How To: Scan Food & Drink Labels in MyFitnessPal When Cooking at Home for More Accurate Nutrition & Calorie Info

In MyFitnessPal, you can search through a food database to add your meal into the app's diary and track your calories. Unfortunately, the sheer size of the database can make it hard to find exactly what you have just consumed, which is why MFP includes a barcode feature to make the process of adding food much smoother.

Simply use the in-app camera to scan the label on your food or beverage and it instantly appears without you having to do a manual search, showing you calories, total fat, cholesterol, sodium, protein, iron and other nutritional information. It's perfect for those times when you're cooking at home and want to add ingredients from your recipes, and it's great for snacking on the go. If you're new to MFP and want to learn more about the barcode feature, we've got you covered.

Step 1: Select a Meal

Anytime you want to add a meal, snack, or beverage into MFP, open the app and tap on the big plus sign (+) at the bottom of the main menu. Select whether the meal is for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or just a snack. On the next page, you can choose to either search for food manually through the database or with the barcode feature.

Step 2: Scan Food or Beverage Barcode

From the meal entry page, tap on the barcode at the top-right to open the camera. Point the camera at the barcode on what you're eating or drinking. If you are asked, grant permission for MyFitnessPal to access the camera on your device. In seconds, MyFitnessPal will find what you're consuming, in the exact serving size, and show you the nutritional information.

Depending on what you're consuming, you may need to edit the number of servings. For example, if you eat only half a bag of chips, and there are 4 servings total, you can change the number of servings to 2. Once you think everything is correct, tap on the checkmark on the top-right to add the food to your diary.

This barcode scanning feature, which is available on most phones and tablets with a rear-facing camera, is one of the main reasons MyFitnessPal ranked so highly on our in-depth comparison for meal tracking apps. If you'd like to see what the other apps in this category have to offer, make sure to check out the link below.

This article was produced during Gadget Hacks' annual Health & Fitness special coverage. Read all of the Health & Fitness series.

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