find and display a cell and calculate value

[exhelp]

Hi.
I am going to make a list of foods, the fat content and the carbs as such:
eg
Food Fat Carbs
one slice white bread 12 50

I plan on having around 1000 different entries. What I would like to do is at the end of each day type in the foods I had and those foods would display along with the Fat and the Carb. Then I could have a cell to total the Fat and Carbs so I can keep track of what I am taking in each day.

Is there a fairly simple solution for this?
Thanks.

[Paul]

Hi exhelp,

Attached is an example of one way to do it. This uses a sheet (FoodList) that will hold all of your 1000+ food items, and through Data Validation and VLOOKUP formulas you will be able to select items from the drop down lists in column B on the other sheet and the Fat/Carbs columns will fill in automatically.

You said you were looking to sum the daily values for Fats and Carbs, and this would be easy enough to do as well. Depending on where you want the totals would determine the final layout of the spreadsheet, as well as if you want to keep daily totals from past days/weeks/months, etc.

[exhelp]

Thanks for that. Appreciate the speedy reply. That will work, however I am thinking I may want to add another column to the fat/carb (a food factor number) and I also don't necessarily want a drop down box of a 1000 foods. You have pointed me in the right direction with Data Validation and VLOOKUP formulas and I will study them to see if I can figure them out and expand upon what you gave me. I if have trouble doing that, at least I know where I can get some help.
Thanks very much!