Raw weight or cooked weight: which one should you log?
Rice nearly triples in weight when it cooks and chicken shrinks, so a gram means different calories before and after. Which weight to log, with USDA figures.
Oct 1, 2026Independent food-app desk
Most calorie apps can't read a home-cooked dinner. I test the ones that can.
The Dish Decoder is a one-person desk run by a home cook, not a lab. I photograph and log the food I actually make — pozole, dal, a stir-fry that isn't in any database, leftovers in a mismatched bowl — and I write down which apps guess sensibly and which ones beg for a barcode that doesn't exist. The apps that win are the ones that reason about what the dish is and ask me to confirm.
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The Best Calorie App for Real Food (Home-Cooked & International), Tested
Most calorie apps are built for packaged American food and choke on a home-cooked dinner. I cooked real Mexican, Indian and Asian meals — no barcodes — and tested six apps to see which ones can actually read real food.
Read the breakdown →Recent write-ups & taste tests
Why two recipe sites give the same dish completely different calorie counts
The same lasagne can be 420 or 780 calories a serving depending on four decisions the recipe never shows you. Here is how to read a recipe's nutrition panel and know which of those decisions it made.
Sep 11, 2026The Best Calorie App for Asian Food (From Someone Who Cooks It at Home)
Stir-fries, ramen, curries, dumplings — Asian food breaks most calorie apps because the hidden oil, sauce and rice never match a barcode. I tested five apps on the food I actually cook. Here's my honest ranking.
Jun 12, 2026The Best Calorie App for Home-Cooked Meals (From Someone Who Cooks Every Night)
Barcode scanners and crowd databases fall apart the second you cook your own dinner — no label, your recipe, your portions. Here's my honest ranking of the apps that actually handle home-cooked food, and the one I keep on my phone.
Jun 12, 2026The Best Calorie App for Indian Food (I Cooked a Week of It to Find Out)
Dal, paneer curries, biryani, homemade rotis — Indian food is brutal for calorie apps because of all the ghee, cream and oil you can't see. I cooked a week of it and logged every meal across five apps to find the one that actually keeps up.
Jun 12, 2026The Best Calorie App for Mexican Food (I Tested 5 on Real Tacos and Mole)
Mexican food breaks most calorie apps — mixed dishes, regional versions, and fat hiding in oil, lard, and crema. I logged tacos al pastor, mole, pozole, and my own salsas across five apps to find the one that actually keeps up.
Jun 12, 2026The Best Calorie App for World and International Food (From Someone Who Cooks It)
Most calorie apps are built on US packaged-food databases, so non-American and home-cooked world food is exactly where they fall apart. I cook across cuisines, and here's the honest ranking of which app actually handles international food — with real credit where it's due.
Jun 12, 2026Can a Calorie App Really Tell Calories From a Photo of Real Food?
I'm a home cook, not a dietitian — here's the honest answer to whether you can point your phone at a real, home-cooked plate and trust the calorie number it spits back.
Jun 12, 2026