do you stick to a few favorites or add in new items

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mom23nuts
mom23nuts Posts: 636 Member
in Food and Nutrition
When you are tracking your food and calories....how many of you are adventurous and try new things or do you stick to a bunch of bacis foods with basic ingredients you know and can find easily to chart.

I am finding when my hubby cooks it is awesome but I can't quite find all the info and ingredients in the foods and have to guess at what he made by using basic counts and adding in extra calories for possible errors.

Even when we make 1 pan taco mix with the cheese and the salsa and beans already in the 1 pan it's hard to guess how much beans, salsa, cheese, corn whatever I ate out of that pan.

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  • hyde1977
    hyde1977 Posts: 476 Member
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    If you have the packages you can always add foods to the database as well- If I cannot find I take the package and add it myself. Then when you track foods you click on the My Foods tab and it will show there for you and also be added to the database for others!

    I have added several foods!
  • lunamare
    lunamare Posts: 569 Member
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    With something like your 1 Pan taco I'd use the recipe calculator and try to add up everything that goes into the recipe and then figure out how much I ate of the total. It might be off by a few beans but at least it's close.

    I'm pretty adventurous with food and like to try new things. I love the scan feature on the android app. It makes adding in new foods so easy.
  • jeanaustin
    jeanaustin Posts: 101
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    Can he not combine everything so that you can measure out your portion? Also when I combine things with cheese I find that I eat more cheese. Otherwise I have in the past created a recipe of all of it and then measured out all the portions, which makes it easier to pack up leftovers for lunch to work.
  • PureAndHealthy
    PureAndHealthy Posts: 539
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    With something like your 1 Pan taco I'd use the recipe calculator and try to add up everything that goes into the recipe and then figure out how much I ate of the total. It might be off by a few beans but at least it's close.

    I'm pretty adventurous with food and like to try new things. I love the scan feature on the android app. It makes adding in new foods so easy.

    That's exactly what I was about to say. Enter total quantities that go into the pan in recipe calculator and say you ate 1/4 of the pan or 1/2 the pan or whatever. Happy tracking! :flowerforyou:
  • Elle408
    Elle408 Posts: 500 Member
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    Ditto the recipe idea! MFP does a lot of the work for you!

    As for new foods... I have my old faithfuls that I go to when inspiration is low or I need something quick and easy that I can prepare last minute. But if I have the opportunity i like to try new things. I used to be a picky eater and now that i've broadened my horizons a little i'm getting to try new foods and on the most part, loving them! I trawl food websites like www.skinnytaste.com and find new low cal recipes to try out or good ways to exchange bad ingredients for good!
  • bearforlife0607
    bearforlife0607 Posts: 9 Member
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    i agree i measure out my portion of everything, and mix it together separate from everything else. it is a hassle especially if your not the one cooking. it helps be more accurate then just guessing
  • mom23nuts
    mom23nuts Posts: 636 Member
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    thanks all

    the good thing is that combining it all in one pan makes it more yummy than keeping it separate.

    I am just not the measure every kernal of corn kind of gal...I have a life to lead and measuring and tallying 7 different ingredients then charting them down is a real time killer maybe taking a fraction of the whole is better in that respect.

    What do you all do when you go out to eat? Maybe I should have posed the ? that way since at times there is the chance that someone else will prepare a few of your meals .

    Is that when you stick to safe choices that you already know the nutritional value like the salad bar or whatever and the follow up question should have been if you trust menu calorie counts at places like Applebees and Ruby Tuesdays?

    Do you allot for 200-300 error calories on those recipies?

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