Recipe serving size confusion in MyFitnessPal

nalerilune

Came here because I have the same issue as the original post. I have a scale and use it. All I want is the ability to note in the recipe, "One serving is 2 tablespoons or 30 grams." It would make the app a lot more convenient and easier to use.

I use this app to make it more convenient to track calories and nutrition. Memorizing or writing down serving sizes for every recipe I make, and then looking up those serving sizes every time I eat them, is not convenient.

The best solution I've seen in this thread is to make the recipe's number of servings the weight of the total finished recipe in grams. But that's still a workaround that's more mental overhead than just being able to type in our own serving amounts. I'll probably use it though, so thank you to those who suggested it.

If I could enter in my own serving amounts, it would make me able to log my recipes the same way I do other foods. I'm able to say that I had "one serving of 56 grams" of a canned food, so why not one serving of 56 grams of my own recipe?

Sidenote, pretty disappointed at the number of people telling OP she's wrong or "it's not that hard." This is supposed to be a helpful community. Please don't be snarky, and if you don't have anything helpful to add, just click/tap away. Particular side-eye at you, freda.

freda78 wrote: »

heathersundean146 wrote: »

I can't just measure out two cups of soup like a normal person and enter that I ate two cups of soup.

Cup is not "normal". Normal people use scales.

Let's not shame people for how they measure food, k?

Infideluxe

Requiring us to contort ourselves into thinking in terms of a completely contrived "Serving" unit is completely asinine.

Like Heather (who started this thread), I too am wondering "What fool programmed this thing?".

It's imperative that we be permitted to work in terms of weight when we help ourselves to a completed recipe.

I always invest the time and effort to measure and record each ingredient.

So why the <blarg!!!> should I then pretend that my newly cooked pot of Mexican Rice contains 2599 servings in order to circumvent a ridiculous system that I'm actually paying these goofballs 'premium' fees for? (So, I'm a sucker too, rewarding these guys for terrible design.)

Agion3

Calculate the entire dish, then divide by how many servings you decide to make out of it.

nossmf

If you use the servings on a package, make sure you ae aware of what size a "serving" is for that product. It's easy when it's an entire package, but some products promote a "serving" which is ridiculously small compared to what most people would consume. For example, consider the Pillsbury Fudge Brownie. The package advertises it's only 110 calories per serving. Yet a serving is 1/18th of the entire package. In my family we split the cooked product six ways, so my plate actually holds 3 servings, or 330 calories. I make allowance for it in my daily calorie budget, but I have to be aware of the difference between 110 vs 330 based on how many servings I actually consume.

rosebarnalice

I often make the total weight the number of servings. A pot of soup that weighs 2234 grams is 2,234 servings.

I eat 326 grams? I just hast 326 servings.

dfwesq

If it was soup, I would measure the volume instead of weighing it. Then you can measure your servings by volume and it should work.

Or, if you're the only one eating the dish and aren't concerned about being precise each day, you can estimate the total number of servings, and log them as you eat them. When you finish the whole dish, go back and adjust the serving sizes in your logs so together they all add up to the correct total.

DariusV23

Yes, please sort this feature out. I am new to myfitnesspal app, I have come from Easy Diet Diary which does this feature no worries. Your other features was why I came over, of copying recipes from sites and Friends. As I am not the cook these features are great for who is. But when I am asked how many grams I am going to eat I have to do a convoluted not accurate method. So at the moment I am having to use both apps and check the KJ per grams are correct Anyone reackon this will get sorted or do i cancel my sub and look for another app?

desplin

I agree with a couple of people above. I can easily enter the total number of servings, but I need a way to specify what the serving size is. Just add one more field to the recipe. When you look at the nutrition data for a recipe you created it shows a serving size, but it is always blank--let us fill it in. As a workaround I am entering the serving size in the title, but it would be better if we had the serving size field.

Thelinbc

Put the serving size or weight in the recipe title.

SunshineWalk

rosebarnalice wrote: »

I often make the total weight the number of servings. A pot of soup that weighs 2234 grams is 2,234 servings.

I eat 326 grams? I just hast 326 servings.

Yes! This is what I did, too! To me, this was the most easiest and accurate way. If you are eating rice patties or meatballs and no two are the same weight, no problem. Love the food scales.

ritzvin

heathersundean146 wrote: »

Thank you so much for the info. But, is it just me, or is that method just totally bananas? Holy time consuming and complicated. If the app knows the foods and amounts that went into the recipe, it should be able to tell you how many calories are in any amount of said recipe. Who programmed this thing? :-)

You can use whatever you want as a serving size for the total number of servings. If you're not pre-dividing similar amounts into a set number of containers at the beginning, then it's generally easier to indicate the total number of servings as the total weight (or total cups, or total ... ). If I immediately divide a batch of stew into jars, then I usually use '1 jar' as the serving size. If not, then I use 100g as the serving size and round the total weight to the nearest 100g.

(And MFP won't necessarily know the final weight/volume of the recipe based on what you enter... some entries are in weight, some in volume, you likely wouldn't log water as an ingredient, and water loss to cooking would be an unknown.. so you would have to provide the final total for weight and/or volume).

earlnabby

In the long run it really doesn't matter that much if your 6 equal servings are by weight or by measurement . . . either way you need to first determine the weight or the volume of the entire recipe and then divide that by six. (Caveat: I am talking about the finished dish. When making it and entering it, all ingredients should be weighed for accuracy)

When I first enter a recipe, I weigh all solids or semi solids and measure all liquids. Everything gets entered, including water. When it is entered, I see how many total calories there are and divide up the number of servings to reflect how many calories I want per serving (I try to stay between 400 and 500 for my main meal). Depending on what it is, I usually weigh the finished dish but will measure soups and stews (mostly because I make them in my crock pot and the ceramic crock plus food is too heavy for my kitchen scale). I have a 4 cup measuring bowl I pour it into, then into a storage container for the refrigerator.

When I make it again, I change any ingredient weight that is different from the previous time I made it but keep the number of servings. I then weigh or measure that batch to get the serving size.

earlnabby

iamauntbeth wrote: »

I have written a few recipes down. But I find nowhere to give direction on how to make it, or when I prefer pecans in place of the walnuts the original recipe calls for.

If you have a recipe you found on the internet, import it instead of entering it item by item. Make any changes you want, then save it. Your recipe entry will have a link to the original so just click on that for cooking instructions.

Here are 2 of mine. The top one was imported so you can see where is says "See preparation instructions at allrecipes.com" The bottom one was self entered so there is no link.

earlnabby

nalerilune wrote: »

Came here because I have the same issue as the original post. I have a scale and use it. All I want is the ability to note in the recipe, "One serving is 2 tablespoons or 30 grams." It would make the app a lot more convenient and easier to use.

This is never going to happen because every time you make a recipe it will be different. Your 4 chicken breasts may be 450 grams or they may be 502 grams. Your onion may be 210 grams or it may be 165 grams. Food is agricultural and no two items of the same thing will be the same.

I keep post-it notes in my kitchen and when I make a recipe and determine how much a serving weighs or measures I will write it down and stick the note on the leftovers. It is only good for that batch anyway.

SpanishFusion

I agree totally with the OP. Even the work arounds are really not that convenient for people who want to make this a lifestyle not a short term diet. I guess complaining amongst ourselves is not going to fix anything. Where do we go to make suggestions to the web builders?

earlnabby

SpanishFusion wrote: »

I agree totally with the OP. Even the work arounds are really not that convenient for people who want to make this a lifestyle not a short term diet. I guess complaining amongst ourselves is not going to fix anything. Where do we go to make suggestions to the web builders?

You can try but people have been trying since I joined 7 years ago and it has not happened for the exact reasons we experienced people have mentioned. Too many variables to make it work with a reasonable amount of accuracy.

Cheesy567

Thelinbc wrote: »

Put the serving size or weight in the recipe title.

This. To expound, name the recipe “Favorite soup, per 100gm” or “Favorite soup, per ounce.” Note— make it the size of your pre-portioned lunch container, which handily also freeze well and microwave and go in the dishwasher. (Wide mouth freezer-safe pint mason jars hold about 13-14 ounces. Just saying.)

Weigh your soup pots, or IP inner liner, when empty and keep a list (a photo list of them on the scale in a notes doc on my phone works well for me) so that you can easily access it when you’ve forgotten and you can only weigh your full soup pot.

Another tip for the recipe builder- if you adjust your recipes slightly for ingredients on-hand each time, don’t delete them. Just set the amount to zero. That way you’ll save time searching for them next time.

For those complaining about how the recipe builder works, this isn’t the forum. Go to the Tech Help and Suggestions forum. Your complaints might be heard there.