Tracking a recipe (Chili for example)

dustinl45
dustinl45 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello All, getting back into MyFitnessPal, transitioning from WW. Does anyone have tips/tricks on easily tracking a recipe. For example, Chili with meat, beans, tomatoes, etc... I think this is where a point system (WW) is easier to follow, but realize it may just be my concern.

Replies

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,283 Member
    Recipe builder is great. Enter it once and it’s there whenever you need it.

    I always enter recipes as “1” serving. For example a loaf of homemade bread is about 750 grams.

    This morning I had 67 grams of homemade bread in my French toast.

    67 divided by 750 is .089 servings.

    If I make chili and divide it into four servings, I log .25 servings.

    Makes it easier to keep up with.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    edited September 2020
    Recipe Builder. This is how I do it...

    Under Food, Recipes click "Enter New Recipe". Give it a name, and for # of servings I enter the # of grams after weighing the final dish. My chili on Tuesday was 3407 grams, so the recipe was 3407 servings. Made w/ 3 pounds of 85/15 ground turkey.

    Click to Add Ingredient for each item. When done, click Save Recipe.

    I include the date in my recipe name, and I go back and edit when I make it again as sometimes ingredients and quantities change slightly.

    I portion some out to freeze or refrigerate as single servings. I know for my chili, 300-400 grams makes a reasonable portion both in terms of amount of food and calories. I write on the label the date and weight in grams. Then when I later log it, I choose the recipe & log my 'serving'. Like yesterday for lunch I had 394 grams of my chili.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Recipe builder
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    (adding to the above)..the other common alternative is to enter the total final weight of the recipe as the total servings, and then later on enter the weight that you serve out from the pot/container for that meal as the # of servings you are eating.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    ..and this is one thing where a points system would be a massive, massive fail. The calorie density difference in chili made by different people can be ginormous.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    I find recipes to be easiest to add by doing the following: use the manual bulk text list ingredient adding option, making sure to use language likely to pull up the correct entry (as in remembering to add descriptors like "raw", "USDA", etc), listing everything initially as 1 serving size/or typical-known amount (that way I can quickly browse the list and ensure it pulled accurate entries), and then adjusting the quantities of each ingredient to the actual.
  • dustinl45
    dustinl45 Posts: 2 Member
    Thank you!
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    I also use the RecipeBuilder as I cook in bulk. However, as I live on my own and it'll only be me eating it, for curries, chilli, bolognese, stirfry etc, I select the number of portions according to how many bags I divided the end dish in to, although I do weigh each bag to ensure they're as identical as I can get them. This evening, I had one portion of chilli so that's what I selected from my Recipe list. I then had one portion of guacamole (and will have the other two portions with my lunchtime salad tomorrow and on Saturday) and one portion of rice.

    For things like home-made bread, where each portion will be different sized slices, I enter the Number of Servings as the overall weight, in grams. Then when I have some of my bread, I weigh what I'm about to use and enter that as my serving size.

    One thing with this is that it only really works if you've finished the previous batch before you cook any more. It's highly unlikely that you'll use exactly the same weight of ingredients next time and you don't want to be eating a portion from the first batch but logging it with the info for your second batch. However, you can copy a recipe, so you could have Chilli 1 and Chilli 2 - you just need to know which bag in the freezer relates to which recipe.
  • srk369
    srk369 Posts: 256 Member
    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    (adding to the above)..the other common alternative is to enter the total final weight of the recipe as the total servings, and then later on enter the weight that you serve out from the pot/container for that meal as the # of servings you are eating.

    thats how i do it.

    so if the total weight of the item is 550 grams (this is just an example), and i served up 123 grams in my bowl - i had 123 servings.

    I also use this method where I name it Three Bean Chili (1g) and then log 300 servings if I dished out 300 grams...but I also weigh my pots/pans before I start. So I start with the Pot weight, add my ingredients, and then at the end I weigh the final product and subtract the weight of my pot. This helps so that I don't have to transfer it all to a different bowl at the end to weigh how much chili I made.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Each time I edit a recipe - because yes minor details change - I include the date in the recipe name. Chili 9-15 for example. I also put the date on the label for food that goes in the fridge or freezer, so that helps to clarify things for future logging.
    Strudders67 wrote: »

    One thing with this is that it only really works if you've finished the previous batch before you cook any more. It's highly unlikely that you'll use exactly the same weight of ingredients next time and you don't want to be eating a portion from the first batch but logging it with the info for your second batch. However, you can copy a recipe, so you could have Chilli 1 and Chilli 2 - you just need to know which bag in the freezer relates to which recipe.

  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    I have a dry erase board on the side of my fridge. Top half: I listed out the weights of my pots, pans. And on the bottom I jot out notes about ingredients and weights. I use the bottom half for recipes, but also for meals that don't use recipes. Such as 176 g chicken breast, raw and 95 g zucchini, raw.

    My kitchen scale has a capacity up to 33 pounds or so - which means it can handle even my heaviest casserole dish when it is FULL of food.
    srk369 wrote: »

    I also use this method where I name it Three Bean Chili (1g) and then log 300 servings if I dished out 300 grams...but I also weigh my pots/pans before I start. So I start with the Pot weight, add my ingredients, and then at the end I weigh the final product and subtract the weight of my pot. This helps so that I don't have to transfer it all to a different bowl at the end to weigh how much chili I made.

  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    I also have a list of the weights of my main bowls / pots etc that I use when making anything in bulk.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    nanastaci2020 wrote: »
    Each time I edit a recipe - because yes minor details change - I include the date in the recipe name. Chili 9-15 for example. I also put the date on the label for food that goes in the fridge or freezer, so that helps to clarify things for future logging.
    Strudders67 wrote: »

    One thing with this is that it only really works if you've finished the previous batch before you cook any more. It's highly unlikely that you'll use exactly the same weight of ingredients next time and you don't want to be eating a portion from the first batch but logging it with the info for your second batch. However, you can copy a recipe, so you could have Chilli 1 and Chilli 2 - you just need to know which bag in the freezer relates to which recipe.

    ditto.

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