Why didn't I do this sooner?!

missiontofitness
missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
I've been a food scale owner for almost a year now. Ever since I've gotten it, I've logged religiously down to the ounce/gram. However, recipes were always frustrating, and it was always taking stuff out/putting it back in/ect when dividing up the recipe into equal portions. I would weigh it, divide it by the servings I wanted, and then do the above until I hit the weight it was supposed to be for each container. It was super annoying.

Thanks to the forums the other day, I discovered the 1000000000x easier method of logging the recipe by its weight as the servings, and then weighing what you want as you go.

WHY I DIDN'T DISCOVER THIS MARVELOUS TRICK UNTIL A YEAR AFTER GETTING MY SCALE IS BEYOND ME.

So, I just wanted to share. :)

Replies

  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
    Yay! Now if only MFP would let us have 1000 or more servings so I don't have to try to remember that the chili is 4 grams a serving.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Was that BFDeals post? When I read that post is was lightbulb moment.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Was that BFDeals post? When I read that post is was lightbulb moment.

    I forget who it was, but it was a response in a thread I was reading. Made so much sense after I read it.
  • skyfall91
    skyfall91 Posts: 74
    Im probably being very dumb (not difficult for me!) but how do you do this? Need it in simple terms lol. Thanks to anyone who replies x
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    skyfall91 wrote: »
    Im probably being very dumb (not difficult for me!) but how do you do this? Need it in simple terms lol. Thanks to anyone who replies x

    Basically, weigh out the ingredients that go into your recipe, make it, and then weigh the final product. Say the final product weighs 500 grams. In the recipe builder, put it as 500 servings; you will get the calorie information per gram of the recipe as the "serving".

    When you go to serve, weigh out your portion of the recipe. If your portion comes out to 129g, log it as 129 servings in your diary. Done!
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
    If you have a big recipe that's more than 1000 grams, you can also log it as 10 grams per serving or 100 grams per serving. I prefer to use 100 grams just because it's a "standard" weight measurement.

    I've also started putting my serving size in my recipe name, that way it's easy to remember later if I'm freezing some for leftovers. I also do this for casseroles where I just divide my portions fairly equally. I made lasagna this weekend and when I put in the recipe I put title as "lasagna makes two 9*13 pans with 12 servings each" and put 24 servings down total. When I froze up the extras, I wrapped each portion individually and am good to go.
  • MamaRiss
    MamaRiss Posts: 481 Member
    You know, I've done this once for cinnamon sugar butter. And have never done it again. I don't know why. It really is a great way to do it. I just never think about it when making my recipes
  • trina1049
    trina1049 Posts: 593 Member
    That makes so much sense -- you're brilliant.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    trina1049 wrote: »
    That makes so much sense -- you're brilliant.

    Oh, I'm not brilliant. The wonderful people of MFP who figured this out are!
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    MamaRiss wrote: »
    You know, I've done this once for cinnamon sugar butter. And have never done it again. I don't know why. It really is a great way to do it. I just never think about it when making my recipes

    Hold on a minute.
    You cannot mentioned "cinnamon sugar butter", and then not describe the recipe that creates said cinnamon sugar butter.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Lol duh, I've been doing that the whole tiiime

    Cool-.gif

    Btw if the weight is too high for the serving, just put the weight into the title of the recipe and divide the weight you grab by the total weight. E.g. 210/1283 = .16368 (i keep as many decimals as I can bother typing).
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    The problem is my crockpot recipes generally start with at least 1500 grams of meat, so I've blown the 1000-serving limit.

    Instead, knowing I'm the one eating it all, I just divvy it up into 5/6/7 portions. That they aren't all identical doesn't matter, because over the course of eating it all, it will all average out to the right number.
  • MamaRiss
    MamaRiss Posts: 481 Member
    missiontofitness wrote: »
    MamaRiss wrote: »
    You know, I've done this once for cinnamon sugar butter. And have never done it again. I don't know why. It really is a great way to do it. I just never think about it when making my recipes

    Hold on a minute.
    You cannot mentioned "cinnamon sugar butter", and then not describe the recipe that creates said cinnamon sugar butter.

    My daughter loves Cinnamon Toast for breakfast, and she is a very picky eater, so I really will make anything if she asks to eat. I got this recipe from Pioneer woman

    1 stick of butter
    1/2 cup of sugar
    1.5-2 tsp cinnamon
    1 tsp vanilla extract
    1/8 tsp nutmeg optional
    dash of salt
    Mix that really well, then spred your desired amount on a piece of your desired bread. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, then broil for about a minutes to caramelize the sugar.

    I just went to my recipe in the database and it looked a bit wonky, so I don't know the exact calories per gram, but I believe it was around 4
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    The problem is my crockpot recipes generally start with at least 1500 grams of meat, so I've blown the 1000-serving limit.

    Instead, knowing I'm the one eating it all, I just divvy it up into 5/6/7 portions. That they aren't all identical doesn't matter, because over the course of eating it all, it will all average out to the right number.

    This is my current problem/solution. Although my boyfriend also eats them so I've gotten better about using a scale to make sure they are close to each other.
  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
    I've done something slightly different. I can never get the recipe builder here to work unless I disable some of my security software, so I calculate the recipes on another site. I transcribe that as a new food with 1 serving of whatever size the recipe is, whether it's 500g or 3000g. Then I just weigh out however much of it I'm having, and enter it with the 1g setting. If I need to tweak the recipe later, I just have to update whatever values have changed on that food.
  • skyfall91
    skyfall91 Posts: 74
    going to do this tomorrow, got a big meal to make for the family so will be using this way from now on. Kind of simple and obvious when you think about it!
  • BraveNewdGirl
    BraveNewdGirl Posts: 937 Member
    edited February 2015
    This almost makes me want to try actually cooking! Almost.
  • Tracey_B_72
    Tracey_B_72 Posts: 1,021 Member
    So simple, love it.
This discussion has been closed.

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