Logging homemade meals

sarahlouryan95

How do you guys accurately log meals when made from scratch and in batches?

When I cook my main meal (dinner), I make large enough batches to last 3/4 days. All healthy meals, full of vegetables and goodness, but I'm finding it hard to log them on MFP accurately or without feeling that it is a seriously tedious exercise.

Do you input each ingredient (and there could be loads) separately? What is the best way to log meals like this?

Thanks in advance!

NovusDies

MFP has a built-in recipe builder for this kind of thing.

cwolfman13

Use the recipe builder

angelsja

Weigh the pot before note the weight use the recipe builder to create your recipe weigh the pot when your done - the original weight of the pot = dish in grams you can then put this as how many it serves so whatever you take out weigh it and that's how many servings you had

DomesticKat

Use the recipe builder. Weigh your empty cooking vessel in grams and write it down. Weigh your finished recipe once cooking is completed in grams and subtract the weight of the empty vessel that you wrote down earlier. That's what you enter for number of servings in the recipe builder. When you go to enter this into your diary, weigh your portion in grams and that's your serving size. The calories will be relatively accurate and it's very simple compared to guessing at portion sizes.

puffbrat

Another vote for the recipe builder. I cook 2-3 homemade meals a week to last for entire week. The recipe builder is a fantastic tool. Just be sure to double check the entries it selects since sometimes it picks really weird ones, especially for things like spices, herbs, garlic, etc.

sarahlouryan95

Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention! I've now added a recipe and agree, it's extremely useful!

callsitlikeiseeit

the recipe builder.

i use it for nearly ALL my dinners. i have HUNDREDS of recipes in there.

JeromeBarry1

I use the OLD recipe builder. The new one was cantankerous when introduced about the same time as I began using mfp. After a few fails with the new one, I've the old one ever since.

girlwithcurls2

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

the recipe builder.

i use it for nearly ALL my dinners. i have HUNDREDS of recipes in there.

Me too! It's so much easier when you're farther down the line using this app

sjbgrohmann

I'm confused about the serving size in grams....so if the pumpkin cookie dough I made is 168 grams, then set the serving size at 168? So if I eat 15 grams, then divide 15 by 168 and use that as my percentage? So serving size would be 0.09?

Anita4548

What I do is weigh each ingredient separately and note it down. Then once the meal is ready, I decide how much to have for each portion and divide it into X amount of portions and then enter it in the recipe builder. Storing the food into separate containers helps me with portion control. It's a bit of a faff the first couple of times doing this but you get used to it, I have a notepad in the kitchen with a pen and it's easy now and doesn't take any extra time at all

confidenceinrain

sjbgrohmann wrote: »

I'm confused about the serving size in grams....so if the pumpkin cookie dough I made is 168 grams, then set the serving size at 168? So if I eat 15 grams, then divide 15 by 168 and use that as my percentage? So serving size would be 0.09?

You could weigh the finished amount and see how many grams it makes, then say that it makes that many servings. So you can say it makes 168 servings and then log 15 servings.

KNoceros

And if it’s a meal you make often, you can go back into the recipe builder and alter the amounts to fit each time.
Example yesterday I made chilli. Some stuff was the same (beef, 2 tins beans and toms), but I altered the onions and peppers because I had a different amount than the last time I cooked it. Much quicker than starting over.

Deviette

sjbgrohmann wrote: »

I'm confused about the serving size in grams....so if the pumpkin cookie dough I made is 168 grams, then set the serving size at 168? So if I eat 15 grams, then divide 15 by 168 and use that as my percentage? So serving size would be 0.09?

You could set the serving size to be 1g, and then you could just add the number of servings as the number of grams you eat.

sarahlouryan95

puffbrat wrote: »

Another vote for the recipe builder. I cook 2-3 homemade meals a week to last for entire week. The recipe builder is a fantastic tool. Just be sure to double check the entries it selects since sometimes it picks really weird ones, especially for things like spices, herbs, garlic, etc.

I've noticed that when adding a second recipe - some of the values are really crazy!

gallicinvasion

I personally find it easy to make the entire recipe, divide it evenly between my meal containers, then set the serving size as the number of containers I filled. When you log it, you log one serving if you ate one container, two servings if you ate two containers, etc. Then you don’t have to weigh anything after portioning it.

gallicinvasion

sarahlouryan95 wrote: »

puffbrat wrote: »

Another vote for the recipe builder. I cook 2-3 homemade meals a week to last for entire week. The recipe builder is a fantastic tool. Just be sure to double check the entries it selects since sometimes it picks really weird ones, especially for things like spices, herbs, garlic, etc.

I've noticed that when adding a second recipe - some of the values are really crazy!

Whenever I have whole milk as an ingredient, it picks “chocolate milk” instead! And when I added baking soda, it picked “baked spaghetti squash.” It’s like, MFP, you okay there?

lemurcat2

gallicinvasion wrote: »

I personally find it easy to make the entire recipe, divide it evenly between my meal containers, then set the serving size as the number of containers I filled. When you log it, you log one serving if you ate one container, two servings if you ate two containers, etc. Then you don’t have to weigh anything after portioning it.

This is exactly what I do.

cnjg6677

lemurcat2 wrote: »

gallicinvasion wrote: »

I personally find it easy to make the entire recipe, divide it evenly between my meal containers, then set the serving size as the number of containers I filled. When you log it, you log one serving if you ate one container, two servings if you ate two containers, etc. Then you don’t have to weigh anything after portioning it.

This is exactly what I do.

Me too!!!

lynn_glenmont

Deviette wrote: »

sjbgrohmann wrote: »

I'm confused about the serving size in grams....so if the pumpkin cookie dough I made is 168 grams, then set the serving size at 168? So if I eat 15 grams, then divide 15 by 168 and use that as my percentage? So serving size would be 0.09?

You could set the serving size to be 1g, and then you could just add the number of servings as the number of grams you eat.

I think this is a confusing explanation, as you don't directly set the serving size in MFP's recipe builder. You set the number of servings. Many people set the number of servings to the total weight (in grams) of the finished recipe, then just log the number of grams in their portion for any particular meal or snack as the number of servings.

lisastapleton381

Anita4548 wrote: »

What I do is weigh each ingredient separately and note it down. Then once the meal is ready, I decide how much to have for each portion and divide it into X amount of portions and then enter it in the recipe builder. Storing the food into separate containers helps me with portion control. It's a bit of a faff the first couple of times doing this but you get used to it, I have a notepad in the kitchen with a pen and it's easy now and doesn't take any extra time at all

I do this too 😃

Sanriohippie

I make recipes or save them as meals.It is time consuming,but worth it!