[Feature]: Explode logged recipes into editable ingredients

[reuben-harris]

Problem / motivation

As a user, I want to convert a logged recipe into its individual ingredient entries so that I can adjust the quantities I actually consumed.

Recipes make repeated meals much faster to log, but the exact quantities often vary. For example, a cereal recipe might contain oats, chia seeds, yoghurt, and banana, but the banana’s weight may differ or I may use less oats when supplies run low.

This is also useful for planning a full day of eating. I could initially log several recipes to estimate my calories and macros, then explode each recipe when I eat it and update the ingredient amounts to match what I actually consumed. Currently, I must either log every ingredient manually or modify/copy the saved recipe.

Proposed solution

Add an Explode recipe action to recipes that have been logged in the diary.

When selected, the action should:

• Replace that logged recipe occurrence with separate entries for its ingredients.

“Convert to ingredients” could be used instead if that wording is clearer than “Explode recipe.”

Alternatives considered

• Log every ingredient separately: accurate, but removes most of the convenience of saved recipes.
• Edit the saved recipe: unsuitable for one-off variations because it changes the reusable template.
• Create a copy of the recipe: preserves the original but creates unnecessary recipe clutter.

Feature area

Recipes

Target platforms

Both

Mockups or references

Cronometer provides a similar Explode Meal action:

Potential button layout. The user can swipe on the recipe entry to expose an explode button:

Additional context

No response

Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this is not a duplicate
• This is a product/feature idea for OpenNutriTracker (not a food database data fix)

[reuben-harris]

After thinking about things a little more it might be nice to try keep the recipe together in the diary entry. There is some benefit for when looking through the diary in seeing a group of named foods instead of each individual item exploded out. Below is a mock of what it might look like if instead of 'exploding' the recipe out you can just edit the weights directly.

There is potentially some complexity here around cooked weights and when the serving size of a recipe isn't one. Complexity not necessarily from a code perspective but maybe more a UI perspective. If you were to bake a recipe it is unlikely you would want to change the ingredient proportions for a specific entry. Instead you may want to make a batch with slightly adjusted ingredients.

Extending on this batch idea you might want to set a cooked weight per batch. As water will evaporate slightly differently each time.

Both suggested implementations (exploding and allowing editing on the diary entry for specific ingredients) work well when the serving size of the recipe is one. But it doesn't apply well if any greater. It probably needs a little more thought as

• I don't like the idea that as soon as you have a recipe with a serving size of more than one you now have this menu that doesn't make much sense
• I think there is potential value in a feature for creating a batch of a recipe with an adjusted cooked weight and or ingredients. There is quite a bit of overlap between the two so it is probably best to deliver them together.

You could simply disable or not show the option if the serving size of the recipe is greater than one. However, that would feel more like a band-aid fix than a proper solution.

Edit: After some more thinking I realise now that allowing adjustment of individual ingredients for a recipe with a cooked weight might be somewhat challenging. It would be impossible to know just by calculation what the total weight would be if you adjust a single ingredient.