How would you count food that's deep fried?

wwkwag
wwkwag Posts: 60 Member
edited December 3 in Health and Weight Loss
Good morning! I normally bake french fries; however, living in Florida, there are times where I don't want to run my oven (especially right now when the weather seems to think it's smack in the middle of summer!!). So occasionally I will use the deep fryer. How do you count the calories for that? Would I track the fries and then give a crazy estimate of how much oil soaked into the fries? I tried searching for "fries cooked in oil" in the database but the calorie count matched just for the fries. I don't fry them enough to necessarily be concerned but would like to know how everyone tracks that.

Thanks!

Replies

  • pdm3547
    pdm3547 Posts: 1,057 Member
    Does this help?

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/40964738
  • wwkwag
    wwkwag Posts: 60 Member
    pdm3547 wrote: »
    Does this help?

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/40964738

    Sure does!! Holy crap!!! LOL - yeah, I think I'll deal with the heat from my oven!!

    Thanks!
  • DanyellMcGinnis
    DanyellMcGinnis Posts: 315 Member
    Sometimes when I fry things I measure the oil before and after and subtract, assuming the difference is what soaked in. That would not necessarily be easy to do with a deep fryer (lots more oil) but it should be possible.

    However, my deep fryer has gotten absolutely no use since I started trying to lose weight. I miss beer-battered onion rings, but I wouldn't be able to eat anything else, all day...
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    Fryers are such a hassle. I don't even own one (and I'm Scottish). Waste of oil, grease everywhere, danger of death - I prefer to go out for dinner and let someone else deep fry my food for me.

    But it's worth every calorie.
  • wwkwag
    wwkwag Posts: 60 Member
    Thanks for the responses! To be honest, I never really used the deep fryer all that much even before I started MFP; however, there are the occasional times where I will use it. I think I've used it once in the last year and that was a couple weeks ago which is what prompted my question on here.

    Mmm...beer battered on onion rings! LOL - yeah, I'd be out of calories too.

    And yes, nasty grease mess but yes, worth every calorie!
  • ummijaaz560
    ummijaaz560 Posts: 228 Member
    Not sure if this will help but I have a really good toaster oven for getting that crunch on my fries.
    I use it for everything and almost never use my big oven for a single serving of food.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    If I can't find something in MFP, I go to the USDA database and search
    https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

    It is easier to find things because there are not any "community added" entries that are likely to be wrong. Then I grab the name and search for that here. Like for the French fries, I would search for "Fast foods, potato, french fried in vegetable oil" and it pops up as a recommended food. Since MFP pulls data from this database, if you can find the search term, the chances of it being correct are pretty good.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    wwkwag wrote: »
    pdm3547 wrote: »
    Does this help?

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/40964738

    Sure does!! Holy crap!!! LOL - yeah, I think I'll deal with the heat from my oven!!

    Thanks!

    To be fair, that's also a very large serving of french fries.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    Not as dangerous as deep fried donuts IMO.
  • wwkwag
    wwkwag Posts: 60 Member
    ummijaaz560 wrote: »
    Not sure if this will help but I have a really good toaster oven for getting that crunch on my fries.
    I use it for everything and almost never use my big oven for a single serving of food.

    Good idea! My mom has one of those and she cooks breads and a bunch of things on it! Might have to invest in one! Thanks!
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    Gamliela wrote: »
    Not as dangerous as deep fried donuts IMO.

    Is there any other kind?
  • wwkwag
    wwkwag Posts: 60 Member
    GauchoMark wrote: »
    If I can't find something in MFP, I go to the USDA database and search
    https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

    It is easier to find things because there are not any "community added" entries that are likely to be wrong. Then I grab the name and search for that here. Like for the French fries, I would search for "Fast foods, potato, french fried in vegetable oil" and it pops up as a recommended food. Since MFP pulls data from this database, if you can find the search term, the chances of it being correct are pretty good.

    Great! Thanks for this!
  • wwkwag
    wwkwag Posts: 60 Member
    @cwolfman13 That's true! I noticed that after I replied. I think that comes out to a little over 14 ounces. My serving is usually between 3 and 6 ounces. So, not quite as bad as my initial shock.
  • wwkwag
    wwkwag Posts: 60 Member
    @Gamliela Sooo true!! I was blessed in that I never had a sweet tooth for most donuts. But ohhhh, those deep-fried powdered elephant ears at the fair!!!! Mmmmm
This discussion has been closed.

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