Logging Homemade Food

turtlebeth
turtlebeth Posts: 57 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Can someone walk me through how to accurately log foods I make from scratch? I know my calorie counts are off all the time because I am trying to match up things in the lists already.

Thanks!

Replies

  • brg020788
    brg020788 Posts: 18 Member
    Do you use recipes you find online or are they your own creations?
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    try this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator

    You can put in all your ingredients and save it as a recipe. there is a "new" recipe builder on here, but at the moment, it's kinda rubbish.
  • crfeen
    crfeen Posts: 85 Member
    I usually log each item I cook with individually! So, for example if I make a salad. I log the correct brand and amount of lettuce, tomato, pepper, chicken (and any seasoning i use to cook the chicken) and dressing. :)
  • kkay3182
    kkay3182 Posts: 90 Member
    I do a lot of cooking and baking and love to, but every cook make meals differently, what I do is use the "recipe calculator" and input my ingredients and quantity for a dish and calculate the recipe, this recipe is then saved under "my recipes" So it is always there for you when you cook that. I know that often homemade meals get a lil tweaking but if you input the basic constant ingredients it is bound to be more accurate than someone else's "homemade." Good luck, have a fab day!
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    I found that trying to log every single food I put in every single recipe that I cook every single day..

    Ugh. I want to shoot myself just thinking about it!

    I plan all my meals ahead and eat what I planned. Much easier that way.
  • acheben
    acheben Posts: 476 Member
    I use the recipe builder tool (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/box). If it is a recipe from a website, I've been using the importer tool and its been working decently well. For personal recipes, I just add the recipe manually (click the link below the recipe importer).

    The hardest part of this is dividing the recipe into servings. Depending on the recipe, I'll either weigh the whole completed dish and log it as so many grams or I'll just divide it into logical portions and note how many portions are in a batch in the title of the recipe.
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    I usually log each item I cook with individually! So, for example if I make a salad. I log the correct brand and amount of lettuce, tomato, pepper, chicken (and any seasoning i use to cook the chicken) and dressing. :)

    Yeah, this. I use the recipe builder as well as the "save meal" function to simplify things a bit. There's a little bit of time investment when you're new but it pays off over time. I've also learned over time to NOT use specific "brands" of unprocessed foods like produce or fresh meat but instead use the USDA entries (they usually include the word "raw" in their name and they NEVER include an asterisk * in the name).

    The ONLY time I would use a recipe or a whole dish name from the database is if I didn't cook it myself and I'll have to settle for an approximation.
  • amblight
    amblight Posts: 350 Member
    Most the time, I just add each ingredients for the meal as I'm cooking. I only use the 'recipe calculator' if other people are going to be eating of it too, or if I'm making a huge batch of something.
  • kndev
    kndev Posts: 23 Member
    I meal prep for the week so I use the recipe builder and for the section asking for amount of persons I put in 7 considering I will eat that meal for the week.
  • turtlebeth
    turtlebeth Posts: 57 Member
    Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I create meals myself rather than follow someone's recipe. I'll try entering them into the recipe maker here and see what I get.

    Thanks again!
  • Dozer561
    Dozer561 Posts: 50 Member
    i like keeping my meals super simple with 2 or 3 ingredients a: easy to prep/cook and b: easy to track.

    chicken/rice/veg
    steak/potato/veg
    eggs/bacon/bagel
    fruit
    protein shake

    ;) i stay away from casserole/baked dishes/pasta&sauces/ thats just me though

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