Cleaning Up Your Grocery Report

by Shelley Miller

The best procedure is to use the following method for each ingredient in question:

1. locate the ingredient in the ‘ingredients’ tab
2. click on the ‘recipes’ tab in the lower window
3. look at the measures listed for each of the recipes which use this ingredient

Let’s take one example at a time:

“‘Sweet potatoes, canned’. On the grocery list it has ‘total needed 80 ounce’…BUT it has another listing for ‘Sweet potatoes, canned’ with ‘384 teaspoons’ needed and no packing listed. Packaging is ‘Can (40 oz)’, no conversions.”

The listing for ’80 ounces’ needed is correct. That’s just what you want; no solution necessary.

Now for the 384 teaspoons. You probably have two types of measures for this ingredient: one in ounces (a measure of weight), and one in cups (a measure of volume). One cup is going to equal 48 teaspoons. Your cooking day is likely calling for 8 cups of sweet potatoes (whether from one recipe, or multiple recipes), which equals 384 teaspoons.

Solution: add a conversion to the ‘Sweet Potato’ ingredient to turn everything into ounces:

1 cup = 8 ounces Sweet Potatoes

This conversion seems like the program should already know that, but we’re converting volume measure to weight measure, and different ingredients have different conversions. For example, one cup of marshmallows is not equivalent to 8 ounces.

“Potatoes, diced, has ‘216 teaspoons’ needed. Packaging is ‘Bag (5 pound)’; no conversions.”

Follow steps 1, 2, and 3 above (locate ingredient, click ‘recipes’, check measures)

It is very likely that your recipe is calling for ‘cups’ and the software is leaving it in ‘teaspoons’ on the grocery report because it can’t convert from cups to pounds.

Solution: add a conversion to the ‘Potatoes, diced’ ingredient to convert volume measure to weight measure (which is what is listed in the Packaging):

2 cups = 1 pound Potatoes, diced

Note: this conversion is an estimate. Adjust the conversion according to your preference.

“‘Vegetables, cooked’ has two lines: one listing is ‘1 each’ needed, a second listing is ‘144 teaspoons’. Packaging is ‘Bag (1/2 pound / 8 oz)’; no conversions.”

Follow steps 1, 2, and 3 above (locate ingredient, click ‘recipes’, check measures)

The listing ‘1 each’ probably refers to one 8 oz. bag of vegetables.

Solution: change the recipe to specify ‘ 8 ounces’ instead of ‘1 each’.

The listing in teaspoons means that a recipe is calling for a volume measure, like ‘cups’ of vegetables. Solution: add a conversion to the ‘Vegetables, cooked’ ingredient, which converts a volume measure to weight (which is what is listed in the Packaging):

2 cups = 8 ounces Vegetables, cooked

“Milk, has two lines: one listing is ‘1 1/2 quart’ needed, a second listing says ‘1 each’. Packaging is ‘1 gallon’ and ‘1 quart’; no conversions.”

Follow steps 1, 2, and 3 above (locate ingredient, click ‘recipes’, check measures)

The listing for ‘1 1/2 quart’ needed is correct. That’s just what you want; no solution necessary.

The listing ‘1 each’ means one of a certain measure of milk. Check the recipe and then change the measure to something other than ‘each’.

If you have specific questions or examples that aren’t addressed in this article, please click here to email Shelley.