Cooking from scratch - how to record?

Saraa_H
Saraa_H Posts: 4 Member
edited November 2024 in Getting Started
Hello all,

I cook lots of stuff from scratch - things like bean chilli, lentil casserole (I follow plant based diet).

TBH I don't really measure the ingredients, just chuck it all in the pot. Any idea how to add these dishes to my food diary?

Replies

  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    Use the recipe tool in MPF, you can measure your recipe once as you make it and as long as you use similar ingredients next time, you'll be pretty close for future meals. Just be cautious with high cal ingredients like olive oil, avocado, nuts etc, if you aren't measuring in the future your calories could be way off.
  • lalabrucey
    lalabrucey Posts: 244 Member
    I cook in a similar way. I use the recipe area to create my own recipes, number of serves in it, and then I just roughly make it the same way each time so don't bother re-measuring each time. You will need to weigh/measure at least once when creating the recipe though. Oh and heaps of food entries in the database are inaccurate so I create my own foods and use those.

    Hope this helps

    L.
  • Saraa_H
    Saraa_H Posts: 4 Member
    Thanks. I hadn't noticed the recipe section before. I'll check it out.
  • whoseintroubleagain
    whoseintroubleagain Posts: 8 Member
    Under the food tab there is a recipe section, you can create a custom recipe by clicking on add recipe manually in there. I measure most things but sometimes when it comes to herbs I don't, but I always have an idea of how much I put in and this is what I add to the recipe.

    I have found though that you must double what the database gives you when you search as sometimes with the herbs it is not "Fresh" but if you scroll down you will find what you are looking for.

    I have also found when it comes to quantity I use 1 gram as the weight and the quantity as 100 for a total of 100 grams. What I have noticed on here is a lot of people say to weigh dry and measure wet ingredients, you get better results from the calorie and macro counts if that is your thing.
  • jlcnuke
    jlcnuke Posts: 31 Member
    One thing I'd suggest is to start measuring. Not only will it make your nutritional info more accurate, but it will allow you to recreate the same delicious meal again. I started measuring (instead of just throwing things together) after the second time I made a dish that I loved last time but it "just wasn't the same" because I didn't know how much of each item I'd used when I made the version I loved. As another added bonus, if someone loves your cooking and wants the recipe, you can actually give them a recipe instead of "well, I just throw some of each of these ingredients in the pot". :smile:
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