How do you create a meal on Nutracheck?

December 19, 2025 •

4 min read

According to Nutracheck itself, using the 'My Meals' feature is the best way to track home-cooked dishes and save them for future use. If you're looking for a simple, step-by-step guide on how to create a meal on Nutracheck, this resource will walk you through the process, from adding ingredients to saving your custom recipe.

Quick Summary

This guide provides detailed steps on using the Nutracheck app's 'My Meals' feature, covering how to build a recipe from scratch and save a pre-logged meal. It also outlines best practices for accurate calorie tracking of homemade food, whether for a single portion or a large batch.

Key Points

Method 1: Use the 'My Meals' recipe builder for home-cooked dishes with multiple ingredients by manually adding and weighing each item.
Method 2: For meals already logged in your diary, group the ingredients and tap 'Create Meal' to save it for future use.
Batch Cooking: Accurately track batch-cooked meals by weighing the empty container, adding all ingredients, and then entering the total cooked weight of the food into the recipe.
For a single serving: Log a serving of a saved meal by selecting it from your 'My Meals' list and tapping the desired meal occasion in your diary.
Accuracy is key: Weighing ingredients and your portion size is the best practice for accurate calorie and nutrient tracking on Nutracheck.

Using the 'My Meals' Feature for Homemade Recipes

Creating a meal from scratch in Nutracheck is an efficient way to track your calories and nutrients for frequently cooked dishes. This saves you from entering each ingredient every time you prepare and eat it. The following steps outline the process for both new recipes and meals you have already logged.

Method 1: Building a new recipe from scratch

This method is ideal for complex dishes with multiple ingredients, like a stir-fry or lasagne. It involves using the app's built-in recipe creator to calculate the nutritional value per serving.

Navigate to 'My Meals': From the bottom menu bar of the Nutracheck app, tap the 'My Meals' tab.
Start a new recipe: Select the meal occasion (e.g., Dinner) from the top carousel and then tap the 'Create New Meal / Recipe' button.
Name and specify servings: Enter a name for your meal and specify the total number of servings the recipe will make.
Add ingredients: Start searching for and adding the individual ingredients to your recipe. You can search by name or use the barcode scanner for packaged items. Nutracheck may also suggest ingredients based on the meal name you entered. Tap 'Add' to include them.
Adjust quantities: For each ingredient, tap on the item to 'Edit' the quantity. It's crucial to be precise and weigh all your ingredients for the most accurate calculation.
Save your meal: Once all ingredients are added and the quantities are correct, tap 'Save' (usually in the top right corner). You can add a photo to personalize your saved recipe.
Log a serving: To add a serving to your daily diary, find your newly created recipe under 'My Meals', tap on it, and then select the appropriate meal occasion.

Method 2: Creating a meal from your diary

If you have already logged a meal's components individually in your daily diary, you can save it as a custom meal with just a few taps. This is a great time-saver for last-minute meals.

Log ingredients in your diary: Add all the components of your meal to your diary as you normally would.
Group and save: Tap on one of the food items within the meal occasion in your diary. An option to 'Create Meal' will appear. Select all the food items you want to include in the saved meal.
Name and save: Tap 'Create Meal', give it a name, and save it for future use. The app automatically calculates the nutritional information for that specific serving.

Advanced Tips for Accurate Meal Tracking

For those who are batch cooking, accurate tracking requires a few extra steps to ensure correct portioning.

Tracking a Batch Cooked Meal

Weigh the empty container: Before you begin, weigh your empty cooking dish or pot and note its weight.
Weigh and log all ingredients: Add and log all individual ingredients into the Nutracheck recipe calculator as described above. Save the recipe.
Weigh the finished dish: After cooking, weigh the entire dish including the container. Subtract the empty container's weight to find the total weight of the cooked meal.
Enter prepared weight: Edit your saved recipe in Nutracheck and enter this total cooked weight in the 'Prepared Weight' box.
Log your portion: When serving, weigh your portion from the batch. The Nutracheck app will now be able to calculate the exact nutritional content for your specific serving size.

Comparison: Meal Logging Methods in Nutracheck


Feature	'My Meals' Recipe Builder	'Create Meal' from Diary	Barcode Scanner	Manual Add
Best for	Complex, multi-ingredient recipes cooked from scratch.	Quickly saving a pre-logged meal combination for future use.	Adding single, pre-packaged food items quickly.	Logging items with no barcode or for specific restaurant meals.
Accuracy	Highest accuracy if you weigh all ingredients and cooked weight.	High accuracy if ingredients were weighed before logging.	Very high for verified UK products.	Depends on user's knowledge of nutritional data.
Time Efficiency	Initial setup takes longer, but saves significant time long-term.	Very fast, especially for repetitive meals.	Extremely fast for single items.	Slower, as it requires manual data entry.
Tracking Method	Ingredient-based recipe with per-serving calculation.	Groups existing diary entries into a single item.	Finds food from a large database.	Requires you to input data yourself.

Conclusion

Nutracheck offers flexible options for creating and tracking meals, whether you're building a complex new recipe from scratch or simply saving a favorite combination of foods from your diary. For the most accurate tracking, especially when batch cooking, it is vital to weigh your ingredients and the final cooked meal. The 'My Meals' feature is a powerful tool that transforms meal logging from a tedious daily task into an efficient process, helping you stay consistent with your health goals over the long term.

For more information on Nutracheck features, visit their official support page: https://www.nutracheck.co.uk/MemberSupport/App/FAQs/RecipeCalculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

To add a saved meal, navigate to the 'My Meals' tab, find the recipe you want to add, and tap on it. Then, select the appropriate meal occasion from the available options (e.g., Breakfast, Lunch) to add a serving to your daily diary.

Yes. To edit a previously created meal, go to the 'My Meals' tab, select the meal occasion where it's saved, tap into the recipe, and then tap 'Edit' (in the top right corner on screen) to make changes.

To track a homemade pasta bake accurately, weigh the empty baking dish first, and then weigh and log every ingredient. After cooking, weigh the entire dish again, subtract the empty dish's weight, and enter this value as the 'Prepared Weight' for your saved recipe. Finally, weigh your individual portion to log it correctly.

Yes, you can. After logging all the ingredients for a meal in your daily diary, tap on one of the food items, select all components of the meal, and then tap 'Create Meal' to save it for next time.

In the 'My Meals' section, you can swipe across the header to browse different meal categories or tap 'Popular Recipes' to see some of the most frequently created meals by other members.

If your food doesn't have a barcode, you can use the manual search function to find a suitable entry from Nutracheck's extensive database. For home-cooked meals, you can build a new recipe by manually adding each ingredient.

Yes, it is highly recommended to weigh your ingredients for the most accurate calorie and nutrient tracking. Estimating portion sizes can lead to inaccuracies that affect your overall progress.