Calorie Counting - My Own Meals

kollar100

Hi again! One of my kids favorite meal is ground beef, eggs and potatoes all mixed together. My question is, how to I accurately count those calories for myself? I can't really weigh each individual ingredient because it's all mixed together.

WBB55

Can you weigh things before you cook them? And then divide it into 4th or whatever once it's made. And then log 1/4 of the whole recipe?

BekahC1980

How, I log recipes : go to recipe builder, put everything in the builder that you are going to put in the food weigh finished product in grams, log and eat portion that fits in my goals.

dubird

Enter it into the recipe database here at MFP while making it. Basically, weigh each ingredient you put in. If you don't really measure each ingredient, try putting the bowl on the scale and zeroing out, the record the weight after each thing you put in. Simple math will give you the weight of each thing. Then, when it's all done, weigh the final amount and divide it up however you want. Some people count one ounce a serving, so if they eat 8 ounces, they put in 8 servings of 1 ounce. So if the final weight of the food is 150 ounces, that's 150 servings of 1 ounce. That's probably the easiest way to do it.

atypicalsmith

Weigh everything in ounces, make a note of the calories in each ingredient, and then when they are all combined, make "one ounce" your serving size. MFP will calculate the number of calories in that one ounce, and then you can enter the number of ounces you actually eat.

Ready2Rock206

Time to become familiar with the recipe builder! Makes things so very easy!

SonyaBedford

I just use the recipe builder. Weigh each ingredient you put in and log it and how many portions that made. I did spag bol which does 4 portions. It divided it for me automatically

kollar100

But how do I know if I'm logging calories accurately?. . . . I mean because the meat, potatoes and eggs may not be distributed evenly. . . If that makes sense.

Ready2Rock206

Well you're never going to be 100% accurate anyway. If you can't deal with the minor issues of un-even distribution by using the recipe builder your only option will be to cook all your food separately.

FoxyLifter

Here's what I would do:

Weigh the dish/pot that it will bake in.
Weigh each raw ingredient.
Mix and bake meal.
Weigh the final product in that same dish/pot (Wait until it cools!).
Take the weight of the cooked food + dish/pot and subtract the weight of the dish/pot.
The remaining grams (this represents the food) will equal the number of servings in the recipe builder.
Place a bowl on your scale.
Tare the scale to zero.
Scoop in your dish.
The number of grams of that food will equal the number of servings of your recipe.



Example I completely made up:
Baking dish weighs 500g
Ingredients to be added in the recipe builder*:

• Raw beef 200g
• Raw potatoes 150g (If using potatoes that are already cooked,do not use a raw entry)
• 3 eggs

Mix in a bowl and put it in the 500g baking dish from the beginning.
Bake at the proper temperature for the recommended amount of time.
Cool until it gets cool enough to handle. Do not remove any food yet.
Once cooled, place the whole thing on the kitchen scale. Let's say it came out to 800g (some water lost from the baking process)
800g (food + dish) - 500g (dish) = 300g (food)
300g = 300 servings in the recipe builder**
Place clean bowl on scale and use the tare function.
Scoop in your desired amount (100g)
Enter 100 where it asks for the number of servings you'll be eating.
Enjoy!

*Don't forget to also include and oil/spray used in cooking. These still have calories!
**I think one time I made a dish that was over 1000g and it wouldn't let me make the recipe on my phone so I had to use my laptop.

This is my preferred method if the weights of the raw ingredients will be the same every time. It's not perfect, but it's close.

IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt

@foxyLifter - That was helpful to me, thanks for the detailed description.

trvrmagz

Bump