How to log restaurant items?

gehrt2482
gehrt2482 Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Can anyone tell me how to find & log restaurant items? I’m in Columbus Ohio and would like to log a salad/bowl from Brassica.

Answers

  • nath69uk
    nath69uk Posts: 7 Member
    Have you tried the take a picture feature? I've never used it but might be worth looking into.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    If it's not in the database under the restaurant and specific salad name, and they don't have a website with nutrition info, some options are:

    * Find a salad from a chain restaurant that you think will be somewhat similar, for a chain that has nutrition information on their website, and use that to create a "My Foods" entry in MFP.

    * Mentally deconstructgs the salad and log the ingredients with rough estimates for amounts. If it's something that's largely mixed greens and veggies, one of the garden-salad type entries may be OK to start: Try to find one that gives you a way to specify size in a way you can estimate (cups, say - rough estimate is fine). If the salad has a protein that's higher calorie, cheese, nuts, or some other calorie-dense thing(s), find a reasonable entry in the database (again, something with a size if you can). For those, if there are lots of choices, pick one with a middling-high to high (not crazy high) number of calories.

    Either of these should be close enough estimates for a thing you're not eating routinely.

    When I can do so politely/discreetly, I'll snap a phone photo of my food (no flash!) with something in the photo (a fork, say) that will give me some idea of size. That helps when logging later.

    For occasionally-eaten things you can't pin down, it's fine to estimate. If you're new to this, you'll find that weighing or measuring your routine foods at home will develop your eye for estimating, too. Some scale users like to guess the weight of something they're dishing up at home before weighing, sort of a game to develop the skill.

    (At home, weighing is quicker and easier than cups and spoons kinds of measuring, in case you're new to this. There are some tips and tricks that help that be true, which I'll describe if you need them. A food scale is only around $10-15 US, worth the price.)
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,189 Member
    If the restaurant has a website with the nutritional information, I will take that information (with a grain of salt). However, most of the places that my husband and I eat at, are not part of a big chain.

    I don't bother looking for something similar in the MFP database because in my opinion it will never be accurate but too much time consuming. I make a note in the comment's section, I control my other daily meals, and that's all. It worked and still does for me.
  • MelG7777
    MelG7777 Posts: 14,242 Member
    Exactly what other said. I try to do a very educated guess. But I also don’t eat out very often. I tend to omit things that add extra calories (croutons, always get dressing on the side etc) and then guess on the higher end still. I wouldn’t obsess to much over it unless this is a regular thing, then you may need to be a lot more accurate.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,365 Member
    I don’t care to cook any more, so a great deal of my diet is restaurant food. I’ve done just fine looking up similar items from chain restaurants and making adjustments on the amount I consume. Worst case, I estimate the type and amount of individual items. That requires a bit of training your eye, but it’s workable. I base my estimations on my experience from cooking multiple times a day for 35 years….so I’ve had a little practice! It’s pretty easy to pick up that skill though.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,247 Member
    Guess as close as possible.
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