ClassCart comes with a default collection of ingredients so you can start creating recipes and ordering right away, but you may find that you need to add an ingredient from time to time.
There are a few places you can add ingredient to your ClassCart collection from. Most often it will be while adding a recipe, but it is the same process everywhere.
Step By Step
1. (Optional) Duplicate An Ingredient
If the ingredient you are adding is very similar to another ingredient already in your collection, you can choose to duplicate it. This will autofill all the details of the existing ingredient for you to make the minor changes, saving you time.
To duplicate, simply search for and select the existing ingredient in the search box next to "Duplicate an Ingredient". Once selected all the details will be autofilled, including the name, measurements and tags.
Then you can edit the name and other details as you need to. This is also a fast way to get the same measurement for ingredients with tricky densities (learn more). For example if you are adding a specific salt ingredient, it will save you time by autofilling the density for a similar salt ingredient.
2. Ingredient Name
The first detail you will need to enter is the ingredient's name. As you enter the name, there will be a green box showing similarly named ingredients already in your collection. This is to help you avoid creating copies of the same ingredient, so it's a good idea to pay attention to this area.
3. Measurement
Next you will set the measurement method for the ingredient. There are three measurement methods in ClassCart—Weight, Volume, and Discrete Units—and an ingredient can be measured in any combination of the three (learn more about measurements).
Densities
For ingredients that are measured in both Weight and Volume units (spices etc.), a density will need to be provided for accurate conversions. ClassCart has a list of densities for common ingredients, but if your ingredient is not in this list you will have to find the density somewhere else.
A quick way to get an ingredient's density is to use a conversion you know for that ingredient. For example, if you know that 1 cup of the ingredient is 250 grams, you can increase or decrease the density number until you have the correct conversion:
4. Tags
Next you can give your ingredient a tag to make it easy to find, organise, and work with in shopping lists and everywhere else. Depending on your settings, this may be optional or mandatory.
ClassCart comes with a default list of tags organising ingredients by type/aisle, but you can always edit and add to these tags.
5. Preferred Units
Having set the ingredient name, measurements, and tags, you have set all the important details. But there are some extra details that are nice to set. One of those is preferred units.
Preferred units—Selection, Orders, and Shopping List—are the default unit you would like the ingredient to be shown in for different parts of ClassCart.
The Selection preferred unit will be shown when selecting the ingredient (to order it or add to a recipe etc.).
The Orders preferred unit will be shown on orders of the ingredient.
The Shopping List preferred unit is what will be shown for the ingredient on shopping lists.
6. Costing
You can also set the ingredient's costing while creating it. It is crucial that all other details are set correctly before this step.
Costing can be set up manually or with a costing link from supported markets (learn more about costing).