Ingredients, portions, and missing values
We use USDA FoodData Central records for everyday ingredients and product labels when a specific brand matters. We match the ingredient and its preparation, such as raw or cooked meat and dry or cooked pasta, and use ingredient-specific weights for cups, spoons, and pieces.
A source can report calories and protein without reporting every vitamin or mineral. A recipe shows a nutrient total only when the ingredients in the calculation provide a complete value. Otherwise, that field says Not available. A reported zero is displayed as zero.
We retain available fiber, cholesterol, sugars, vitamins, minerals, and detailed fats from the source records. USDA records can use different nutrient names and units; we match those before calculating totals. Vitamin A is reported in micrograms RAE. An omitted field alone does not establish a zero.
When the primary source omits a nutrient, a reviewed compatible USDA reference can supply that field. The primary source's reported values take priority. Ingredient cards show these additional sources; the same ingredient estimate is reused across recipes.
We review all 19 nutrients shown on recipe pages. Some missing values use estimates from a related food, a product's ingredients, or published composition research. These are listed under Nutrition sources and estimates on each ingredient card. A populated field can include estimates; it does not mean every nutrient was measured for that brand.
Added sugar uses product labels and USDA's Food Patterns ingredient database, with explicit estimates where needed. Sugar, honey, and maple syrup count as added sugar when used to sweeten a recipe. Naturally occurring sugar in plain fruit or milk does not. Detailed fats can use a related food's fat proportions; we retain nonzero trans-fat estimates for dairy, meat, and fish. Some plain plant ingredients use a disclosed trace-level zero estimate.
Some values are counting estimates at label precision. For example, when total carbohydrate is reported as zero, we estimate its unreported fiber and sugar as zero; when total fat is zero, we estimate unreported fat subtypes as zero. Small rounded amounts may remain. A label range such as less than 1 gram of fiber uses a documented midpoint estimate. These choices are identified with the ingredient's sources; zero fat does not imply zero cholesterol.
Our standards for Old Bay, garlic salt, seasoned salt, and lemon pepper use the selected label's sodium and core nutrition, with zero estimates for unlisted nutrients. Their source notes identify these counting assumptions. Plain pickle brine uses an approved nutrition reference, with cholesterol estimated as zero from its ingredients. Product labels that explicitly report zero fiber or cholesterol keep those reported zeros.
When a record omits a field, we can use a separately documented reference for that field. For example, USDA's 2% milk reference supplies its reported zero fiber. For cooked potato recipes, we use boiled or baked potato fiber instead of the raw-potato measurement that includes resistant starch. This uses an estimated 1:1 cooked-to-starting edible weight; variety, skin, cooling, and cooking losses can change the result. The ingredient library retains the raw-food record, and recipe estimates are recorded separately.
Where a recipe calls for drained ingredients or discarded cooking liquid, we record that estimate separately. Your grocery list still includes the full amount needed to cook the recipe.
Marinades, glazes, and sauces
For reviewed recipes where leftover soaking marinade is discarded, we count 50% of the soaking portion, plus 100% of any portion reserved or served. If half the marinade is reserved for serving, that means counting 75% of the full marinade's calories and macros.
Sauces, glazes, and coatings served with the meal count in full. The marinade adjustment applies only to the identified marinade ingredients; it does not reduce the meat, sides, or separate cooking oil.
Sodium is counted at 100%, even when the other marinade nutrients are reduced. This is a conservative counting choice, not a claim that all the salt is absorbed.
The 50% rule is our kitchen estimate, not a measured absorption rate or a USDA standard. USDA research on marination shows that uptake varies with how meat is handled; that study does not establish a household percentage.
