How to measure your own meals without a recipe !

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luvcookie
luvcookie Posts: 97
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Everyone,
Just wondering if anyone can help me on this.....I have a few meals that I like to prepare of my own without using a recipe....Spagetti,chili etc.....Now im just wondering how would I measure the amount of calories ,sodium etc intake ?If anyone has any tips on this would be great thanks :)
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Replies

  • bettyboop573
    bettyboop573 Posts: 610 Member
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    add the ingrediants into the recipe function
  • luvcookie
    luvcookie Posts: 97
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    not sure what u mean ? Sorry im still new at all this n have so much to learn lol :)
  • fotofreak01
    fotofreak01 Posts: 397 Member
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    You can enter your own recipes. Go to food tab, then Recipes. It will walk you thru it. Put in all your ingredients and servings and bam!! there ya go!!
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    Use the Recipe function on the Food tab. You will need to know approximately how much you're adding to your recipe so it can properly calculate the calories, etc. but you can add in the total amounts and then use the serving function to figure the amount of calories, etc. per serving. I have a meatloaf recipe in there that I've made up myself. :)
  • luvcookie
    luvcookie Posts: 97
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    Thanks guys !!!! This is really a big help for me :)
  • mfkfoster
    mfkfoster Posts: 331 Member
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    I agree I have so many personal recipes it's great. Go to the food tab and add your own. If something is good I usually go back and make it again from my recipe box on MFP.
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    Make liberal use of the recipe function in here, CLick food...click recipes... click enter new recipes and add your ingredients... use ALL the ingredients like when you add 200grams of pasta add it all, if you use the full bottle of pre-made sauce enter it, let the recipe feature do the work for you figuring out the per serving counts.
    FIrst time you make a dish dish it out so you know how many servings it makes and it does the work for you. Like my pretzels recipe is 2400 calories total, it makes 12 pretzels so 200 calories each... works for me.
  • deanie0515
    deanie0515 Posts: 85 Member
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    That was a great question...I didn't realize there was the recipe function!!! GOOD TO KNOW :)
  • luvcookie
    luvcookie Posts: 97
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    Make liberal use of the recipe function in here, CLick food...click recipes... click enter new recipes and add your ingredients... use ALL the ingredients like when you add 200grams of pasta add it all, if you use the full bottle of pre-made sauce enter it, let the recipe feature do the work for you figuring out the per serving counts.
    FIrst time you make a dish dish it out so you know how many servings it makes and it does the work for you. Like my pretzels recipe is 2400 calories total, it makes 12 pretzels so 200 calories each... works for me.

    When i go to food tab,then recipes then enter new recipes, it lets me add a new recipe but then when i click add ingredients, it takes me to another page showing me choices of the new recipe i added...it doesnt let me add my own ingredients....is there something im not doing right? Thanks !
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    When i go to food tab,then recipes then enter new recipes, it lets me add a new recipe but then when i click add ingredients, it takes me to another page showing me choices of the new recipe i added...it doesnt let me add my own ingredients....is there something im not doing right? Thanks !

    You're right. Add the food in first using the "My Foods" section. You should then be able to choose them from the Recipe section.
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    Once you've clicked the enter new recipes you need to give the recipe a name, and then click add ingredients.... it will take you to a page that looks identical to the one you see when adding to your food diary but should see
    Add Ingredient To Recipe as the section header, look up the food from the database (how you get the basic nutritional info that the recipe function then uses to give you your per portion info.
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    My foods is great for something like a peanut butter and jam sandwich that you have regularly, but it doesn't really do the per serving part properly for making a full meal.
  • luvcookie
    luvcookie Posts: 97
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    Once you've clicked the enter new recipes you need to give the recipe a name, and then click add ingredients.... it will take you to a page that looks identical to the one you see when adding to your food diary but should see
    Add Ingredient To Recipe as the section header, look up the food from the database (how you get the basic nutritional info that the recipe function then uses to give you your per portion info.

    ok,so its basically still looking up the ingredient as if we were adding it to our diary? I think i know what u mean now !!! Thanks so much for ur help :)
  • bettyboop573
    bettyboop573 Posts: 610 Member
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    good luck! Most of my stuff i have to enter in there, since i make so much of my own food
  • luvcookie
    luvcookie Posts: 97
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    Hey Everyone!!
    Just wanna say Thanks ! This has been a great help...however I do have another question lol......When im adding my own recipes it will say number of servings? Im not sure on this ? ...Im adding the whole recipe ,so i would like to know if i had 1 cup how many calories etc , or if i had 1/2 cup etc.....not sure if this made sence or not lol
  • lalilalu
    lalilalu Posts: 102 Member
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    I normally just guess how many servings it will make, and then go back in and amend it once I've made it and dished it out, and frozen any leftover portions.
    You can't get it to tell you how much a cup is or anything like that, but you can amend and update the recipe and number of servings.
  • luvcookie
    luvcookie Posts: 97
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    I normally just guess how many servings it will make, and then go back in and amend it once I've made it and dished it out, and frozen any leftover portions.
    You can't get it to tell you how much a cup is or anything like that, but you can amend and update the recipe and number of servings.

    oooh ok thats to bad...So i guess after serving it,i then need to figure out how much ...I dont really like that idea,i mean what if i ate 2 cups and not really knowing how much carbs,sodium etc....?
  • luvcookie
    luvcookie Posts: 97
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    Use the Recipe function on the Food tab. You will need to know approximately how much you're adding to your recipe so it can properly calculate the calories, etc. but you can add in the total amounts and then use the serving function to figure the amount of calories, etc. per serving. I have a meatloaf recipe in there that I've made up myself. :)

    Sure would love to have this meatloaf recipe lol !!!
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    If carbs and sodium from the meal are going to be a problem enter the number of servings that gives you the carbs/protein etc that you want it to, then cut the meal into that many pieces and only take the 1 serving to get the count you want, whether that turns out to be 1/2 cup serving 1 cup or 2 cups will depend entirely on your particular goals.

    SO enter the recipe to get calorie totals, play with number of servings until you get calories / carbs / protein / fat you can deal with and make sure you portion dinner out into that many pieces.
  • luvcookie
    luvcookie Posts: 97
    Options
    If carbs and sodium from the meal are going to be a problem enter the number of servings that gives you the carbs/protein etc that you want it to, then cut the meal into that many pieces and only take the 1 serving to get the count you want, whether that turns out to be 1/2 cup serving 1 cup or 2 cups will depend entirely on your particular goals.

    SO enter the recipe to get calorie totals, play with number of servings until you get calories / carbs / protein / fat you can deal with and make sure you portion dinner out into that many pieces.

    ok I think i have it now...so for example we will say a pie....i add all my ingredients,then it will show me the totals...so if i can handle a piece of pie that is worth 400 calories,for 4 people etc...then i only cut the pie into 4 pieces right ? hmmm I m catching on to it i think somehow lol .Thanks so much for ur help !

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