First Post, and a question:

asweren · October 2012

Hi. This is my first post, though I admit I've been lurking and trying to get up the nerve to post. However, I have a question, and am hoping someone out there can help me.

How do I find the nutritional content/calories, etc of homemade food? I see "homemade applesauce" or "homemade granola" for example, but how do I know the recipes, the portions, etc. are comparable to mine? Without meaning to sound whiny, it takes a long time to input all the individual ingredients and portion things out to make it work -- and I don't know if I'm doing it right..

Here's breakfast this morning (and what prompted me to post): Homemade granola (1/2 c) with homemade applesauce (1/2 c), skim milk (1/2 c). My applesauce recipe is super easy: core some apples and put them in a roasting pan with cinnamon and a can of diet cherry dr. pepper, and some dried cherries. Roast at 400*F until the apples are soft and mush with a fork. Eat. How do I figure out what I've just made/eaten? The granola is more complicated, but same questions apply.

I'm just starting this journey, and want to make it work for the long term. I hope I don't sound like too much of a total idiot, and thanks.

foxfirekenzie · October 2012

Logging home made food can be tricky. If you want to be super accurate, you'll have to put in each ingredient on its own. You can log the entire dish and save it as a meal, then when you log it in the future, just put how much of that particular dish you ate, like 1/3 cup etc. I had some granola bars I made from scratch with about 17 ingredients. I logged each item then saved it as a meal. When I log it in, I know that the portion I cut them into (1 ounce) is .004 of the entire recipe (figured by total weight of the whole shabang), so that is what I log. MFP calculates it and says each bar is 100 calories.

I rarely eat anything from a box so this has been challenging for me. Over time you will learn how many calories each item has so it may make it easier to estimate if you don't want to log each ingredient.

SideSteel · October 2012

Hi. This is my first post, though I admit I've been lurking and trying to get up the nerve to post. However, I have a question, and am hoping someone out there can help me.

How do I find the nutritional content/calories, etc of homemade food? I see "homemade applesauce" or "homemade granola" for example, but how do I know the recipes, the portions, etc. are comparable to mine? Without meaning to sound whiny, it takes a long time to input all the individual ingredients and portion things out to make it work -- and I don't know if I'm doing it right..

I'm reasonably certain that you can't go into any entry to view the recipe. Maybe I'm wrong on that. That being said you can't compare it to your own homemade item so you either have to:

a) Enter your own homemade recipe
or
b) Take your chances.

Once you get familiar with the recipe creator, I'd recommend using it. It really is a very nice tool especially if you have recipes that you make somewhat regularly. Once you enter it in, it saves under your recipes tab and you can very easily access it anytime you make/eat that item.

Here's breakfast this morning (and what prompted me to post): Homemade granola (1/2 c) with homemade applesauce (1/2 c), skim milk (1/2 c). My applesauce recipe is super easy: core some apples and put them in a roasting pan with cinnamon and a can of diet cherry dr. pepper, and some dried cherries. Roast at 400*F until the apples are soft and mush with a fork. Eat. How do I figure out what I've just made/eaten? The granola is more complicated, but same questions apply.

Enter those recipes into the database. You only have to enter them ONCE. Then you can use them whenever you want.

I'm just starting this journey, and want to make it work for the long term. I hope I don't sound like too much of a total idiot, and thanks.

You don't sound like an idiot, but you should just take the 10 minutes to log those recipes. Once you learn the tool it becomes easier and easier as well.

HeidiMightyRawr · October 2012

Enter all that you use and create a recipe for it. You only have to do this once, and then as long as you use roughly the same amount of everything each time you make it, it'll be fairly accurate

Suzyqall72 · October 2012

I agree with everyone else. Sometimes I want to eat a banana nut muffin or whatever, so I put it in the recipe tool, and I can find out exactly how many calories I'm eating. It's not that hard to do, and you have the peace of mind of keeping track.

Ready2Rock206 · October 2012

I love the recipe tool! And it is so easy to edit if the next time you make it slightly different. It does take a little time, but it is so worth it!

I even have a recipe for salad and vitamins - things I eat together often w/multiple items so I don't have to add everything individually each time.

Risser · October 2012

Yes, agreed with everyone. Creating your own recipes is fun and pretty straight forward ???? then you know for sure what your putting in your diary is correct. And like everyone said you only have to do it once, then it's always there.

asweren · October 2012

Thanks, everyone! I guess I was trying to avoid all that data entry -- but as usual, it sounds like it's worth it in the end. Now, I'll get to work...

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