Recipe HELP!!!

steveppb23

I am frustrated that I cannot figure out how to figure out the servings in a recipe and I need help. I have read you are to enter in the ingredients and the amount of servings for each ingredient and then it will calculate for you. What confuses is me is how do you know how many servings does this recipe in total consist of and how do I know how much a serving is from the completed meal and how do I measure what a serving is from the completed meal and how many calories is in that serving in that completed meal. Basically how do I measure from the competed meal?

thx,
steve

pastryari

Um, a little confused from the giant run on sentence at the end..

What are you making?

Say you're making meatloaf.
You go to the recipe builder and enter the total amount of each ingredient that goes into the meatloaf.
So example:
1lb of meat
1 cup of onions
etc.

Then you put how many serving this meatloaf makes. So say it portions out to 4 satisfying portions, it serves 4. You enter that and it will tell you the nutrition info for each serving.

melaniecheeks

You enter the total servings for the dish, not each ingredient. How many people does it serve - one, 2, 4?

33Freya

Sometimes you have to guess-timate. Or find something close- if it's lasagna, for example, make your lasagna, and then plug Lasagna into the MFP search engine. Use the result as your guide.

ehorn625

I am frustrated that I cannot figure out how to figure out the servings in a recipe and I need help. I have read you are to enter in the ingredients and the amount of servings for each ingredient and then it will calculate for you. What confuses is me is how do you know how many servings does this recipe in total consist of and how do I know how much a serving is from the completed meal and how do I measure what a serving is from the completed meal and how many calories is in that serving in that completed meal. Basically how do I measure from the competed meal?

thx,
steve

I had this problem too! You put in the ingredients and I was hoping MFP would tell me how many servings based on
the amount/weight of the ingredients. I think you just have to guess and maybe if its not right you can change it?

pastryari

I am frustrated that I cannot figure out how to figure out the servings in a recipe and I need help. I have read you are to enter in the ingredients and the amount of servings for each ingredient and then it will calculate for you. What confuses is me is how do you know how many servings does this recipe in total consist of and how do I know how much a serving is from the completed meal and how do I measure what a serving is from the completed meal and how many calories is in that serving in that completed meal. Basically how do I measure from the competed meal?

thx,
steve

I had this problem too! You put in the ingredients and I was hoping MFP would tell me how many servings based on
the amount/weight of the ingredients. I think you just have to guess and maybe if its not right you can change it?

MFP cannot determine how large a portion you consider to be a "serving". That's up to each individual.

Factory_Reset

I am frustrated that I cannot figure out how to figure out the servings in a recipe and I need help. I have read you are to enter in the ingredients and the amount of servings for each ingredient and then it will calculate for you. What confuses is me is how do you know how many servings does this recipe in total consist of and how do I know how much a serving is from the completed meal and how do I measure what a serving is from the completed meal and how many calories is in that serving in that completed meal. Basically how do I measure from the competed meal?

thx,
steve

I had this problem too! You put in the ingredients and I was hoping MFP would tell me how many servings based on
the amount/weight of the ingredients. I think you just have to guess and maybe if its not right you can change it?

MFP cannot determine how large a portion you consider to be a "serving". That's up to each individual.

((HUGS)) and props for trying Ariel

godsgrl33

Sometimes, this can be a pain. But, if it's something you make all the time, it's worth the effort. I find this to be difficult with things like soups. I guess what you can do is measure the whole pot (say it makes 20 cups), and then use one cup as a serving, or two, so it would be 20 or 10 servings, respectively. Some recipes will be easier than others, but keep trying. You'll get the hang of it.

allbarrett

When entering a new recipe, I enter all the ingredients and estimate the number of servings (I tend to deliberately make more than we can eat in one meal and save leftovers for lunches, so sometimes the servings can vary). You can adjust the servings later if you decide it really only serves 3 (not 4 as you had thought).

Another way is to look at the main ingredient and think how many servings you would make for just that. 1 lb of hamburger can comfortably feed 4 with some sides, so if you use 1 lb of hamburger in the dish, then start with "4" as the number of servings and adjust based on the other ingredients (I find a spaghetti sauce or lasagna, which start as 1 lb of hamburger will easily serve 8-10 by the time I've added everything else!).

If you are making something with obvious individual portions (say...waffles), make the number of servings the number of waffles you get out of the recipe. When I did this, I realized just how many waffles I could happily (if not comfortably) scarf down...admitting that breakfast was "4 servings" can be a real deterrent to overeating.

MFP will never tell you how many people your recipes will serve, that is up to you.

Irontri7

An easy way would be to weigh the total when you're done making it. Take whatever you see as a serving and weigh that. Divide total weight by weight of serving = number of servings. Could also do this with a measuring cup. I'll make chili and my serving size is a cup. When it's done in the crock I'll scoop it out and see how many cups are in it total to see how many servings.

steveppb23

thank you for all the feedback and replies! I apologize for the run on sentence, its just that I am frustrated and find it hard to expand my food choices because if the confusion with recipes.

Ok so I will keep it simple...this is not what I am making but it may help me undertstand better.
5 chicken breasts at 140 calories per
boli in a bag White rice at 190 calories per bag
and lets say a can of carrots at 30 calories per can (2 servings per can)

So if I understand this right, I a to input these items into the calculator and it gives me the total calories, but how do I know how many servings this meal makes and how do I know how much I can eat?

RosyBest

Word of advice...it's never going to be spot on and perfect. Get as close as you can to the actual numbers per dish/ serving. Good luck!

suziepoo1984

How many people are going to eat it? If say 2, then how much do each of you eat? or just divide them into equal eatable portions and then count them as servings. Hope i made sense, i am sleepy!

faradaysdream

Omg, I didn't even know there is a recipe builder!!! I'm SO excited!!!!! :happy: :happy: :happy: :happy:

steveppb23

makes sense! and I understand, that unfortunatley, it isnt a perfect science

I guess I'll just try to divide up the completed meal equally!

steveppb23

2 people

elsyoommen

if you are making 5 chicken breasts and you normally eat one of those in a sitting then the recipe has 5 servings.

The way I do it is I enter my recipe while I am making it. Then I actually portion it out into servings to see how many servings are in there - or I do the weighing process that ironzee7 mentioned.

steveppb23

thx elsyoommen!!!

C1C2C3

I normally weigh or measure the entire recipe and then divide it into a good serving size. 5 cups of sloppy joes, for example, divided into 1/2 cup individual servings would be 10 servings in the entire recipe. I also like to include the individual serving measurement in the recipe title, example: "Sloppy Joes - 1/2 cup serving". So then if I have 1 cup of sloppy joes, i enter 2 servings of sloppy joes.

Ok, so if you are entering the ingredients you listed,you would enter 5 chicken breasts (or enter weight) (140*5 = total calories), 1 boil in bag white rice (190 total calories), and 1 whole can of carrots 2*30 = 60 total calories), with those ingredients and calories given, the recipe would be a total of 950 calories, then divided into however many servings you entered for the entire recipe. You can always go back and change serving size.

If If you are making a one person serving meal, you could enter it as your supper, then using Quick Tools, save it as a meal.

gwenr

thank you for all the feedback and replies! I apologize for the run on sentence, its just that I am frustrated and find it hard to expand my food choices because if the confusion with recipes.

Ok so I will keep it simple...this is not what I am making but it may help me undertstand better.
5 chicken breasts at 140 calories per
boli in a bag White rice at 190 calories per bag
and lets say a can of carrots at 30 calories per can (2 servings per can)

So if I understand this right, I a to input these items into the calculator and it gives me the total calories, but how do I know how many servings this meal makes and how do I know how much I can eat?

You enter how many servings it makes and it divides up the calories likewise. So if the entire recipe has 1,000 cals, for instance, and you determine that you're going to eat 1/4 of the total recipe you enter that recipe serves 4 and then you know that what you ate is around 250 calories.

It's never going to tell you how much of it to eat, you have to decide that for yourself. Hope this helps.

lynn_glenmont

I weigh EMPTY the pot or pan that the finished dish is going to be in. When I'm done (after cooking, because you don't want to cook off liquid and change the total weight of the dish), I weigh the food in the pot or pan and subtract to get the weight of the food. I decide how many servings I want to get out of it, or I just choose an arbitrary number. I divide the total weight of the food by the number of servings I'm telling MFP it should make; this gives you the weight of each serving. THEN (and this is important unless you want to keep a separate record of the serving sizes of your recipes) I include the weight of the serving size in the name of the dish (e.g., Black Bean Chili (serving = 225 grams)). Now, you weigh all your food (your own individual servings) for logging purposes, right? So, whenever I have some of this dish that I've made, I weigh the amount of food I'm eating and divide that by the weight of a single serving, as recorded in the name of the dish. Say I'm hungry and I have 270 grams of the chili. That's 270/225 or 1.2 servings. When I go to log it in my diary, I select the chili from the recipes tab, enter 1.2 in the "quantity" field and add it. The beauty of this is that it really doesn't matter how many servings you tell MFP the recipe is, so long as you know the weight of those servings. You could tell it the entire pot of chili (maybe 1.8 kg, or 1800 g) is one serving. Then the 270 grams I actually ate would be 270/1800 or .15 servings, but the calories, protein, fat, etc. that would end up in my diary would be the same (allowing for occasional rounding hiccups) as if I said it was 8 servings of 225 each, and I had 1.2 servings.

Someone else on another thread suggested making all servings of all recipes 100 grams, and that would save you from having to put the serving size in the name of the dish. If you go that route, just divide the total weight of the finished recipe (less the pot or pan) by 100, and that's the number you tell MFP for the number of servings in the dish.