Help! Logging homemade foods?

Need2Exerc1se
Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've been trying to log my meals on here and I just can't seem to get the hang of it. First of all, what's up with all the different entries for the same thing? How do you ever figure out what is right?

But, my biggest problem is that most of my food is homemade and there just aren't entries for many of them. For example, last night I made sauteed collard greens in olive oil and garlic and served them with some homemade beet relish. I picked an entry for the greens, olive oil and garlic, but how do I log the beet relish? I couldn't find any type of beet relish in the database so even picking something that *might* be close was impossible.

I had the same problem with homemade squash pickles in my salad yesterday. I couldn't find anything that sounded remotely similar in the database.

Does anyone else make their food from scratch? How do you deal with this?

Replies

  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    Enter it into the recipe builder on the site, you can enter all the ingredients, set serving size and enter it from there.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Enter it into the recipe builder on the site, you can enter all the ingredients, set serving size and enter it from there.

    I'm not sure how to do that with the pickled stuff? These pickles and relish were made in large batches weeks or months ago. Pounds of vegetables, cups of vinegar, etc. Then separated and preserved in pint jars, out of which I take a little to serve with the salad or greens. I'm not even sure I could remember how many pounds for each. And, of course, much of the ingredients are not eaten, since the juice remains in the jar.

    Does anyone know if fermentation changes calorie counts?

    I'm sure it's not a significant amount of calories, so I suppose I could just leave it out.
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    Yes, use the recipe builder! I have literally hundreds of recipes in mine. weigh your ingredients as you cook, enter the ingredient and weight. Then either estimate the servings (this is what I do and it's worked just fine) or weigh the final product (from there you can divide that weight into servings and measure yourself one serving, or if it weighs, say, 1500mg, I enter that the recipe has 1500 servings. then I weigh up my portion and if it weighs 350g, I enter 350 servings. I never do this though. I'm too lazy.).

    You can also edit the recipes you make using the builder which is awesome if you make the same recipe multiple times but change ingredients or the amount. It is much easier to edit a recipe on the mobile app, though, because you can edit an ingredient's quantity. On the web-based platform, you have to delete the ingredient, then re-search and find it and add it again; very annoying. The other very annoying thing is that to find an old recipe, you have to scroll through every recipe in your index. There is no search feature to find it to edit, nor can you arrange them by alpha order instead of time order. the newest recipe is always first.

    Regarding the multiple entries:

    if it's for something home or restaurant prepared, it doesn't matter. There is absolutely no way of knowing if it accurately represents when you eat. If I eat at another person's home or a restaurant, I just pick my best guess.

    if it's for a whole food like meat or produce, find the entry without an asterisk. That entry is MFP default and is based on USDA data, so is the most accurate. It also has the most options for measurement - volume and mass.

    if it's for a packaged food, select one and verify that it matches the label on what you're eating.


    Enjoy! it's a little more work to eat home-prepared food and log as accurately as possible but once you get the hang of it, it's second nature. When my husband cooks he even weighs things out and shouts it to me so I can edit my recipe :)
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    Enter it into the recipe builder on the site, you can enter all the ingredients, set serving size and enter it from there.

    I'm not sure how to do that with the pickled stuff? These pickles and relish were made in large batches weeks or months ago. Pounds of vegetables, cups of vinegar, etc. Then separated and preserved in pint jars, out of which I take a little to serve with the salad or greens. I'm not even sure I could remember how many pounds for each. And, of course, much of the ingredients are not eaten, since the juice remains in the jar.

    Does anyone know if fermentation changes calorie counts?

    I'm sure it's not a significant amount of calories, so I suppose I could just leave it out.

    The amount of calories is so negligible in pickled vegetables; I would not bother creating a recipe. For my homemade kimchi, I just search the database for a homemade kimchi and use that. Same for Indian pickles (very different from American pickles!). If I couldn't find anything, I'd probably do a quick-add for 30-50 calories and make a mental note that I also consumed more sodium than is indicated on my log.

    Regarding fermentation, I do not believe it changes calorie count.

    Your beet relish sounds fantastic.
  • ShannonS921
    ShannonS921 Posts: 194
    Enter it into the recipe builder on the site, you can enter all the ingredients, set serving size and enter it from there.

    This. I do this every time I cook something new.
  • mscrystallee
    mscrystallee Posts: 62 Member
    I love the recipe builder I would say 90% of what I log comes from there, you can measure, calculate by serving size and so much more. VERY HELPFUL
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Enter it into the recipe builder on the site, you can enter all the ingredients, set serving size and enter it from there.

    I'm not sure how to do that with the pickled stuff? These pickles and relish were made in large batches weeks or months ago. Pounds of vegetables, cups of vinegar, etc. Then separated and preserved in pint jars, out of which I take a little to serve with the salad or greens. I'm not even sure I could remember how many pounds for each. And, of course, much of the ingredients are not eaten, since the juice remains in the jar.

    Does anyone know if fermentation changes calorie counts?

    I'm sure it's not a significant amount of calories, so I suppose I could just leave it out.

    The amount of calories is so negligible in pickled vegetables; I would not bother creating a recipe. For my homemade kimchi, I just search the database for a homemade kimchi and use that. Same for Indian pickles (very different from American pickles!). If I couldn't find anything, I'd probably do a quick-add for 30-50 calories and make a mental note that I also consumed more sodium than is indicated on my log.

    Regarding fermentation, I do not believe it changes calorie count.

    Your beet relish sounds fantastic.

    Thank you! It is pretty fantastic and this information is helpful. I will check out the quick add calories function.
  • kristydi
    kristydi Posts: 781 Member
    Enter it into the recipe builder on the site, you can enter all the ingredients, set serving size and enter it from there.

    I'm not sure how to do that with the pickled stuff? These pickles and relish were made in large batches weeks or months ago. Pounds of vegetables, cups of vinegar, etc. Then separated and preserved in pint jars, out of which I take a little to serve with the salad or greens. I'm not even sure I could remember how many pounds for each. And, of course, much of the ingredients are not eaten, since the juice remains in the jar.

    Does anyone know if fermentation changes calorie counts?

    I'm sure it's not a significant amount of calories, so I suppose I could just leave it out.
    I agree with who ever said that the amount of calories would be petty small, but if you wanted to make a recipe you could. Add the ingredients (there are entries by weight, usually grams or ounces so you may need to do a bit of math to figure out how many oz or grams a pound and a half or whatever is)
    You know how many points or quarts the recipe makes. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup. 4 cups in a pint, 8 cups in a quart. So figure out how many tablespoons the whole recipe makes and set that as the number of servings.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Enter it into the recipe builder on the site, you can enter all the ingredients, set serving size and enter it from there.

    I'm not sure how to do that with the pickled stuff? These pickles and relish were made in large batches weeks or months ago. Pounds of vegetables, cups of vinegar, etc. Then separated and preserved in pint jars, out of which I take a little to serve with the salad or greens. I'm not even sure I could remember how many pounds for each. And, of course, much of the ingredients are not eaten, since the juice remains in the jar.

    Does anyone know if fermentation changes calorie counts?

    I'm sure it's not a significant amount of calories, so I suppose I could just leave it out.
    I agree with who ever said that the amount of calories would be petty small, but if you wanted to make a recipe you could. Add the ingredients (there are entries by weight, usually grams or ounces so you may need to do a bit of math to figure out how many oz or grams a pound and a half or whatever is)
    You know how many points or quarts the recipe makes. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup. 4 cups in a pint, 8 cups in a quart. So figure out how many tablespoons the whole recipe makes and set that as the number of servings.

    I don't think would work for things like pickled vegetables. For example, the squash pickles I make are sweet pickles. There is quite a bit of sugar in the recipe. But most of it is never consumed, since we don't drink the juice. I don't see how you could ever know how much was absorbed.
  • ActuarialChef
    ActuarialChef Posts: 1,413 Member
    Yes, use the recipe builder! I have literally hundreds of recipes in mine. weigh your ingredients as you cook, enter the ingredient and weight. Then either estimate the servings (this is what I do and it's worked just fine) or weigh the final product (from there you can divide that weight into servings and measure yourself one serving, or if it weighs, say, 1500mg, I enter that the recipe has 1500 servings. then I weigh up my portion and if it weighs 350g, I enter 350 servings. I never do this though. I'm too lazy.).

    You can also edit the recipes you make using the builder which is awesome if you make the same recipe multiple times but change ingredients or the amount. It is much easier to edit a recipe on the mobile app, though, because you can edit an ingredient's quantity. On the web-based platform, you have to delete the ingredient, then re-search and find it and add it again; very annoying. The other very annoying thing is that to find an old recipe, you have to scroll through every recipe in your index. There is no search feature to find it to edit, nor can you arrange them by alpha order instead of time order. the newest recipe is always first.

    Regarding the multiple entries:

    if it's for something home or restaurant prepared, it doesn't matter. There is absolutely no way of knowing if it accurately represents when you eat. If I eat at another person's home or a restaurant, I just pick my best guess.

    if it's for a whole food like meat or produce, find the entry without an asterisk. That entry is MFP default and is based on USDA data, so is the most accurate. It also has the most options for measurement - volume and mass.

    if it's for a packaged food, select one and verify that it matches the label on what you're eating.


    Enjoy! it's a little more work to eat home-prepared food and log as accurately as possible but once you get the hang of it, it's second nature. When my husband cooks he even weighs things out and shouts it to me so I can edit my recipe :)

    Take a look at where it says "Your Recipe Box" when you click on the Recipe tab. To the right it says "View: Recent" - you can click that and it will change it to "View: By Name", which sorts the list alphabetically!
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    Yes, use the recipe builder! I have literally hundreds of recipes in mine. weigh your ingredients as you cook, enter the ingredient and weight. Then either estimate the servings (this is what I do and it's worked just fine) or weigh the final product (from there you can divide that weight into servings and measure yourself one serving, or if it weighs, say, 1500mg, I enter that the recipe has 1500 servings. then I weigh up my portion and if it weighs 350g, I enter 350 servings. I never do this though. I'm too lazy.).

    You can also edit the recipes you make using the builder which is awesome if you make the same recipe multiple times but change ingredients or the amount. It is much easier to edit a recipe on the mobile app, though, because you can edit an ingredient's quantity. On the web-based platform, you have to delete the ingredient, then re-search and find it and add it again; very annoying. The other very annoying thing is that to find an old recipe, you have to scroll through every recipe in your index. There is no search feature to find it to edit, nor can you arrange them by alpha order instead of time order. the newest recipe is always first.

    Regarding the multiple entries:

    if it's for something home or restaurant prepared, it doesn't matter. There is absolutely no way of knowing if it accurately represents when you eat. If I eat at another person's home or a restaurant, I just pick my best guess.

    if it's for a whole food like meat or produce, find the entry without an asterisk. That entry is MFP default and is based on USDA data, so is the most accurate. It also has the most options for measurement - volume and mass.

    if it's for a packaged food, select one and verify that it matches the label on what you're eating.


    Enjoy! it's a little more work to eat home-prepared food and log as accurately as possible but once you get the hang of it, it's second nature. When my husband cooks he even weighs things out and shouts it to me so I can edit my recipe :)

    Take a look at where it says "Your Recipe Box" when you click on the Recipe tab. To the right it says "View: Recent" - you can click that and it will change it to "View: By Name", which sorts the list alphabetically!

    AHHHH!!! THANK YOU!

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