Odată ce citim lista ingredientelor, alegem recipientul.

Here, odată ce means once or as soon as. It introduces the idea that one action happens after another is completed:

• Odată ce citim lista ingredientelor, alegem recipientul.
• Once we read the list of ingredients, we choose the container.

In other contexts, odată ce can also mean something like since or given that, but in this sentence it has a time meaning.

Romanian often uses the present tense in sentences that express a general rule, instruction, or sequence of actions.

So citim = we read and alegem = we choose, both in the present tense, even if English might sometimes use something like once we have read... we choose... or after reading... we choose...

This Romanian sentence sounds natural as a general procedure:

• first we read
• then we choose

Both are 1st person plural, meaning we.

• citim = we read
• alegem = we choose

The subject pronoun noi = we is not included because Romanian usually leaves subject pronouns out when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.

So:

• citim already means we read
• alegem already means we choose

Yes, you could, but normally you would not unless you want emphasis.

• Odată ce citim lista ingredientelor, alegem recipientul. = neutral, natural
• Odată ce noi citim lista ingredientelor, noi alegem recipientul. = grammatical, but sounds more emphatic or contrastive

Romanian usually omits subject pronouns unless there is a reason to stress them.

Because lista means the list.

Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

• listă = a list
• lista = the list

So:

• lista ingredientelor = the list of the ingredients / more naturally in English, the ingredient list or the list of ingredients

Ingredientelor is the genitive/dative plural form of ingrediente.

Here it shows possession or relationship:
lista ingredientelor = the list of the ingredients / the ingredient list

A useful breakdown is:

• ingrediente = ingredients
• ingredientele = the ingredients
• ingredientelor = of the ingredients / to the ingredients

In this sentence, it is genitive:

• lista ingredientelor = the list of the ingredients

Romanian often uses this structure where English would prefer of or a noun-noun combination.

Yes. Lista de ingrediente is also very natural and common.

Compare:

• lista ingredientelor = literally the list of the ingredients
• lista de ingrediente = list of ingredients

Both can work, but lista de ingrediente often sounds a little more like a general label, while lista ingredientelor can sound slightly more specific or more formally structured.

In many real-life contexts, both are acceptable.

Because recipientul means the container.

Again, Romanian attaches the definite article to the noun:

• recipient = a container
• recipientul = the container

So the sentence is not saying we choose a container, but specifically we choose the container.

Yes, recipient is a correct Romanian word meaning container, vessel, or receptacle.

Depending on context, Romanian might also use other words, such as:

• vas = vessel, bowl, container
• cutie = box
• borcan = jar
• sticlă = bottle

But recipient is a general and perfectly valid word, especially in instructions or technical contexts.

The comma separates the subordinate clause from the main clause:

• Odată ce citim lista ingredientelor = subordinate clause
• alegem recipientul = main clause

Romanian normally uses a comma in this kind of sentence when the time clause comes first.

So the punctuation is standard and natural.

Yes, Romanian word order is fairly flexible, but the original version is the most neutral and natural:

• Odată ce citim lista ingredientelor, alegem recipientul.

You could also say:

• Alegem recipientul odată ce citim lista ingredientelor.

This still makes sense, but it puts the main action first and may sound slightly less natural in a step-by-step instruction context.

So the original order works well because it matches the sequence of actions.

It most naturally sounds like a general procedure or instructional statement.

It has the feel of:

• Once we read the ingredient list, we choose the container.

That is, this is what we do as a regular step in a process.

If you wanted to make it sound more like one specific past event, Romanian would use different tense forms.

Yes, in many contexts you could say:

• După ce citim lista ingredientelor, alegem recipientul.

This means after we read the list of ingredients, we choose the container.

The difference is small:

• odată ce = once / as soon as
• după ce = after

In this sentence, odată ce slightly emphasizes the transition from one step to the next, while după ce is a bit more straightforwardly chronological. Both are natural.