How do you deal with creating weighable recipes?

MrsLannister
MrsLannister Posts: 347 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm curious what tricks people have for adding their own recipes to their food logs? Since all of the food logging tools I have looked at add recipes with a number of servings, rather than a weight of the serving, I have to go through a whole, convoluted process. I enter the total number of grams of the finished product as the total number of servings, then I can put the grams for the portion I am eating as how many servings I am eating. For instance, if a loaf of bread is 790 grams, I put in that it is 790 servings. Then when I add it to my log, I put that the 63 gram slice is 63 servings.

Is there a better way?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,454 Member
    There is always math involved in this. Good job figuring it out on your own.

    However:
    if a loaf of bread is 790 grams, I put in that it is 790 servings. Then when I add it to my log, I put that the 63 gram slice is 63 servings.

    Just enter the recipe as 790g, and then choose the 1g option/63g when you enter the individual servings.

    You could also use percentages, but the gram method is easier.

    .
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    Your method means you only have to do the math once, when you create the recipe, after that it's just a matter of weighing and entering the number of grams for the number of servings, so no math each time you serve some.

    I do it differently, but I don't think it's better, at least by the criteria that seem to matter from your post.

    I choose a serving size and number of servings when I create the recipe that approximates what I think I might actually eat, just because I like to look at info (for calories, macros, etc.) that matches what I might be eating, and then I include the serving size in the name of the recipe, so I know what it is, e.g., "Parmesan oat-wheat crackers (serving = 20 g., about 10 crackers)". There are so few 100 gram and 1 gram entries in the database that I have to do percentages most of the time, anyway, so it doesn't really bother me to do it for my own recipes. It works for me, but your method is consistent (so you always know what a serving size is) and minimizes the calculations overall. Until MFP upgrades the recipe builder to let you choose a unit (e.g., grams, ounces, cups) for a serving of your recipe, I don't think there's a "better way" than what you're doing.
  • ArtsyBunny
    ArtsyBunny Posts: 41 Member
    I create a recipe and enter all the food and set it to where it says it serves one person even if actually serves more. Then I weigh out all the food to figure out the total grams. After that it's simply (total calories x total grams = calories per gram) x 100. Then I adjust the servings to as close to that number as possible. Usually I'm a little off by a couple calories. This has worked pretty well for me so far. :flowerforyou:
  • lnettles87
    lnettles87 Posts: 35 Member
    @bunnyhatescar, I think I might be a little confused... Did you mean that you divide total calories by total grams to get calories per gram. Why do you then multiply by 100?

    Example: Crock-pot chicken I made last night- 925 calories for 743 grams. That equates to 1.25 calories per gram. After multiplying by 100 I get 124.50. So I enter 125 as the number of servings? Doing so leads me to 7 calories per serving (based on 125)

    What then would I portion out for my meal and log?

    Thanks!
  • sweetnlow30
    sweetnlow30 Posts: 497 Member
    I keep it fairly simple by calculating an entire recipe then I weigh the finished dish and divide that weight by how many servings I specified the dish feeds. For example if my soup feeds eight I will divide the total weight of the cooked soup by eight then I note the weight of one serving or I can see how many cups that weighed serving is and note it that way. It's how I have always logged mine ;)
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I think you're using the best way. I typically just pick a number of servings that rounds up nicely then calculate how much of a serving I'm eating. I think your way is easier, lol.
  • ArtsyBunny
    ArtsyBunny Posts: 41 Member
    @Inettles87
    Oops, late reply - sorry!

    After I figure out the cals per gram I fiddle with the number of servings until it's at or relatively close to the cals for 100 grams. I made some sausage gravy tonight for dinner and the cals per gram were 1.6. I changed the number of people it served to 11 and it showed 166 cals for 1 serving. That's close enough for me. That way when I weigh out 136 grams of gravy I can just put in 1.36 using the decimal point thingy.

    I also make sure to type 100g on the recipes I do this with so I don't automatically assume it is or isn't measured by every 100 grams.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    for most of my recipes, i just go by my containers. so for instance i know my crockpot holds about 11 liquidy servings in my bowl. so i just log the entire ingredients and each serving size is what fits in 1 bowl.


    the same goes for other things. like for my breakfast quiche, i use the same ingredients, same casserole dish and i always divide into 6 servings for the week.


    so basically i avoid having to weight and measure with my recipes. if i keep the recipes the same and use the same method and servings dishes then i dont see a reason to have to know how much each serving weighs. especially since i know i'm going to be the only one eating what i make and i'm eventually going to be eating the entire thing

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