Recipe builder vs adding separate?
 

I made a smoothie with frozen bananas the other day and this question came up. It had 1/2 cup almond milk, 3 cubes of ice, 1 frozen medium banana, and 1 tsp of peanut butter. If I put these things into my tracker separate, it's only 2 points. If I put it in the recipe builder it counts the banana, making the smoothie 4 points. I tracked it as 4 to be safe but if I would have eaten these same exact items throughout the day, it would be the same amount of calories so I have a hard time deciding.

I guess my question is, how do you decide when to track things separate and when to put them in the recipe builder?

The recipe builder has a flaw in it, and it calculates points for otherwise "free" foods.

Rather than do a recipe builder for your smoothie, enter all the components individually then save it as a meal. The points will be more accurate for the PP program.

If my meals are things that I can calculate on my own (like a smoothie) then I just add the items in separately on the tracker.

If, however, I'm baking a cake or a lasagna or something that involves a detailed glaze or a ton of servings for other people or whatnot -then- I'll use the recipe builder to help gauge how many servings are in the entire recipe.

I try to avoid the recipe builder outside of more complicated things.

if you're still unsure about what they said (i personally dont have a response, cos i've only ever used the recipe builder, when i had a recipe (online)).
But you said your version is 2 points. Recipe builder is 4. Go half way, count it as 3? :D

I just found out about this little flaw in the recipe builder. My smoothie is 1 banana (0 pts), 1 cup of blueberries (0 pts) and a cup of milk (3 pts) and recipe builder told me it was 9 pts! Then to test it I added a tomato by itself and it told me that it was 1 point. I guess I will only use it for bigger things.

I only use the recipe builder for something complicated that I need to divide into more than 2 serving sizes. If I'm making something with one or two servings that doesn't have many ingredients I'll add each thing separately to the tracker.

Recipe builder
 

Where are you using a recipe tracker? I need to track a recipe I made and new to forums can I get some help?

I use the recipe builder ALL the time but leave off the "free foods" when calculating points.

Example: tonight I'm making a creamy chicken soup so I put the chicken, flour, 1% milk in the builder, but left off the FF broth, carrots, onions and celery.

Hi, Lisa. I believe they are referring to the recipe builder at the WW website but you have to subscribe to their site in order to access the recipe builder, I believe. Since I am not a member nor do I subscribe to any of the WW programs, I just use MFP (myfitnesspal) to tally up everything then enter the info on my WW app (WWDiary) to calculate points.

I was told by my leader that when you combine several items together like a smoothie that the recipe builder will give you the correct points to count. I specifically asked her about a "smoothie" that only uses 1 cup milk, frozen fruit, and crystal lite and water. If I at it all individually it would only be 2 pts. If I blended it and made a recipe it was 8 pts. She told me to count is as 8 pts. I think that is crazy.