Cooking from scratch.

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mlanska
mlanska Posts: 7
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all.

I am a big fan of cooking everything from scratch. I believe it is healthier and really cuts down on preservatives and a sodium (it is also a way I like to relax). That being said, I am curious if anyone has quick and dirty ideas for tracking calories in this manner. I saw what is on my fitness pal, but it is quite exhausting and a bit annoying to type in everything every time I cook. Any pointers or suggestions?

Best,
m.

Replies

  • WhiteGirlWasted13
    WhiteGirlWasted13 Posts: 178 Member
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    Probably not much help, but since I do the same thing, I usually just bite the proverbial bullet and sit down with the laptop and type out the recipe. It's definitely easier on a PC than a smart phone. I guess that's my "helpful hint" -- :/
  • kathyklk
    kathyklk Posts: 4 Member
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    I also cook almost every meal from scratch, and almost never make the same thing twice (though I do cook in quantity). After a while I got tired of logging it all and decided just to track exercise, but I've gained weight doing it that way so am back again with the logging. I enter the individual ingredient amounts for the whole recipe and then enter how many portions it makes. That at least covers eating the leftovers. And if I make something similar but not exact another time, sometimes I'll just use the original entry instead of creating a whole new recipe. I don't make my recipes public because I don't bother tracking the ingredients that don't have calories - like water, vinegar, herbs, etc. But perhaps if I make a particularly delicious one I'll start putting it all down and making it public so others can benefit. Sometimes I use prepared sauces (like Indian simmer sauces), and I've been pleased to see that I almost always can find them in the list so at least I don't have to copy that info and add it as a new item.

    So it's tedious and boring, but it helps! And cooking from scratch is so worth it on so many levels. :)
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    You probably have about eight meals. After you get their ingredients logged, it will be easy to "repeat" meals.
  • BurnWithBarn2015
    BurnWithBarn2015 Posts: 1,026 Member
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    I cook from scratch and i log EVERYTHING!

    In the beginning it was a lot But now 90% of the time i have the entry already in "My Foods" tab so can just select it and not looking it up anymore.

    Every new ingredient that comes here in the house get added to "My Foods" and my own excel list. So in a way my own database.

    It takes just 20 minutes after shopping with a nice cup of coffee and a cookie. :) And not even that every week.

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  • Derf_Smeggle
    Derf_Smeggle Posts: 610 Member
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    Recipes, recipes, recipes. I use the recipe function to build personal recipes for a lot of the food I'm eating.

    With mostly veggie dishes especially, unless you are drastically adding or subtracting any fats or proteins the calorie variance per serving is small.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Zombie thread.

    However, I find it easier not to do recipes unless it's something like a stew. I tend to just list the ingredients (usually not spices or herbs) and divide up by portion. For example, for breakfast: egg, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, feta, smoked salmon, apple would just all be logged separately rather than creating an omelet recipe. The foods would all be in my frequently used. If I was afraid they would not I might save them as a meal. For dinner, similar: I might have trout, lentils, beets, cauliflower and green beans or some such. On most nights I cook pretty simply, though, so it's going to depend. I did a black bean and pulled pork dish where I had to weigh it at the end and divide it into servings recently, and for something like that I will create a recipe.

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