Side Salad - Calories & Nutrition data entry for MFP

Cody94549

Short of measuring each & every item in a small SIDE salad to accompany dinner, is there a general ITEM in the database that actually works for entering that? I saw "SIDE SALAD" which seems really low in Calories (35), so not sure if that's right depending on what's actually IN the salad. I just don't want to spend the effort into weighing each & every item part of a salad (e.g., lettuce, bells, brocolli, etc.) If I just plate the salad & weigh THAT (e.g., 250g.) is there a simple way to account for a general amount of calories that you guys all use? I know that DRESSING is a huge part of that count & I will add that separately as the TBS's used for that type of dressing; ditto for fatty stuff like cheeses.

KarenB927

Try using homemade garden salad. And yes, before the cheese, bacon bits, dressing, etc., it's pretty low in calories for just the vegetables.

arditarose

You could weigh it all out once, and have it in your recipes, and choose it every time you eat it. It would take...maybe 4 minutes. Possibly shorter than it took you to write this thread.

ShandaLeaS

For something I eat a lot of I make it a recipe so I have it every time

Tubbs216

ShandaLeaS wrote: »

For something I eat a lot of I make it a recipe so I have it every time

Yep, me too. My homemade basic salads are all pretty similar and I figure that the minor variances will not have a major impact on overall calories. I add that, and then any higher calorie additions (e.g. dressing, avocado, cheese etc)
Makes it much quicker and easier.

Francl27

35 calories is often right on for a side salad though, as it's typically just lettuce and tomatoes... then add the dressing separately.

3laine75

Mine is typically always the same stuff, so I weighed everything and saved it as a meal (57 cals).

If you can't be bothered I don't think 35 cals will have you far off the mark.