How to log food from little Mom & Pop Restaurants?

mmmnc4

How do you log food that has no nutritional information? We often eat at a little Mom & Pop Italian restaurant and I am always unsure how to log the food. I usually look for a similar sounding dish on Carrabbas/Olive gardens website and go by their calories..

what do you do?

ChangingAmanda

I do the same. I think that's probably about as best as anyone can do.

kiesha22001

I do the same. I look through the database and see what's the closest and log that.

devil_in_a_blue_dress

I just look for something comparable. If it is a small place, you can probably ask the server what's in something if you have questions. I favor mom/pop places or smaller non-chains because there is usually more of an emphasis on quality ingredients than big chains. I would say using a comparable chain will have you overestimating, if anything.

Raynne413

I just look for something similar and if there are multiple choices, I usually choose the one with higher calories.

ash8184

I pull out individual items as best as I can and ask the server exactly what it is in something. "Vinaigrette dressing" doesn't do it for me - I ask exactly what the makeup of it is and then log it. Most servers are really well versed in what is on the menu, and if they don't know, they'll ask the chef!

fitacct

I usually do the same (find similar foods in the database) or I'll deconstruct the dish and add each component if there's nothing similar. Another suggestion is to google the dish and sometimes the nutritional values will show up on another website and you can either "quick add" the calories or enter it into our database. : )

Laurayinz

I just look for something comparable. If it is a small place, you can probably ask the server what's in something if you have questions. I favor mom/pop places or smaller non-chains because there is usually more of an emphasis on quality ingredients than big chains. I would say using a comparable chain will have you overestimating, if anything.

Agreed... I would look for "homemade" in the name, rather than a chain listing. Then if you can't find something, maybe go with a fraction of a chain listing.

EEfromJersey

Yes, eating out is always a problem in logging accurate numbers, like everyone else I do the best to use comparable dishes for the site.

melindasuefritz

I look for something that matches it- whether its a diffrent brand or whatever .
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mjterp

I tend to use the highest calorie count from a homemade recipe for mom and pop places. (I prefer to over-estimate)