How do you calculate calories in home-made food?

AshC1023

I don't mean just like I baked a cake from scratch (I do, but those specific ingredients are easy to add up) but things like yogurt. I make yogurt at home (way cheaper! and tastes so good) but I'm a bit confused as to how to break it down to calories.
I use whole milk (8 cups) and 6 oz of starter (recently the Fage 0). That makes about 6 cups or so of yogurt. I also strain the whey out of it, and save that stuff for when I make bread and it calls for milk. Now I know I'm straining out the "good stuff" from it, but it doesn't set if you leave it (think runny yogurt, yuck).
How would you break it down? Right now I have it set at the calories of the whole milk and the starter combined, divided by servings. I know that's probably not as accurate as it could be though.

PrizePopple

I found this in the database... Not sure if it's accurate, and I'm not sure how you'd subtract that from a recipe... O_o

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/homemade-raw-whey-liquid-17734448

AshC1023

Exactly, and see like that one, it doesn't tell you what kind of milk was reduced to create the whey, I'm sure whole milk whey is more nutritionally dense than skim milk whey.

PrizePopple

There's this... http://www.livestrong.com/article/533194-nutritional-value-of-milk-whey-liquid/


and this... http://www.innovatewithdairy.com/pages/factsaboutwhey.aspx

They don't state the kind of milk used on either page though.

I did find this while Googling...

"For every three or four ounces of milk, Chobani and other companies can produce only one ounce of creamy Greek yogurt. The rest becomes acid whey. "

Now I know what kind of whey it is. :P

lynn_glenmont

AshC1023 wrote: »

Exactly, and see like that one, it doesn't tell you what kind of milk was reduced to create the whey, I'm sure whole milk whey is more nutritionally dense than skim milk whey.

Just talking off the top of my head here, but I'm not sure that it matters whether the whey is from whole milk or skim milk. Isn't the whey just water and protein (at least as far as macros go)? The difference between whole milk and skim milk is the fat, and that stays in the yogurt.

As for counting the calories in the homemade yogurt, you could do what you've been doing (just adding the calories of the milk and starter), and then when you use the whey in something else, treat it as "free" (that is, don't log it) because you've already accounted for it when you ate and logged the yogurt. Obviously, this will work better if you're consuming the whey the same day as the yogurt, especially if you're somebody who weighs in every day. If you only weigh in once a week, and you're consuming the yogurt and the leftover whey in the same week, it won't make a difference in tracking and results.

PrizePopple

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

AshC1023 wrote: »

Exactly, and see like that one, it doesn't tell you what kind of milk was reduced to create the whey, I'm sure whole milk whey is more nutritionally dense than skim milk whey.

Just talking off the top of my head here, but I'm not sure that it matters whether the whey is from whole milk or skim milk. Isn't the whey just water and protein (at least as far as macros go)? The difference between whole milk and skim milk is the fat, and that stays in the yogurt.

As for counting the calories in the homemade yogurt, you could do what you've been doing (just adding the calories of the milk and starter), and then when you use the whey in something else, treat it as "free" (that is, don't log it) because you've already accounted for it when you ate and logged the yogurt. Obviously, this will work better if you're consuming the whey the same day as the yogurt, especially if you're somebody who weighs in every day. If you only weigh in once a week, and you're consuming the yogurt and the leftover whey in the same week, it won't make a difference in tracking and results.

I was thinking the same thing too, but then looking at the nutritional info on whey there are carbs and calories in it, and I know when I make yogurt I can pull many cups of whey from a gallon of milk.

AshC1023

Actually, the drained off whey contains some fat content, etc. Depending on how long I drained it and the fat content in the milk, sometimes I'll get a layer of cream in the jar I save it in.
I was really more curious in a "how do I figure this out" kind of way. I have a hard time hitting my calorie goal most days so a little extra isn't going to put me way over.