How should I add a recipe to the database?

hig17

I am making homemade baked ziti tonight and the recipe does not have the nutritional info listed. I am using whole grain pasta, skim ricotta cheese, and skim mozzarella cheese, and ragu vegetarian sauce.

I am unsure of how I should add this to the database?

Should I combine the calories and nutrional info for all products involved or do it by a serving? I am new to this and I haven't added any of my own recipes yet...

bxdarby

For stuff like that, where there's only a few ingredients, I just put each thing in by serving. If I plan on having it again, I save the meal. Otherwise, for weird stuff like baked goods, I plug the ingredients into a recipe calculating website and then create a new food.

hig17

Thanks! Do you know of a good recipe calcuating website to use?

weaklink109

If you are new to this, the idea of a recipe calculating website might be "new" as well, so here are 3 options:


http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

Good luck

weaklink109

If you are new to this, the idea of a recipe calculating website might be "new" as well, so here are 3 options:


http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

Good luck

sweet148angel

i have used to sparkpeople recipe calculator a few times, and it seemed pretty reliable. It can be difficult to find some items if you don't word it just right though

sparkles321

I use nutritiondata.com to build my recipe, where you can tell it how many servings it makes and will then show you how much is in one serving of that recipe. I then create a food here for myself (not sharing with everyone since it's a custom recipe) and use that to add to my daily tracker. I like nutritiondata.com because it also shows you other aspects of the recipe, like glycemic load, inflammation factors, and many other nutrients you may want to know about (beyond just the major nutrients included in most calculators).

MattySparky

Thanks! Do you know of a good recipe calcuating website to use?

your on it....

just enter the food and save it as a meal, it will combine all the ingredients and give you the total per meal then you just have to enter what portion of the meal you had and that's it, simple. Theres no magic involved really, I dont understand why people use other sites when this one is capable of doing the same thing. I've used other sites and it just does the same thing, you put in the ingredients and it adds them together, nothing magic about it.

weaklink109

Mattysparky--

What you have said is correct--up to a point. When you do as you have stated, and save the ingredients as one of your personal meals, it is NOT in the database for others to use. Unless something has changed, only YOU will be able to see it. The original poster asked how to add a recipe to the DATABASE, not their personal meals. If someone does exactly what you have stated, the result will not be in the database for others to use.

It would be possible for the entries to be made and saved as a personal meal, then make a manual entry for the recipe nutritional totals into the database and save it as shared with others. This could be done without using any other website. Since this is a time-consuming option, many prefer to use a website specifically intended for calculating recipes.

sandara

WARNING! I just tried to use the Sparkspeople recipe calculator and my anti-virus software blocked it and said the site was trying to initiate an attack on my computer! Sure hope it's wrong because I really like that recipe calculator and have used it in the past with no problems.

Just be careful if you try it.

weaklink109

I doubt the above is actually correct. Not all anti-virus programs are created equal. They can give false positives.

I checked the sparkpeople site on two pc's using 2 different AV programs and got no warnings. Also checked it with McAfee site advisor, again no problems. I believe it is safe to use.

msbanana

I'm a little slow but papayhead.com works really well for a total recipe calculator. If you're making something like baked ziti (yumm... I miss noodles*sigh*) you put in all of the ingredients and how many servings are in the total and it will tell you not just the cals but nutritional content. LOVE IT!

well, it's another option.

:drinker:

MattySparky

Mattysparky--

What you have said is correct--up to a point. When you do as you have stated, and save the ingredients as one of your personal meals, it is NOT in the database for others to use. Unless something has changed, only YOU will be able to see it. The original poster asked how to add a recipe to the DATABASE, not their personal meals. If someone does exactly what you have stated, the result will not be in the database for others to use.

It would be possible for the entries to be made and saved as a personal meal, then make a manual entry for the recipe nutritional totals into the database and save it as shared with others. This could be done without using any other website. Since this is a time-consuming option, many prefer to use a website specifically intended for calculating recipes.

true, but it's kind of a moot point isn't it? Seeing as the other websites info wouldn't be in the MFP database either. Irregardless, the saved meal can be easily added to the database once the meal saver tallies the nutrient info for the ingredients.

sandara

I doubt the above is actually correct. Not all anti-virus programs are created equal. They can give false positives.

I checked the sparkpeople site on two pc's using 2 different AV programs and got no warnings. Also checked it with McAfee site advisor, again no problems. I believe it is safe to use.

Good! Glad to hear it, I really like the site. I have Norton so I don't know why it flagged it. But like I said I"ve used it before with no problems and still had the norton too. Just didn't want anyone to get zapped!

Thanks!