Just started and bewildered on adding a food item

jprokos
jprokos Posts: 6 Member
in Getting Started
I was planning to just scan the barcodes of the products that we eat regularly and keep them in "My foods" but there appears to be no way to do that unless I "Report" the product that I scan. Am I missing something? This seems like a very basic feature. I don't want to walk around scanning the same product packaging every day.

Help please so we can move forward with this app. Thanks and TIA

Replies

  • GummiMundi
    GummiMundi Posts: 396 Member
    "My Foods" is a list of database entries that you create yourself (and also pre-existing ones that you reported and corrected).
    Foods that you log regularly will show under "Recent" and "Frequent" tabs, making them easier to find when they are recurrent.
  • jprokos
    jprokos Posts: 6 Member
    edited March 2021
    Ok except I have to add a food item to my diary in order for it to show up in history. Even if I didn’t eat it. It’s much easier to scan a barcode than manually enter data points.
  • GummiMundi
    GummiMundi Posts: 396 Member
    If you're logging your foods, of course you have to add food items to your diary. But only the ones you actually eat. What would be the point of adding stuff you haven't eaten? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying, sorry.
  • jprokos
    jprokos Posts: 6 Member
    Well, it’s easier to add items by scanning bar codes then entering all of that data from scratch. I just want to scan it all at once and get it over with. I am doing this for my child who is trying to gain weight. She is a competitive swimmer.
  • dolorsit
    dolorsit Posts: 92 Member
    You could just scan all the items into a phantom day in the past or perhaps even scan them and then delete them. Not sure if they stay in recent if you do that.
  • AmunahSki
    AmunahSki Posts: 219 Member
    And if these are things eaten frequently, you can go back to whenever you ate it last and ‘Copy meal to... today’ so you don’t have to scan it every time (and delete or amend the other things you ate with it).
  • Elystriel
    Elystriel Posts: 32 Member
    Also, be aware that the barcode scan data is not always correct. Ultimately, all of the information has been entered by users, so it may not be 100% accurate. There isn't usually an issue, but if the data is critical for you, make sure to double-check that the entry in the database matches the label from the food item you have scanned.
  • jprokos
    jprokos Posts: 6 Member
    Thank you to everyone commenting here. I am seriously trying to understand how this app functions - I wish the developer could sit next to me and explain. I think I lost 5 lbs out of frustration today alone. :)

    I moved on to trying to create a recipe using items that I scanned and corrected. Unfortunately I discovered there is no way to use my own corrected items in my recipes! I have to do a new scan or a search - or am I missing something? I just wanted to make a recipe of my daily Tazo Chai Latte and 2% milk and add it to a meal.
  • jprokos
    jprokos Posts: 6 Member
    dolorsit wrote: »
    You could just scan all the items into a phantom day in the past or perhaps even scan them and then delete them. Not sure if they stay in recent if you do that.


    Unfortunately, if you delete an item that you ate it's also removed from your history.
  • jjalbertt
    jjalbertt Posts: 98 Member
    Sometimes the data isn't registered with the bar code and is merely just for pricing. I end up having to input data if that's the issue.
    Other than that, if you just go to add to diary and click the scan button it should work. Unless of course there's a glitch
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    You are trying to do all the work at once--good luck with that. You would have to do a "phantom day" as suggested and enter all the foods you're interested in as if you had eaten them. MFP was set up a certain way and the food diary and recipes are tricky. In the beginning it's time consuming. Once it's in your frequent foods, it's easy.
  • AmunahSki
    AmunahSki Posts: 219 Member
    There are some great posts from users on how to use the recipe builder - here’s one for you:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10828534/calorie-counting#
  • jprokos
    jprokos Posts: 6 Member
    I realize what I want to do may not be possible... but I want to create a recipe using my own entries that I scanned and corrected because there are literally many dozens of the same items each with their own inaccuracies. When I take the time to correct the item name and contents from a product's UPC scan I expect to be rewarded by being able to use that corrected item in my own Recipe. Yet, I cannot find a way. (The only workaround is the what exacerbates that problem. People are "Reporting" food items so they can save them in their own lists which clutters up the database with inaccurate duplicates.)

    I would then like to be able to share that Recipe with my family members since they eat what I eat and I am doing the work for them to relieve them of that burden. They are student athletes and don't have time, whereas I do.

    I would also like to share the Meals that I create with my family members since they eat a portion of that meal.

    The point of tracking a diet is to be consistent and to be accurate. The UPC method is quick (and I don't mind the effort to help build an accurate database for everyone) but pointless if I can't use the corrected and accurate information for my own diet. Considering 100% of the items our family eats are items we prepare, not being able to use accurate information in Recipes is a real deal breaker.

    I believe the general idea is that Recipes are made of ingredients, and Meals are made of individual recipes?

    I am not trying to do all of the work up front. I am trying to do this one day at a time with accurate information. Trying to create Recipes and Meals that we eat most often so we don't have to keep scanning bar codes every time we prepare something.
  • BethCW2963
    BethCW2963 Posts: 57 Member
    jprokos wrote: »
    I was planning to just scan the barcodes of the products that we eat regularly and keep them in "My foods" but there appears to be no way to do that unless I "Report" the product that I scan. Am I missing something? This seems like a very basic feature. I don't want to walk around scanning the same product packaging every day.

    Help please so we can move forward with this app. Thanks and TIA

    You are not alone in the confusing world of tracking nutrition information in MFP - there are just WAY TOO MANY DUPLICATE AND INCORRECT ENTRIES IN THE DATABASE AND I find that I almost always have to update the nutrition information! After so much trial and error what I now do is save the items I know I am going to use more than once under MY MEALS (that's after I have made sure they are nutritionally correct - if they are not then I correct them manually and add a unique corrected tag in the heading (such as "corrected 03/2021) so when I have to re - search it to add it back I can easily find it) even if it is just a singular ingredient since it would eventually disappear from the history if not used frequently. I frequently add multiple items at one time by just making dummy entries in the food journal and then deleting them once they are saved under My Meals. I do the same thing for any personal recipes I want to use in My Recipes. This is a very laborious process to be sure!

    I too get very frustrated since there is no easy way to easily share recipes because I also do this for my grandson on a daily basis. Again though, I pretty much follow the same premise as above when adding my own personal recipes - I type the ingredients to match exactly how I have saved them in the overall database. I have time (and tons of patience!) on my hands though since I am not currently working.

    I am thankful for MFP because it really has helped me a great deal but there is room for A TON OF IMPROVEMENTS in the area of accurately tracking food that is for sure! For this reason, I would never pay for the premium version (it isn't even available to me since I am currently living in Guam).

    And lastly, don't get me started on the actual nutrition labels themselves! My jaw dropped to the floor when I found out that Nutrition Facts labels are not always factual since the FDA law allows a pretty big margin of error—UP TO 20 PERCENT—for the stated value versus the actual value of nutrients! In reality, that means a 100-calorie item can actually contain up to 120 calories and still not be violating the law! I could understand perhaps a 5% margin of difference but 20% is ridiculous in my humble opinion.

    I wish I had better insight and advice for you, but unfortunately, it doesn't currently exist in the MFP world that I am aware of. Best of luck to you and your family!
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,881 Member
    jprokos wrote: »
    I believe the general idea is that Recipes are made of ingredients, and Meals are made of individual recipes?

    That's the idea, but you don't have to do that. I never use the recipe builder actually. I always use the meal functionality for my recipes.
    I create my recipe in a future meal (for example breakfast the next day) and then save that as a meal (including the total weight of the cooked dish in the name). I then add my individual portion to my dinner or whatever meal I'm eating.
    And then I delete the original ingredients from that future meal in my diary.

    You could use this method if your using several recipes for one mealtime as well. And that way you also have access to your corrected foods.
  • MitchellOsbourn
    MitchellOsbourn Posts: 1 Member
    edited June 2
    I wish there was a way to scan the food purchased at the grocery store. Meal prep the item(s) later, and then add them to your daily diary as you eat them!!! Meal prepping + writing down each serving/trying to remember each one when it comes time to eat it gets hard and frustrating. I do t understand why there’s not a button in my foods that will allow you to scan and store food like a digital food pantry. Heaven forbid I accidentally throw away the barcode! I mean if I log something as lunch one day o have to go through the whole process to log it if I eat it for dinner instead.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,881 Member
    MitchellOsbourn wrote: »
    I wish there was a way to scan the food purchased at the grocery store. Meal prep the item(s) later, and then add them to your daily diary as you eat them!!! Meal prepping + writing down each serving/trying to remember each one when it comes time to eat it gets hard and frustrating. I do t understand why there’s not a button in my foods that will allow you to scan and store food like a digital food pantry. Heaven forbid I accidentally throw away the barcode! I mean if I log something as lunch one day o have to go through the whole process to log it if I eat it for dinner instead.

    Creating meals solves that issue. Enter all of the relevant food into a meal and then add that meal (or a part of it) into your diary whenever you want.

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