipes will be displayed in the search results only when you perform a search.

​There is a workaround to log another user's Recipe nutrition information. Once you log a Recipe to one of your Meals, another user who has access to your Food Diary can copy the Meal containing the Recipe item from your Diary to their Diary, then delete any unwanted entries from that copied Meal.

​Please see these articles, and search for other helpful articles, on the MFP Help/FAQ pages...

myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/304780-can-i-share-recipes-with-other-users-

myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/11478-can-i-copy-meals-from-my-friends-

myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/201687-how-do-i-make-my-diary-visible-to-other-users-

ritzvin

Ashers783 wrote: »

Hi, I am fairly new around here so firstly, apologies if this is being posted in the wrong place.

I have tried to use the Recipe Builder but it seems to pick the wrong ingredients, for example I used this link https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-chicken-casserole

but it told me it was several more calories than it actually is. Am I doing something wrong? Any tips?

Thanks

• You will have to choose an alternate ingredient than the default that gets picked most of the time, which the Recipe builder allows you to do.
• After a while, you'll learn how to word certain ingredients you use a lot to make the one you want come up first. Many times, this requires adding the words "USDA" and "raw". "Pure oil" for me brings up an accurate oil listing first. Adding my initials to the "My Foods" that I've added, and then using my initials when typing in that ingredient in the recipe builder will normally call up my version by default (this is largely useful for dried beans -- there are a lot of wonky highly variable listings in the DB for these). and so on.

ritzvin

.. also, typing in the brand name of the item (if a common brand) will be more likely to call up the accurate listing.

ritzvin

example:

knob of butter
½ tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
1 large onion
finely chopped
1 ½ tbsp flour
650g boneless, skinless chicken
thigh fillets
3 garlic cloves, crushed
400g baby new potatoes
, halved
2 sticks celery
, diced
2 carrots
, diced
250g mushrooms, quartered
15g dried porcini mushroom, soaked in 50ml boiling water
500ml stock made with 2 very low salt chicken stock cubes (we used Kallo)
2 tsp Dijon mustard, plus extra to serve
2 bay leaves


to something like:

1T salted butter
0.5T pure olive oil
__g onion usda raw
1.5T king arthur flour
650g boneless skinless chicken thigh raw usda
__g garlic usda
400g white potatoes raw usda
__g celery usda raw
__g carrots usda raw
250g mushrooms raw usda
15g _______ dried porcini mushroom (insert brand name if not from bulk, otherwise try adding usda)
2 cubes Kallo chicken bouillion
2tsp _______(brandname) dijon mustard
__g bay leaves usda