« Help Index

plan:one is a powerful program and it contains comprehensive nutritional analyses of thousands of ingredients from the major world standard food databases. You have access to two of these major databases: FSA which is the official UK database and USDA which is the official US database.

Searching for recipes

To search for a recipe, click “Manage Recipes” on the navigation bar.

At the top of the left hand screen you will see buttons for “My Ingredients” and “FSA” or “USDA” depending on your profile setup. Select which database you wish to search. Type the name of the recipe into the search box and click the green arrow to the right of the search box. For example if you wish to search the USDA database for chicken, when you click the green arrow, eleven results will appear in the left hand screen.

When you select the first result, the screen to the right will display the details and recipe information of the item under the headings General Properties, Categories, Ingredients, Method and Nutritional Summary (Per Serving).

Adding Recipes

You can create your own recipes within plan:one quickly and easily. Select “Manage Recipes” on the navigation bar to go to recipe section. Click “Add” at the bottom of the left hand screen. A dialog box will open to allow you to type the name of your new recipe. Click “Add” to continue.

Your recipe builder will open in the right hand screen:

Add General Properties

Insert the name of your recipe, the number of servings the recipe is designed for and click “Save”.

Add Category

One or more categories can be applied to each recipe. Click “Add Category” and a dropdown list of categories will appear. Choose a category and click “Add”. Repeat as required.

Add Ingredients

Click “Add Ingredient” and a dialog box appears.

First select the source database you wish to search. If an ingredient is in use it will be in the “My Ingredients” database, but if you wish to add a new ingredient, you should select it from the USDA or FSA database (your profile will determine the correct database automatically).

There are two ways to choose an ingredient:

• If you know the name of the ingredient you wish to use, type it into the top field. As you type a dropdown list appears containing ingredients that match your search. Select the correct ingredient from the list and click “Next”.
• If you are unsure of the ingredient name, you can choose from the category list. Click on the downward pointing arrow and a list of categories opens. Select the relevant category and a list of all ingredients within the category appears. If the list contains more than 25 items, navigation arrows will appear below it to let you scroll through the list. Select the correct ingredient from the list and click “Next”.

Now you can assign properties to the ingredient you have selected.

You can specify how the ingredient is to be prepared (e.g. chilled) or you can leave this blank.

Enter the quantity you require.

You now have two options:

• Adjust proportionally with all other ingredients (default) – when the recipe is scaled to meet your requirements this ingredient will scale in proportion with all of the other ingredients. This is the default setting.
• Allow deviation from recipe to meet specific macronutrient requirements – this will allow you to alter the proportion of this ingredient within the recipe.

“Allow deviation from recipe to meet specific macronutrient requirements” is an advanced function. Ingredients with this function assigned are known as “Variable Ingredients” and the following paragraphs explain how this works.

Assigning Variable Ingredients

The secret of plan:one’s success lies in its unique Dynamic Nutrition Technology™. This means that plan:one can adjust your meal plans to provide exactly the right balance of carbohydrate, protein and fats. No other software program is capable of this.

A recipe is made up of a number of separate ingredients. In some cases, the amount of one ingredient is determined by the amount of another ingredient. For example, in a recipe for a white sauce, the amount of cornstarch or flour is dependent upon the amount of milk used. If the proportions are altered the recipe will not work, so there is no scope to allow deviation from the recipe.

However, in a recipe such as Chicken Parcels with Roasted Vegetables, the quantity of chicken is not dependent on the quantity of vegetables. Therefore within this type of recipe there is scope to allow deviation. Chicken is high in protein, therefore if the amount of chicken can be varied this provides scope for plan:one to increase or decrease the amount of protein when this recipe is used in a plan.

Similarly, this recipe includes vegetables with a high carbohydrate content (butternut squash and red onions). If the quantity of these items is allowed to vary this provides scope for plan:one to increase or decrease the amount of carbohydrate when this recipe is used in a plan.

Finally, olive oil is included in this recipe and has a high fat content. If the quantity of oil is allowed to vary this provides scope for plan:one to increase or decrease the amount of fat when this recipe is used in a plan.

Within the recipe builder you can select ingredients which allow such scope.

Select the option: “Allow deviation from recipe to meet specific macronutrient requirements”.

The screen will now display more options, which you have to set:

Target Macronutrient – select Carbohydrate, Protein or Fat. In the case of chicken, you would select Protein. Next, you must determine the “Maximum deviation from original recipe”. This is automatically set to deviate by 50% less or 50% more. You may increase these percentages independently (up to 75% less or 100% more).

To complete this task, click “Finish”.

You can create more than one variable ingredient within a recipe, using the guidelines shown above. Variable Ingredients are denoted by the following:

• Variable Carbohydrate – When a high carbohydrate ingredient is set in this way, the letter C will show beside it to denote that it has been set as a “Variable Carbohydrate”.
• Variable Protein – When a high protein ingredient is set in this way, the letter P will show beside it to denote that it has been set as a “Variable Protein” within your recipe.
• Variable Fat – When a high fat ingredient is set in this way, the letter F will show beside it to denote that it has been set as a “Variable Fat”.

Using the Link Function

There is a further function you can utilise when building a recipe – the “Link Function”. Within a recipe it is possible to link a variable ingredient with one or more non-variable ingredients. This means that when a variable ingredient increases or decreases, the linked ingredients increase or decrease in proportion, to ensure the recipe works perfectly.

Linking is carried out after all ingredients have been added to the recipe. To set up links, click “Edit” at the bottom right of the recipe builder. Each ingredient now has three buttons to the right hand side – Ingredient Details | Edit Item | Delete Item. Select the “Variable Ingredient” that you wish to link up with one or more non-variable ingredients and click the “Edit Item” button. The dialog box where you entered the ingredient details will open.

At the bottom of the dialog box, you will see the phrase: “Link quantity adjustment with the following ingredients” and below this all of the non-variable ingredients from the recipe are listed with a check box to the left of each. For example, in a recipe for Chicken and Mushroom Risotto, where the rice is set as a Variable Carbohydrate, check the box beside chicken stock to link it to the rice.

When you have completed your link or links, click “Finish” and then click “Save”.

Add Method

Click “Edit” at the bottom right hand of screen and the area below the header “Method” opens to allow you to insert text. When you have completed your method, click “Save”.

Nutrition

A nutritional analysis of the recipe is provided in the final section of the recipe builder. The analysis is for one portion of the recipe and is determined by the number of servings entered in the “General Properties” section.

Editing Recipes

You can edit any of the recipes within “My Recipes”. Click “Edit” at the bottom right hand of screen and the recipe builder will open to allow you to edit any part of your recipe.

In edit mode, each ingredient now has three buttons to the right hand side:

• Ingredient Details – click this to go to the Ingredient Details page. Here you can view the information about the ingredient. Click “Close” to return to the recipe builder.
• Edit Item – click this to go to the Ingredient Properties screen where you can edit the preparation method, quantity, adjustment preferences and links.
• Delete Item – click this to delete the ingredient permanently from the recipe.

If you wish to edit more than one section of the recipe, click “Save” after editing each section.