Meatloaf question.

stephaniej2888

Ok so my husband has been super supportive on the weight loss front since I started so today when he requested meatloaf I just had to say yes lol.
I plan on using half ground venison and half 90%/10% ground beef sirloin and adding some different seasonings while cutting back on the salt, but I make my meatloaf a little different...I cook it with bacon on top. It may sound weird to some, but my husband absolutely loves it and it does add flavor.
Now I do not actually eat the bacon myself (just not a huge bacon person), but how would it affect the meatloaf as far as fat content, calories, etc with all the juices going into the meat?
Would it be so minimal that I shouldn't worry about it or should I make 2 smaller loafs?
Thanks

RoxieDawn

There is no definitive way to know how much. You can drain the meatloaf of excess fat that cooks from both meats during cooking. Still won't know how much you consume but you can feel alittle better about not consuming excess amounts.

Knowing myself and how I would want to throw caution to the wind and be as precise as I could with calories, I would include that I ate XX bacon and add some of that fat to my diary.

Why not make two separate loafs.

ktekc

I'd just put it in the recipe builder with the bacon. Then dont eat the bacon. Then you will be accounting for the added grease and a bit over just in case. I used to put bacon on the bottom of mine and cheddar on the top. . . yummy

stephaniej2888

RoxieDawn wrote: »

There is no definitive way to know how much. You can drain the meatloaf of excess fat that cooks from both meats during cooking.

Knowing myself and how I would want to throw caution to the wind and be asprecise as I could with calories, I would include that I ate XX bacon and add some of that fat to my diary.

Why not make two separate loafs.

I do drain it.
Just curious about how much of a difference the bacon drippings in the loaf make. It's only about 4 slices of bacon on top and I don't eat the bacon itself.

lorrpb

stephaniej2888 wrote: »

RoxieDawn wrote: »

There is no definitive way to know how much. You can drain the meatloaf of excess fat that cooks from both meats during cooking.

Knowing myself and how I would want to throw caution to the wind and be asprecise as I could with calories, I would include that I ate XX bacon and add some of that fat to my diary.

Why not make two separate loafs.

I do drain it.
Just curious about how much of a difference the bacon drippings in the loaf make. It's only about 4 slices of bacon on top and I don't eat the bacon itself.

The most bacon calories are in the fat snd the fat is melting into the meatloaf. So yes it counts. But 4 slices of bacon divided among the entire loaf isn't a whole lot per slice.

lynn_glenmont

I make meatloaf this way myself, and the bacon doesn't get crispy -- there's still a lot of unmelted fat in the bacon strips. If that's the case with you, I think adding 1 tsp of bacon fat (there's an MFP database entry for animal fat - bacon grease) for each strip of bacon you use would account for it -- especially since you're draining the accumulated fat in the bottom of the pan.

If your bacon ends up crispy, you might want to increase to 2 tsp of bacon grease per strip, which is roughly the difference I've found between a strip of raw bacon and a strip of cooked bacon (and the USDA nutrient database agrees with me). Just to be clear, I'm talking about the amount of bacon fat you would log for the entire meat loaf -- obviously, you have to account for the fact that you're only eating part of the entire recipe. I recommend using the MFP recipe builder if you aren't already.

grinning_chick

Just add the bacon to the recipe total and divide by number of servings. You will drive yourself up a proverbial wall that frequently leads to abandonment of this logging truck if you try to account for every single calorie of fat present/not present when home cooking.

It's like when I make over easy eggs. I include the whole 50 calories for the 7 grams of butter I fry them in my tally for that day even though not all of it ends up in my stomach. It'll all come out in the wash eventually as I do not necessarily always weigh the 11 tater tots in a listed serving to verify they are exactly 84 grams, as an example. Sometimes those 11 tots are going to be 86 or 88 or however many overage grams.

Otherwise, if you cannot let it go, fry the bacon ahead of time and apply just the rendered grease to your meatloaf before popping it in the oven and/or basting during cooking in measured amounts. Without Googling it, I'm fairly confident a tablespoon (14-15 grams/14-15 ml) of pure pig oil is going to be approximately the same as any oil - right around 120-130 calories.

Or, measure the fat you drain and subtract those calories from the total. However you'd like to drive yourself nuts with it.

stephaniej2888

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

I make meatloaf this way myself, and the bacon doesn't get crispy -- there's still a lot of unmelted fat in the bacon strips. If that's the case with you, I think adding 1 tsp of bacon fat (there's an MFP database entry for animal fat - bacon grease) for each strip of bacon you use would account for it -- especially since you're draining the accumulated fat in the bottom of the pan.

If your bacon ends up crispy, you might want to increase to 2 tsp of bacon grease per strip, which is roughly the difference I've found between a strip of raw bacon and a strip of cooked bacon (and the USDA nutrient database agrees with me). Just to be clear, I'm talking about the amount of bacon fat you would log for the entire meat loaf -- obviously, you have to account for the fact that you're only eating part of the entire recipe. I recommend using the MFP recipe builder if you aren't already.

Yes, mine is the same. Since the meatloaf is baked the bacon on top is cooked but still very fatty and not crispy at all like it would be if you were making some for breakfast.

stephaniej2888

grinning_chick wrote: »

Just add the bacon to the recipe total and divide by number of servings. You will drive yourself up a proverbial wall that frequently leads to abandonment of this logging truck if you try to account for every single calorie of fat present/not present when home cooking.

It's like when I make over easy eggs. I include the whole 50 calories for the 7 grams of butter I fry them in my tally for that day even though not all of it ends up in my stomach. It'll all come out in the wash eventually as I do not necessarily always weigh the 11 tater tots in a listed serving to verify they are exactly 84 grams, as an example. Sometimes those 11 tots are going to be 86 or 88 or however many overage grams.

Otherwise, if you cannot let it go, fry the bacon ahead of time and apply just the rendered grease to your meatloaf before popping it in the oven and/or basting during cooking in measured amounts. Without Googling it, I'm fairly confident a tablespoon (14-15 grams/14-15 ml) of pure pig oil is going to be approximately the same as any oil - right around 120-130 calories.

Or, measure the fat you drain and subtract those calories from the total. However you'd like to drive yourself nuts with it.

I'm trying not to get to nit picky with everything but on the same hand I want to make sure I am putting my information in as accurately as possible so I know how much I've eaten that day. I still have about 45 lbs to lose so I want to stay on track

lynn_glenmont

grinning_chick wrote: »

Just add the bacon to the recipe total and divide by number of servings. You will drive yourself up a proverbial wall that frequently leads to abandonment of this logging truck if you try to account for every single calorie of fat present/not present when home cooking.

It's like when I make over easy eggs. I include the whole 50 calories for the 7 grams of butter I fry them in my tally for that day even though not all of it ends up in my stomach. It'll all come out in the wash eventually as I do not necessarily always weigh the 11 tater tots in a listed serving to verify they are exactly 84 grams, as an example. Sometimes those 11 tots are going to be 86 or 88 or however many overage grams.

Otherwise, if you cannot let it go, fry the bacon ahead of time and apply just the rendered grease to your meatloaf before popping it in the oven and/or basting during cooking in measured amounts. Without Googling it, I'm fairly confident a tablespoon (14-15 grams/14-15 ml) of pure pig oil is going to be approximately the same as any oil - right around 120-130 calories.

Or, measure the fat you drain and subtract those calories from the total. However you'd like to drive yourself nuts with it.

I would strongly recommend against this approach. It's not going to have the same effect at all. For one thing, those strips of bacon are protecting the top of your meat loaf from developing a hard crust (like putting aluminum foil around the crimped edge of a pie crust, or a foil tent on your turkey for part of the roasting time). Also, the bacon is a constant "self-basting" approach -- to get anywhere near the same effect from hand-basting, you're going to have to open the over door far too often (loose heat, increase cooking time, etc.).