A meal template helps you log what you ate: choose the ingredients, cooking method and portion size.
Choose a bowl, soup, sandwich, curry, breakfast or another meal. The template already contains the choices that matter for that dish: its base, protein, cooking method, sauce, additions and portion. Match those choices to what you ate, then log the meal.
Your usual meal, in two taps. Save your version to favorites with the ♥ button and place it on the food tab. Next time, open it and tap Eat. If one thing changed, adjust that first. A chicken bowl becomes a salmon bowl without rebuilding the rice, vegetables, sauce and portion.
Why start with a meal?#
Most calorie trackers begin with a search box. Search for “chicken curry” and you may see homemade entries, restaurant entries, different sauces, undefined servings and recipes with or without rice. The names look similar, but the meals are not.
Calk begins with the dish and shows the choices inside it. You do not have to infer what a database row includes.
| Part of the meal | Choices a template may offer |
|---|---|
| Base | rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, greens |
| Protein | chicken, beef, tofu, eggs, fish, beans |
| Cooking | baked, grilled, sautéed, fried, breaded |
| Sauce and fat | tomato, yogurt, tahini, cream, oil, dressing |
| Additions | cheese, nuts, avocado, croutons |
| Portion | smaller, usual, larger, shared |
Not every template uses every control. A coffee, soup and bowl need different choices. The template shows the ones that belong to that meal.
Change only what changed#
Your repeated meals are rarely identical, but they are rarely completely new either.
- Usual breakfast, but two eggs instead of three: change the eggs.
- Usual bowl, but salmon instead of chicken: change the protein.
- Same pasta, but a creamy sauce tonight: change the sauce.
- Same sandwich, shared with someone else: change the portion.
The whole meal recalculates after each change. Calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins and minerals all follow the ingredients and preparation you selected.
To use the meal with these changes next time, save it to favorites with the ♥ button.
See what goes into the result#
You can inspect the selected protein, cooking method, sauce, oil and portion before logging.
For home cooking and meals you eat often, your familiar recipe is already there. At a restaurant, choose the closest template and adjust the details you know.
The calculation estimates the ingredients and portion you selected. You can see exactly what you entered and adjust any part right away.
Read why calorie databases disagree for the search problem, calorie counting without weighing food for portion estimates, and where Calk’s food numbers come from for the data behind each template.
Calk is available on iPhone, iPad, and Android.
