Food Calculator?

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

I know Mustachians love them some calculators, so here's a question for you all: where can I find a calculator (free, online) where I can input the ingredients in recipes to get a breakdown of the nutrition so I can see how much fiber, iron, etc., I'm getting in my diet? I found one of these once, so I know they're out there, but I can't find it again! Very frustrating. I know that folks on this forum will have found the best ones out there. Can you share some links?

[willow]

MyFitnessPal is pretty good. You can find it on any Apple or Android Store. I also like looking up food info on Nutrition Data(http://nutritiondata.self.com/). I believe it's based on the Self magazine, but I've never read it. I just find it useful for knowing what's in my food.

[NotJen]

I use LoseIt to track calories, but for more nutrients, I have seen several recommendations for https://cronometer.com/.

[khotte]

I second MyFitnessPal (MFP)! It it one of the largest databases for food information. As mentioned above, they have an app that makes it extremely easy to use for everything you eat. Just plug in your goals, plug in what you eat, and away you go!

Not only can you type in ingredients, but you can save them in a recipe for future use!

[lakemom]

http://www.caloriecount.com/cc/account/flog_add.php?tab=new_recipe

I've used this one before.  I think you may have to join the site to use it, but its free to join.

[Lis]

+1 for MyFitnessPal. While there are apps for Apple and Android, I find it easier to use online, especially the recipe adder. You can add each individual ingredient to a recipe and save it for later. You can also import recipes from allrecipes.com (and I think from other websites, but I've only done it with with allrecipes). If you do have a smartphone, you can snap a picture of the barcode on any product to easily add it in. The only caveat I have with it is double check which ingredients you're adding in the database. They're user submitted, and most have been verified, but there are always some that aren't. Also, some only might include the total calories, but not the other nutrients in it.

[purplepear]

+1 for MyFitnessPal. While there are apps for Apple and Android, I find it easier to use online, especially the recipe adder. You can add each individual ingredient to a recipe and save it for later. You can also import recipes from allrecipes.com (and I think from other websites, but I've only done it with with allrecipes). If you do have a smartphone, you can snap a picture of the barcode on any product to easily add it in. The only caveat I have with it is double check which ingredients you're adding in the database. They're user submitted, and most have been verified, but there are always some that aren't. Also, some only might include the total calories, but not the other nutrients in it.

+1 for MFP. It's a little clunky sometimes, but you can import recipes from ANY website. Or enter all the ingredients yourself. Either way, it will calculate the nutritional info for you.

I have a ton of my "goto" recipes saved in MyFitnessPal. It makes it really easy to enter & track your eating.

[Zikoris]

I've always thought it would be interesting to track nutritional information, but cooking from scratch without recipes makes it pretty daunting :(

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

Thanks y'all!

So My Fitness Pal looks like it mainly focuses on calories. Let's say I enter all the stuff I put in my smoothie every morning--will it give me a breakdown of sugars, iron, calcium, etc., etc., or just calories? I should be keeping an eye on calories too, but for now I'm more interested in making sure I have the nutrition covered. Cronometer looks like it definitely covers this. I had seen the Self database before too. These all look good--I just wish I didn't have to sign up for them or download an app....

[purplepear]

MFP also tracks sugar, carbs, fat, protein, vitamins, etc.

[Lis]

So My Fitness Pal looks like it mainly focuses on calories. Let's say I enter all the stuff I put in my smoothie every morning--will it give me a breakdown of sugars, iron, calcium, etc., etc., or just calories?

You can create a custom recipe that can show you everything you need. If you use any store bought items (milk, yogurt, etc), simply scan the barcode and it'll take all of that information for you. If you're using fresh ingredients, like strawberries or spinach, do a search and you should have plenty of options to choose from. Like I said, just double check them before you add them - many will include all of the nutritional information, but some of them won't.

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

I did find this:  https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/foodtracker.aspx
It seems a bit klunky, but looks like it may do what I want.

Thanks again!

[Ynari]

https://cronometer.com is the one I use.  I had to use MFP for a fitness challenge I was part of, and I hated it. I am an uber nerd who likes to break everything down into every nutrient, change target amounts, etc. MFP failed me. It was clunky, hard to navigate (the app was slightly better...) and had lots of faulty food entries. The "large database" is only as good as the people who put stuff in there, and a lot of the entries have faulty measurement scales, or only had calories (not even macronutrient breakdown). It was really, really pathetic IMO.

[ketchup]

I've used FitDay for this before.  Not to track calories, but micronutrient levels.  It is a total pain when cooking everything from scratch though.  I just use it every so often when I'm curious about how some things line up.  If I track meticulously what I eat for a few days, I'll put it all in there and divide it out to see my average daily intake.  It's never been below ~150% of RDA for anything, some nutrients are way above (400+). 

Every time I do it, I tell myself I don't need to worry about it and just continue eating healthy food.

It would be exhausting to do on a daily basis.  I'll use http://nutritiondata.self.com/ if I'm curious about a specific food.  Some of the information is incomplete, but it's usually obvious enough.

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

I definitely just want to get a sense of where micronutrients are at this point so I can make adjustments--I wouldn't be doing this everyday for sure! Thanks for the additional feedback!