Ask the cook: questions about the menu

Pull up a stool. These are the questions that come up most after the first menu, answered short. For the full account of how the menu works, read the method page.

The check and the budget

What is the guest check?

It is your order. You write down the foods you want to eat today, tag each one with a meal, and set a budget for calories, protein, carbs and fat. The kitchen reads the check and serves a menu in exact grams: breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack.

How many foods should I put on the check?

Start with a handful. One or two foods at each meal is plenty, and a short list often reads more clearly than a long one. Cover each of the three macros somewhere in the day: something for protein, something for carbs, something that carries fat. If the list leaves one of them out, the menu will tell you.

What are the specials?

The specials are a row of common foods you can add with a single tap. They are shortcuts for people who do not want to type, and they never replace what you wrote yourself. Foods already on your check do not show up in the specials.

The menu and the stamp

What does the stamp on the menu mean?

The stamp is the quick answer. On target means protein, carbs and fat each landed within 5 g of the numbers you set. Not yet means at least one of them did not. In that case the tally under the menu names the macro, says how many grams it is off, gives a short reason and offers one food that would help.

What if a food I want is not offered?

Every food on the menu comes from the USDA table, so a food that is not in the table cannot be added. Try a plainer name, or a close cousin. If you are after a cooked food, look for the cooked row; if you are after the raw form, look for the raw row. The method page explains why the state of the food matters.

Your list and your data

Does the page remember my list?

Yes, on your own device. The check, your foods and your numbers are kept locally so that a refresh does not lose your order. They stay with the browser you used. The Clear the check link clears them, and clearing your browser data does the same.

Can the menu plan more than one day?

Try Food Plan plans one day at a time, which keeps the menu quick and easy to read. If you want a plan for every day that remembers what you ate yesterday, that is what OnMacros is for.

Taking the menu with you

How do I take my menu to OnMacros?

Under the menu sits a ticket marked take it to go. Press the button on it and your numbers and your order come with you into OnMacros. Creating an account is free. Planning and logging every day need an OnMacros subscription, and the ticket says so before you press anything. You can also just close the page; nothing is asked of you in return for the menu.

Still hungry for answers?

Read the method page for the plain account of how the menu works, or browse the articles for worked example days at a few different budgets. If something on the menu looks wrong, write to hello@onmacros.com and say which food and which number, and we will look.