How do I figure out the calories for this?

helaurin

Ok. My granddaughter wanted potato latkes for lunch, and, I had a box of Streit's Low Sodium Potato Pancake mix available. So I made it, but now am trying to figure out the calories.

Sure, on the package, it says the nutrition facts. But, it doesn't indicate if that's just for the mix, or if it includes the egg, and the oil to cook it in.... I've seen plenty of other prepackaged items, such as cereal, or macaroni and cheese, where there are two nutrition columns - one for the actual product, and another for the product when prepared. This has only one column... so it's unclear to me.

Here's what it says:

Serving size 3 tbsp = 3 prepared pancakes
Servings per Container about 7 (now, my first question: is the box has two bags in it. When they say servings per container, do they mean one of the bags, or do they mean the box?)

Calories: 100 per serving , which leads me to my second question: Is that calories for the package? Or does that include the egg that gets mixed in? The oil to cook it in?

I made one of the two bags, added the one egg, and used 1/4 cup of olive oil to cook all of the pancakes. The total weight of the final, cooked product was 9.5 ounces, and of that, I had 3.8 ounces (40%). Which leads me to my third question: do I add 40% of the olive oil to my food list for the day? If so, it really blows me out of the water for my calories today. I mean, I know I didn't actually eat 40% of the olive oil, because some of it burns off during the cooking process, and some of it drains off when I put the latkes on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.

If the nutrition facts on the package is for the product when prepared, then I had 280 calories (40% of 700 for one bag, assuming one bag is one container).

If the nutrition facts on the package is for the product only, without the egg, and without the oil.... then my lunch had substantially more calories.

Guidance, please

CarrieCans

Wow, i can't help you but i would like to see what others say.

btw, I Love Latkes!

blueakama

Tricky. Ask the manufacter if you eat it regularly.

SnuggleSmacks

I would assume it should be for the mix only since they don't know what size egg or what kind of oil you're going to use. As for the servings, when I googled it, I found that a serving size should be 3 tbsp (24 grams) of the mix. So as for whether that's per bag, or per box, how many grams does it say the box contains? If it's about 168 for the whole box, then it's 7 servings for the whole box...if it's 336 grams in the box, then it's 7 servings per bag (7 servings x 24 grams x 2 bags = 336 grams)

ETA: I googled further and found that a box contains two 3 ounce bags, 170 grams...so there's about 7 servings in the whole box.

r5d5

Ok, I'm not 100% sure, but I figure some advice is better than none!
I'd guess that servings per container is for 1 bag, not both.
I'd also assume that it's 100 calories for the 3 tbsp, not for 3 pancakes, so yes, you'd have to calculate into the total calories the calories of the other ingredients (eggs, oil, whatnot).
So to answer your third question, you'd somehow need to calculate how much oil you used per pancake, same thing with the egg. Unfortunately, that might put the total calorie count as rather high, but then again, lots of foods are unfortunately a lot of calories

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I'd assume the following:

The calories are for the mix only. I actually never use the second column you mentioned even when provided because it's rarely accurate.

The servings per container refers to the entire box.


So you should add the mix plus the eggs/oil. The recipe builder can make this simple if you made a whole batch and aren't sure how to enter only your portion.

helaurin

SnuggleSmacks wrote: »

I would assume it should be for the mix only since they don't know what size egg or what kind of oil you're going to use. As for the servings, when I googled it, I found that a serving size should be 3 tbsp (24 grams) of the mix. So as for whether that's per bag, or per box, how many grams does it say the box contains? If it's about 168 for the whole box, then it's 7 servings for the whole box...if it's 336 grams in the box, then it's 7 servings per bag (7 servings x 24 grams x 2 bags = 336 grams)

ETA: I googled further and found that a box contains two 3 ounce bags, 170 grams...so there's about 7 servings in the whole box.

You're right! I didn't stop to think of that, to figure that part out. I only used one bag, and of the latkes made, I used 40% of the one bag, or 20% of the entire box. So I figure for the mix portion of the calories, if the box is 7 servings * 100 calories = 700 calories, then I ate 20% of the 700 calories based on the mix alone = 140 calories.

I still will count 40% of the one egg, which is what is mixed with one bag.

And with the oil, I used 1/4 cup olive oil, but only had 40% of the latkes made, so I'll use 40% of the calories from that.

helaurin

r5d5 wrote: »

Ok, I'm not 100% sure, but I figure some advice is better than none!
I'd guess that servings per container is for 1 bag, not both.
I'd also assume that it's 100 calories for the 3 tbsp, not for 3 pancakes, so yes, you'd have to calculate into the total calories the calories of the other ingredients (eggs, oil, whatnot).
So to answer your third question, you'd somehow need to calculate how much oil you used per pancake, same thing with the egg. Unfortunately, that might put the total calorie count as rather high, but then again, lots of foods are unfortunately a lot of calories

One thing I did, is I made the entire one bag, and then weighed all of the latkes that were made (9.5 ounces), and then weighed how many ounces I took (3.8 ounces), so I figure 40% of the oil and egg count against my calorie count, in addition to my proportion of the mix.

SteampunkSongbird

I would also assume that the nutritional values on the packaging would be for the mix only. Maybe you would be better entering everything you use as a recipe into the database? Enter the base mix as one ingredient, the egg, etc., then put how many portions each batch makes, so you could say one serving/portion is 1 pancake and that the recipe makes 7, it shouldn't be difficult to work out the calorie percent (one seventh of the total ingredients calories, basically.)
I did it recently with a brownie mix, I created a recipe with it in my diary; I listed the bag of mix, and the required egg and margerine, input that 1 brownie was one portion and that the recipe makes a batch of 9. The calorie count for the whole lot was 1008, so divided into 9 portions makes each one 112.

I hope that made some sense, I'm very tired right now, lol.

segacs

1 box = 170g net weight. It's made mostly of potato starch, so I'm guessing that the servings per container refers to the entire box and not just to 1 of the packages. 3 tbsp = ~25g, and 25x7=175g.

And yeah, I would say that the listed nutritional value is for the mix only, not for the ingredients you add to it. Frying anything in oil is going to make it high calorie, which is why latkes are a once-a-year Chanukah treat in my home, and not a year-round staple.

Honestly, next time, just make them from scratch. They come out soooooo much better.

cwolfman13

Here's what it says:

Serving size 3 tbsp = 3 prepared pancakes

I would thus assume the prepared product would include whatever else it tells you to put in it like eggs and oil.

I would also assume that 1 container is the entire box...both packages.

segacs

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I would thus assume the prepared product would include whatever else it tells you to put in it like eggs and oil.

100 calories for 3 potato latkes? I wish! But nah, I doubt it.