Because I am that idiot.....

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  • kristydi
    kristydi Posts: 781 Member
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    And to add to this op.

    If you put a jar of peaut butter or something on the scale and zero it, then you can scoop out what you want and it will show how.much you took out.

    Someone posted that on here recently and it was awesome!
  • Monklady123
    Monklady123 Posts: 512 Member
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    kristydi wrote: »
    And to add to this op.

    If you put a jar of peaut butter or something on the scale and zero it, then you can scoop out what you want and it will show how.much you took out.

    Someone posted that on here recently and it was awesome!

    omg.... {adding to my list of things learned lately...} :blush:
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
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    kristydi wrote: »
    And to add to this op.

    If you put a jar of peaut butter or something on the scale and zero it, then you can scoop out what you want and it will show how.much you took out.

    Someone posted that on here recently and it was awesome!

    Oooo that's helpful!
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    kristydi wrote: »
    And to add to this op.

    If you put a jar of peaut butter or something on the scale and zero it, then you can scoop out what you want and it will show how.much you took out.

    Someone posted that on here recently and it was awesome!

    You're welcome...
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    ManiacalLaugh wrote: »
    kristydi wrote: »
    And to add to this op.

    If you put a jar of peaut butter or something on the scale and zero it, then you can scoop out what you want and it will show how.much you took out.

    Someone posted that on here recently and it was awesome!

    Oooo that's helpful!

    and you can lick the spoon/knife without going over :)

  • Narcissora
    Narcissora Posts: 197 Member
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    Monklady123 wrote: »
    greaseswabber wrote: »
    JohnBarth wrote: »
    I even weigh pans and serving dishes, so I can net the calories for a recipe without transferring to a new container. Big batch of taco meat, for instance. Pan weighs 1450 grams. Entire batch of meat + pan = 3000 grams. Because it has 8 servings, 3000-1450=1550/8 = 194g/serving

    I do this but take it a step further. Set the number of servings for the recipe to 1550. Then when you serve out a portion, weigh out the number of grams and enter that as the number of servings. Perfect portion, every time.

    But how do you know exactly how many calories are in each of those 1,550 servings? Or in any recipe for that matter? Let's say I make one of my family's favorite recipes, Cuban picadillo.... ground beef, stewed tomatoes, olives, raisins, spices, served on rice. Do I have to weight every single ingredient before I put it in the pan? Then add all that up to get the calories for the entire recipe? I hate to cook so much that this would be a deal breaker for me. ugh... It's bad enough that I have to do the cooking anyway.

    Last time I made this recipe I just took the calories listed in MFP for a cup of cooked ground beef and added 100 or so more for the calories in the olives and raisins. Yeah, not accurate. But since I'm still on the beginning of losing weight -- meaning I have quite a bit to lose -- I'm just going with it as it is. If [when?] I reach a plateau I might rethink the recipe counting. Or, I might stop cooking "mixed up" recipes and stick with mean/veggie/starch. lol

    So, for your Cuban Picadillo, manually enter the recipe into the MFP recipe builder thing. Use weight measurements wherever possible in the recipe. Then, make the recipe. When you are all done cooking, weigh the entire amount of food that you just prepared. Now, back in the recipe builder for the recipe that you previously entered, set the number of servings to the total grams of food you just made. (It could be several thousand grams.)

    Then when you eat, just weigh the portion that you want. When you track the portion you eat in your diary, 1 gram = 1 serving. So if you serve yourself 200 grams of the recipe, enter in 200 servings. MFP will calculate the calories for you :)
  • crazyjerseygirl
    crazyjerseygirl Posts: 1,252 Member
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    I work in a lab and so learned these sorts of things during my education. It never occurred to me that someone would weigh mixing things one at a time!

    Of course I often find myself wishing for weigh boats
  • greaseswabber
    greaseswabber Posts: 238 Member
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    Monklady123 wrote: »
    greaseswabber wrote: »
    JohnBarth wrote: »
    I even weigh pans and serving dishes, so I can net the calories for a recipe without transferring to a new container. Big batch of taco meat, for instance. Pan weighs 1450 grams. Entire batch of meat + pan = 3000 grams. Because it has 8 servings, 3000-1450=1550/8 = 194g/serving

    I do this but take it a step further. Set the number of servings for the recipe to 1550. Then when you serve out a portion, weigh out the number of grams and enter that as the number of servings. Perfect portion, every time.

    But how do you know exactly how many calories are in each of those 1,550 servings? Or in any recipe for that matter? Let's say I make one of my family's favorite recipes, Cuban picadillo.... ground beef, stewed tomatoes, olives, raisins, spices, served on rice. Do I have to weight every single ingredient before I put it in the pan? Then add all that up to get the calories for the entire recipe? I hate to cook so much that this would be a deal breaker for me. ugh... It's bad enough that I have to do the cooking anyway.

    Last time I made this recipe I just took the calories listed in MFP for a cup of cooked ground beef and added 100 or so more for the calories in the olives and raisins. Yeah, not accurate. But since I'm still on the beginning of losing weight -- meaning I have quite a bit to lose -- I'm just going with it as it is. If [when?] I reach a plateau I might rethink the recipe counting. Or, I might stop cooking "mixed up" recipes and stick with mean/veggie/starch. lol

    I use the recipe builder to do the combining. For example, last night's dinner was tater dog casserole:

    1 can of baked beans
    3 hot dogs, sliced,
    1/2 cup of onion
    2 cups of tater tots
    3/4 cup grated cheddar

    Gather ingredients, weigh the pan, used the method above to weigh out all the ingredients individually and add them to the recipe builder, which works just like adding individual foods to your diary.

    After cooking, weigh the full pan again, calculate the net weight. (938 g in this case). That is the number of servings. Save the recipe. Add food to diary, chose my newly updated recipe and enter the amount I serve myself. The app knows how many calories, fat, protein, etc is in each "serving". I just tell it how many.

    Rather than having to try to portion it out exactly in quarters or eighths, and making sure my wife does the same so I don't lose track of the leftovers, I can serve any amount and be confident in the numbers. At least, as confident as is possible.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    If the recipe is online you can import it in the app

    It really doesn't add that much more time to weigh the ingredients first ...
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    I log recipes by 100g =a serving so I enter 3 for 300g, 2.5 for 250g and 0.5 for 50g etc
  • Somebody_Loved
    Somebody_Loved Posts: 498 Member
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    THANK YOU. Ha, I was wondering why people kept saying how easy it is to weigh your food.

    <--- Also feeling like an idiot.
  • Noodle797
    Noodle797 Posts: 366 Member
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    [/quote]

    So, for your Cuban Picadillo, manually enter the recipe into the MFP recipe builder thing. Use weight measurements wherever possible in the recipe. Then, make the recipe. When you are all done cooking, weigh the entire amount of food that you just prepared. Now, back in the recipe builder for the recipe that you previously entered, set the number of servings to the total grams of food you just made. (It could be several thousand grams.)

    Then when you eat, just weigh the portion that you want. When you track the portion you eat in your diary, 1 gram = 1 serving. So if you serve yourself 200 grams of the recipe, enter in 200 servings. MFP will calculate the calories for you :)[/quote]

    Holy Hannah!!! We're all learning today! This is absolute genius. How on earth didn't I think of this before? DUH!!!
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    Never be ashamed OP...we all have to learn.
    And as long as you are willing to learn you are able to change things in life into positive.

    I did this too, when i started. Just getting used to it you find your way to do these kinda things.
    You get faster at it and faster. And in short time you are so used to your "new" habit that it only takes seconds to do it.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
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    Noodle797 wrote: »

    So, for your Cuban Picadillo, manually enter the recipe into the MFP recipe builder thing. Use weight measurements wherever possible in the recipe. Then, make the recipe. When you are all done cooking, weigh the entire amount of food that you just prepared. Now, back in the recipe builder for the recipe that you previously entered, set the number of servings to the total grams of food you just made. (It could be several thousand grams.)

    Then when you eat, just weigh the portion that you want. When you track the portion you eat in your diary, 1 gram = 1 serving. So if you serve yourself 200 grams of the recipe, enter in 200 servings. MFP will calculate the calories for you :)

    Holy Hannah!!! We're all learning today! This is absolute genius. How on earth didn't I think of this before? DUH!!![/quote]

    Someone posted this on here once before and it was like the heavens opened up. This is how I do it every time now, and it makes everything so much easier! It may look funny in my diary (115 servings of scrambled eggs, for example) but it sure does work for me.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,922 Member
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    kristydi wrote: »
    And to add to this op.

    If you put a jar of peaut butter or something on the scale and zero it, then you can scoop out what you want and it will show how.much you took out.

    Someone posted that on here recently and it was awesome!

    <3<3<3
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
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    Thanks so much for posting this and all the useful hints in the replies. Especially the hint about adding something under the plate/pan so you can see the reading.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
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    I probably would have done the same thing if I hadn't been a chemistry major.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    No shame in learning.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,671 Member
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    Another idiot checking in. I heard angels sing when I figured this out. Duh
  • Monklady123
    Monklady123 Posts: 512 Member
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    Narcissora wrote: »
    Monklady123 wrote: »
    greaseswabber wrote: »
    JohnBarth wrote: »
    I even weigh pans and serving dishes, so I can net the calories for a recipe without transferring to a new container. Big batch of taco meat, for instance. Pan weighs 1450 grams. Entire batch of meat + pan = 3000 grams. Because it has 8 servings, 3000-1450=1550/8 = 194g/serving

    I do this but take it a step further. Set the number of servings for the recipe to 1550. Then when you serve out a portion, weigh out the number of grams and enter that as the number of servings. Perfect portion, every time.

    But how do you know exactly how many calories are in each of those 1,550 servings? Or in any recipe for that matter? Let's say I make one of my family's favorite recipes, Cuban picadillo.... ground beef, stewed tomatoes, olives, raisins, spices, served on rice. Do I have to weight every single ingredient before I put it in the pan? Then add all that up to get the calories for the entire recipe? I hate to cook so much that this would be a deal breaker for me. ugh... It's bad enough that I have to do the cooking anyway.

    Last time I made this recipe I just took the calories listed in MFP for a cup of cooked ground beef and added 100 or so more for the calories in the olives and raisins. Yeah, not accurate. But since I'm still on the beginning of losing weight -- meaning I have quite a bit to lose -- I'm just going with it as it is. If [when?] I reach a plateau I might rethink the recipe counting. Or, I might stop cooking "mixed up" recipes and stick with mean/veggie/starch. lol

    So, for your Cuban Picadillo, manually enter the recipe into the MFP recipe builder thing. Use weight measurements wherever possible in the recipe. Then, make the recipe. When you are all done cooking, weigh the entire amount of food that you just prepared. Now, back in the recipe builder for the recipe that you previously entered, set the number of servings to the total grams of food you just made. (It could be several thousand grams.)

    Then when you eat, just weigh the portion that you want. When you track the portion you eat in your diary, 1 gram = 1 serving. So if you serve yourself 200 grams of the recipe, enter in 200 servings. MFP will calculate the calories for you :)

    Genius! omg, I can't wait to get started tracking more accurately! :)

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