Find foods, recipes, and meals
  • 05 Feb 2024
  • 8 Minutes to read
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Find foods, recipes, and meals

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Article Summary

If you want to add a food, recipe, meal, or meal plan to the daily log, or if you just want to look for ideas, search our database or search your own saved foods. Your saved foods include My Foods, favorite foods, recently viewed foods, and frequently eaten foods. You can also filter results based on your preferred diet and goals.

Our database includes the following collections.

  • common foods that are available in stores
  • branded foods from supermarkets and restaurants in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia
  • web recipes, including more than 360,000 recipes from around the web (searches are limited unless you are a Premium member)
  • curated recipes from Carb Manager's test kitchens for Premium members
  • curated meal plans for Premium members
  • member foods and member recipes, including custom foods and custom recipes that are created and shared by you and other members
Tip: For more information about the sources of nutrition data for foods that you find in Carb Manager, see View sources of food data.
Tip: Most foods in our database include Keto grades to help you determine whether they are suitable for a Keto diet. For details, see View Keto grade foods and recipes.

Watch: How to find foods in Carb Manager

View individual foods

Complete these steps to browse or search every food in our database.

Tip: To quickly search for foods from your device's home screen, touch and hold the Carb Manager app icon until the quick actions menu opens, then tap Search Foods.
  1. Web app users: Go to the Home icon Daily Log.
  2. Select (image of Add button) Add Item(image of Add Food button) Add Food. In the screen that opens, Carb Manager selects the meal or snack that is closest to the current time of day, but you can choose a different meal type from the list at the top of the screen.
    Tip: You can also go to the section in the Home icon Daily Log for the type of meal you want to log, such as Breakfast, and select the Add Food button.
    Tip: You can also select Meals in the main menu to search in My Foods. 
  3. In the food selection screen, select one of the following tabs.
    • All tab — This tab allows you to find any food in our database, including your favorites, recently viewed foods, and frequently eaten foods.
    • Quick Find tab — This tab lists your favorites, recently viewed foods, and frequently eaten foods.
  4. Browse the list of foods, or complete any of the following steps to refine the list.
    • To search for a food, enter a name or description, including serving sizes, in the Search field.
      Tip: Save time by typing multiple items and serving sizes in the Search field, such as "2 eggs, 3 ounces of cheese, and a handful of almonds." Then, use the Multi-Add feature to log multiple items from a list. For details, see Log one or more foods > Log multiple foods from a list.
    • To find foods based on your preferred macro ratios, select Filter icon Filter in the Search field, adjust the Macro Filters settings, and select Apply.
      Tip: After you apply a filter, Carb Manager will filter all future searches until you close the food finder or reset the filter. To reset the filter, select Filter icon Filter, then select Clear Filters.
    • In the All tab, to refine the list of items, select one of the following buttons: Brands, Common Foods, or Recipes.
      Tip: When you search for foods, the Recipes tab lists Premium recipes and Member recipes.
    • In the All tab, to view items that are specific to your food history, select one of the following options from the drop-down list below the Search field: Ideas, Frequently Eaten, Recently Viewed, and Favorites. (See the View Favorite Foods section for more information about favorite foods.)
    • In the Quick Find tab, to view items that are specific to your food history, select one of the following buttons: Favorites, A-Z, Recently Viewed, or Frequently Eaten.
  5. Select a food to open its detail screen, where you can view or edit its nutrition information, add it to the daily log, and more.

View favorite foods

If you previously added favorite foods, recipes, or meals, they appear with a Favorite icon  Heart when you view lists of other foods as described in this article. To view a list of all your favorites, complete the following steps.

Tip: If you are a Premium member and want to view only your favorite Premium recipes, see the View Premium recipes section.
  1. Web app users: Go to the Home icon  Daily Log.
  2. Select (image of Add button) Add Item(image of Add Food button) Add Food. In the screen that opens, Carb Manager selects the meal or snack that is closest to the current time of day, but you can select a different meal type from the list at the top of the screen.
    Tip: You can also go to the section in the Home icon Daily Log for the type of meal that you want to log, such as Breakfast, and select the Add Food button.
    Tip: You can also select Meals in the main menu and select My Favorites. 
  3. In the food selection screen, do one of the following steps.
    • Select the All tab, then select Favorites from the drop-down list.
      Tip: To view only specific types of favorites, enter a word in the Search field or select a button such as Brands, Common Foods, or Recipes.
    • Select the Quick Find tab, then select Favorites.
  4. Select a favorite item to open its detail screen, where you can view and edit its nutrition information, add it to the daily log, copy it to My Foods, and more.

View My Foods (includes custom foods, meals, recipes, and meal plans)

The My Foods tab lists all foods that you created or copied to My Foods, including custom foods, custom recipes, custom meals, and custom meal plans.

Tip: You can customize items that appear in your My Foods list, including an item's name, nutrition information, serving size, ingredients, and directions. Premium members can also copy and change Premium recipes.

Complete these steps to browse or search your items in the My Foods tab.

  1. Web app users: Go to the Home icon  Daily Log.
  2. Select (image of Add button) Add Item(image of Add Food button) Add Food. In the screen that opens, Carb Manager selects the meal or snack that is closest to the current time of day, but you can select a different meal type from the list at the top of the screen.
    Tip: You can also go to the section in the Home icon Daily Log for the type of meal that you want to log, such as Breakfast, and select the Add Food button.
    Tip: You can also select Meals in the main menu to search in My Foods. 
  3. In the food selection screen, select the My Foods tab.
  4. Browse the list of foods, or complete any of the following steps to refine the list.
    • To search for a food, enter a name or description, including serving sizes, in the Search field.
    • To refine the list of items, select one of the following buttons: All, My Custom Foods, My Recipes, My Meals, or My Meal Plans.
    • To find a food, recipe, or meal that you saved to a folder, select the All button, select By Folder from the drop-down list, then select a folder.
    • To sort or filter items from your food history, select one of the following options from the drop-down list below the Search field: A-Z, By Folder, Recently Viewed, Frequently Eaten, and Recently Created.
  5. Select a food to open its detail screen, where you can view or edit its nutrition information, add it to the daily log, and more.

View Premium recipes

Complete these steps to view more than 360,000 recipes, including thousands of exclusive Premium recipes developed in Carb Manager's kitchens by expert chefs. Premium members have unlimited access to Premium recipes. If you aren't a Premium member, you can still access some Premium recipes on a limited basis.

  1. Web app users: Go to the Home icon  Daily Log.
  2. Select (image of Add button) Add Item(image of Add Food button) Add Food. In the screen that opens, Carb Manager selects the meal or snack that is closest to the current time of day, but you can select a different meal type from the list at the top of the screen.
    Tip: You can also go to the section in the Home icon Daily Log for the type of meal that you want to log, such as Breakfast, and select the Add Food button.
    Tip: You can also select Meals in the main menu to view Premium Recipes. 
  3. In the food selection screen, select the Recipes tab.
  4. Browse the list of recipes or complete any of the following steps to refine the list.
    • To search for a recipe, enter a name or description, including serving sizes, in the Search field.
    • If you previously added favorite Premium recipes and you want to view only your favorite Premium recipes, select the Favorite icon  Heart in the Search field.
    • To refine the list by the type of recipe, meal, diet, and more, select a button such as Quick & Easy Recipes, Main Courses, Web Recipes, and others.
    • To find foods based on your preferred macro ratios, meal preferences, diet, food intolerances and aversions, and more, select Filter icon Filter in the Search field, adjust the Macro Filters or Recipe Filters settings, and select Apply.
      Tip: After you apply a filter, Carb Manager will filter all future searches. To reset the filter, select Filter icon Filter, then select Clear Filters.
  5. Select a recipe to open its detail screen, where you can view its ingredients and other details, add it to the daily log, copy it to My Foods, and more.

View Premium curated meal plans

If you are a Premium member, complete these steps to view a variety of meal plans curated by Carb Manager, including quick meals, Keto-friendly meals, and other low-carb meals.

Tip: If you previously created a custom meal plan or used Carb Manager's meal plan generator, you can find that meal plan in My Foods. See the View My Foods section for details.
Tip: Carb Manager can generate meal plans for you.
  1. Go to Meals icon Meals in the main menu.
  2. Select the Meal Planning tab.
  3. Browse the list of pre-made meal plans.
  4. Select a meal plan to view its detail screen, where you can view each day's meals, ingredients, and other details. In this view, you can also start a meal plan.
    Tip: If you want to change a Premium curated meal plan before you start it, selectOptions icon Options > Copy to My Foods, then open and edit the meal plan in My Foods.