How do you record home made food?

downwithbottledwater
downwithbottledwater Posts: 44
in Food and Nutrition
I cook dinner for myself and my family every night. And it is always completely from scratch.

It's fairly easy to record if it is something like baked chicken and broccoli.

But what if it is something like home made soup?

What I've been doing is finding a similar sounding soup (or whatever) here, looking at the values, and if it seems reasonable, just using it and hoping for the best. It's very hard when my soup has 10+ ingredients, makes a huge pot, and then I eat 1 cup or less, to record individual ingredients.

Do you do the same thing? If not, how are you more exact?

Replies

  • sudniknico
    sudniknico Posts: 11
    well, the soup you made does it have a specific name? like ex: chicken soup.
  • CazzieH
    CazzieH Posts: 5 Member
    I also try to find something similar, but I know a lot of them have more fat and sodium and less fiber than I usually make, but I figure it's closer than trying to add all ingredients separately.
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
    If you make it the same way, you only need to figure it out once. If you don't, then a good guess is the best you're going to get and probably good enough. Thankfully (sort of) I'm not much off a cook, so the stuff I fix is pretty simple and basically the same every time.
  • kimpossible471
    kimpossible471 Posts: 268 Member
    For favorites, I use the "my recipies" section - you enter the ingredients that you use to create the whole dish, and list how many it serves. (I measured the first time, to see how many cups it made - and that's how many "servings" I set it to. It takes a little work up front - but if it is something you make regularly it's worth it.
  • drummer_lady
    drummer_lady Posts: 150 Member
    Have you ever tried using the recipe function? You enter in all the ingredients you use, enter in how many portions are within the recipe, and it will automatically do the math to get the nutritional value for each individual serving. You give your recipe a title and save it, and then when you need to log it all you have to do is look it up under "My Recipes". That's what I do for homemade meals when they have a lot of ingredients!

    Edit: Oops kimpossible beat me to it haha
  • jpfrimmer
    jpfrimmer Posts: 134
    For favorites, I use the "my recipies" section - you enter the ingredients that you use to create the whole dish, and list how many it serves. (I measured the first time, to see how many cups it made - and that's how many "servings" I set it to. It takes a little work up front - but if it is something you make regularly it's worth it.

    I agree, I do this all the time! A majority of the foods in my diary are from recipes I put into the system. It's under the food tab, then click recipes and then new recipe and add it all in. Then when you want to add it to your diary just click on which meal you want to add it to and then click on the recipe tab. It's super easy once you get the hang of it.
  • yo_andi
    yo_andi Posts: 2,178 Member
    Enter it into "Recipes" (on the Food tab).
  • Scott_P
    Scott_P Posts: 95 Member
    Food scale and math.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    Recipe feature FTW
  • ilikejam33
    ilikejam33 Posts: 252 Member
    For favorites, I use the "my recipies" section - you enter the ingredients that you use to create the whole dish, and list how many it serves. (I measured the first time, to see how many cups it made - and that's how many "servings" I set it to. It takes a little work up front - but if it is something you make regularly it's worth it.

    I agree, I do this all the time! A majority of the foods in my diary are from recipes I put into the system. It's under the food tab, then click recipes and then new recipe and add it all in. Then when you want to add it to your diary just click on which meal you want to add it to and then click on the recipe tab. It's super easy once you get the hang of it.


    Same for me, the only way to be sure is to log what you ate, also handy becasue then you have the recipe in your computer :)
  • steinbok
    steinbok Posts: 82
    I try and do it by individual item. It's going to be closer than anything "processed" with salt, corn starch, barley and the like. If you "kinda" use the same ingredients, put it up as a "Meal".
  • fypspirit
    fypspirit Posts: 109 Member
    There is also a site called calorie calculator and you enter you ingredients in and the number of servings and it calculates the info for ya. I have used it a few times and seems to work great.
  • 1crobbin
    1crobbin Posts: 2
    Some great ideas here (I didn't even know there was a recipe application!) Nice to hear some ideas.
    Glad you asked... I was guesstimating too
  • brookepenni
    brookepenni Posts: 787 Member
    Food scale and math.

    This in the recipe section.... Its really not that hard. Seriously.
  • Le_Joy
    Le_Joy Posts: 549 Member
    It takes some effort but the recipes option really is the way to go. If you tend to eat the same things it isn't too bad. Some weeks it gets a bit overwhelming when I am trying new things, but it is manageable. One key tip - make sure you add in the amount of water you use. One time I made something and when I went back to make it again realized I hadn't added water to the ingredient list (since it doesn't add calories) and had a hard time re-creating it!
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
    Food -> Recipes -> Enter New Recipe

    Food by food and service size. Bam. I have like dozens of recipes. You can even edit them if you don't use onion next time.
  • RichOC
    RichOC Posts: 243 Member
    I cook dinner for myself and my family every night. And it is always completely from scratch.

    Honestly, I want to give you props just for that!
  • Jones1204
    Jones1204 Posts: 9
    As many others have said, I too use the Recipe section so I can be very exact with what I'm eating. I had also been using some of the generic foods in the database, for example "taco meat." Served tacos the other night, and used that generic item, but then realized there is no way to know exactly how someone makes theirs and mine probably had way less sodium since I don't use a prepacked taco seasoning. So since then, I've decided to invest the time to enter things like that so I can really watch my intake.
  • runlaugheatpie
    runlaugheatpie Posts: 376 Member
    definitely use the recipe feature!!
  • Kell_Smurthwaite
    Kell_Smurthwaite Posts: 384 Member
    I create a recipe in my food diary recipe builder section and add it that way. I cook 99% oif our meals from scratch too. :)
  • amsohs85
    amsohs85 Posts: 166
    I have used the recipe feature as well..takes some getting used too but works well. Just try to measure your ingredients precisely so you get the right nutrional info. The only issue i've had is figuring out how many servings that big pot of chili/soup ends up being. Anyone have any ideas on that?? Also i'm the kind of cook that rarely measures...i cook by appearance and taste. So if that's how you are you may need to experiment quite a bit!! :wink:

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