How to count calories in home made food

outoftown

Hi all,
I tend to eat mostly home made food, stews, curries, stir-fries etc. The ingredients are variable and, as a result, calculating the calories in each meal is extremely difficult. Does anyone have any ideas of an easy way to calculate calories? Or should I be less concerned about actual figures and just do a rough calculation?

Regards.

livingleanlivingclean

I either enter ingredients in my diary individually, or create a recipe in the recipe builder. Add ingredients by raw weight, then weigh the food once cooked. However many grams will equate to that number of serves.

When you serve yourself a portion, the grams will be the number of 1g serves you can enter in your diary.

Or alternatively, divide the food into a certain number of equal portions.

robm1brown

I weight the ingredients just before I add them to the pot and input it there and then on my phone. It helps I only cook for 1 so I eat all of it.

outoftown

Thanks people. I'll try harder to keep track. It's encouraging to know that others are doing the same thing.

AnnPT77

I just weigh ingredients on a food scale and log them. Truly, that's easiest; bear with me for details.

If it's completely one off, and just for me, that's it.

There are scale tricks, like putting the pan on the scale, zeroing, adding one ingredient, note it, zero, add another ingredient, note, zero, etc.

Or, chop various items in separate heaps on as cutting board, put cutting board with all heaps on scale, zero, remove cutting board to push ingredient into dish, put board back on scale, note negative value (it's what you took out), zero, remove next item, note negative, etc.

If the cutting board overlaps too far to read the scale, put a narrower pan/bowl on the scale & the cutting board on top of that.

I note this stuff on a junk mail envelope while cooking, to spare a messy device, and put it in the device later. I also keep a couple of plastic yogurt lids around in case i need to weigh something small & messy - quick rinse of the lid after, no need to wipe scale.

Also, if you cut a chunk of cheese, or scoop something out of a jar (like peanut butter), put the chunk/jar on the scale, zero, take out your portion, note the negative..

If it's a dish I make often, even with slight variations or different proportions, I'd put it in MFP as a saved meal. When you copy the saved meal into your diary, it copies in the ingredients/quantities individually, then you can edit them for different amounts of things, or delete/add some, right on your diary page.

If you're sharing the dish with someone, weigh the finished product (in the pan, then weigh & subtract the empty pan later). Use arithmetic to get your fraction ((your serving weight divided by whole finished food weight) times amounts or calories of raw materials for whole dish)).

If it's an exact, measured recipe I'll make again later mostly unchanged (or I've made a whole batch to freeze) I'll put it into the recipe builder. (You can edit those next time, too, but before you log it - they come into your diary as 1 line item like, say "lasagna".

I know this sounds fussy and cumbersome, but after you get past the novice awkwardness, it's surprisingly speedy. Give it a few days trial, and you'll be zipping right along before you know it.

Heather4448

Recipe builder.

Ready2Rock206

You really need to be using the recipe builder if you do a lot of home cooking. It is a great tool.

ncfitbit

+1 to using recipe builder for recipes you make often, even if you vary them because it's not that big a deal to edit a few items. I also weigh the whole finished product and enter my portion based on whatever the weight of my serving is relative to the whole. I recently discovered it's much easier to search for and edit recipes on my phone than it was on my desktop app so maybe that will help you, too.

gg2007

Weighing everything out and using a food scale, then logging the recipient on mfp like a few others have said that way you know exactly is in each portion/serving.

amandacalories

I'm curious about this too. I mean even if you log everything and split it into evenly sized portions it might not be the same calories right? Like if you make a soup with multiple ingredients the same serving size might have less or more calories based on how much of each item you include in your serving.

Ready2Rock206

amandacalories wrote: »

I'm curious about this too. I mean even if you log everything and split it into evenly sized portions it might not be the same calories right? Like if you make a soup with multiple ingredients the same serving size might have less or more calories based on how much of each item you include in your serving.

Well that would be true for any item whether you make it or buy it from the store. If it has multiple ingredients one piece or one bowl or whatever isn't going to be exactly identical to the other. You really think every granola bar in a package has exactly the same number of raisins for example? No. Every can of soup has the exact same number of carrots? Probably not. There's a margin of error for everything but the recipe builder will get you closer than just guessing.

amusedmonkey

amandacalories wrote: »

I'm curious about this too. I mean even if you log everything and split it into evenly sized portions it might not be the same calories right? Like if you make a soup with multiple ingredients the same serving size might have less or more calories based on how much of each item you include in your serving.

That's within acceptable margin of error if you're cooking for a family. If you're only cooking for yourself it can be reasonably accurate regardless of what ends up on your plate, because if the entire recipe has, say, 1000 calories, you are going to eat them all eventually. When I'm keeping a weekly log I'm sometimes lazy enough to log an entire multi-portion recipe in one day and just not log it when I eat it again next day, but I have a messily organized mind so I don't recommend that for everyone because that makes some days look like I'm grossly overeating and others like I'm grossly undereating.

VeronicaA76

In the recipe builder. Add all the ingredients in bulk, then enter how many servings it has. While it won't be exact, it will be close to accurate having that particular dish repeatedly throughout your fat loss journey.

VeronicaA76

amandacalories wrote: »

I'm curious about this too. I mean even if you log everything and split it into evenly sized portions it might not be the same calories right? Like if you make a soup with multiple ingredients the same serving size might have less or more calories based on how much of each item you include in your serving.

Very true. I do true meal prepping. So while serving A might have 100 calories more than average, serving B might have 100 less. At the end of the week they all average out to what the whole dish was. I make my recipes and use the entire amount for the dish, not just one serving, then divide it into it's number of servings. Example: Sheppard's pie, I use 2lbs of ground beef to make 8 servings. So while each piece I have may have slightly more or less than another. The whole dish is 8 servings and I am accurate for the week.

livingleanlivingclean

VeronicaA76 wrote: »

amandacalories wrote: »

I'm curious about this too. I mean even if you log everything and split it into evenly sized portions it might not be the same calories right? Like if you make a soup with multiple ingredients the same serving size might have less or more calories based on how much of each item you include in your serving.

Very true. I do true meal prepping. So while serving A might have 100 calories more than average, serving B might have 100 less. At the end of the week they all average out to what the whole dish was. I make my recipes and use the entire amount for the dish, not just one serving, then divide it into it's number of servings. Example: Sheppard's pie, I use 2lbs of ground beef to make 8 servings. So while each piece I have may have slightly more or less than another. The whole dish is 8 servings and I am accurate for the week.

I have no idea what true or false meal prepping is, but if I'm making a dish to be portioned out, I also try and divide it as equally as possible - if you're eating all the portions yourself it really doesn't matter if one portion is a bit over as one will be under. If many people are eating it, you may have slightly more or less than expected, but it would likely be minimal.

maryjaquiss

To add, recipe builder is great but if I'm cooking a recipe just for myself and using 'one onion' etc., I'll save it as a meal instead. It just makes it a bit quicker to change the calories rather than going into the recipe builder and editing the recipe. If you're cooking for multiple people or multiple portions, recipe builder is the best option though.

cs2thecox

If you're the only one eating what you're cooking, then it will average out as long as you measure what goes in.
If you split something into 4 portions, but you eat all 4 of them, it doesn't really matter if one was a bit bigger or smaller than the other. When I lived on my own, I just used to log it as equal portions. (Sounds like what @VeronicaA76 mentions above)

If you share with other people, and aren't doing an even split, then I guess it's more important to weigh your portion accurately...

scarlett_k

It depends on the meal but for anything that involves cooking most or all of the ingredients I use the recipe builder. It's a bit annoying but I find it's super helpful to be able to fiddle around with a recipe and the number of servings so that it fits into my calories for the day. This way I don't feel the need to eat "diet" food and can more easily see how calorie dense my planned meals are and tweak them if needed.

robm1brown

You do have to avoid digging through your stew to find all the meat (or other high calorie ingredient) for example. If you are cutting a recipe in 1/2 to share with someone then you can only take half the meat if you take more then you might be eating more than half the calories. Sounds obvious but it is one of those little cheats that can sabotage weight loss.

narspips

Really interesting to read people's responses to this, as this is something I've been struggling with as well. I've found I've come to rely a bit more on 'component' meals (say, a piece of chicken with some plain carbs like rice etc. and vegetables on the side) as it's easier to count those. But I love stir-fries, casseroles and things like spaghetti with home-made bolognese ragu so I can't escape it entirely! Also, when I cook, I usually cook for myself and my boyfriend so I need to try to count my own portion separately after it's been cooked.

The process I've settled into is pretty similar to what others have described: weigh each ingredient separately (I use tablespoons for oil, and don’t bother measuring spices or herbs), write down the values on a scrap of paper, and input them into MFP later after I’ve weighed my portion and worked out a reasonable estimate of how many g. I’ve eaten of each ingredient. I occasionally use the recipe builder, but find it a bit fiddly, and it doesn’t save me much time as I’ll never make the exact same recipe twice, as I always put in different amounts of things. Where the recipe builder does come in handy is when I know there’s going to be leftovers so I can easily calorie-count multiple meals.

If it’s something I cook frequently with minor adjustments, like bolognese, I might add it as a meal, and then later I can select that meal and just tweak the quantities of ingredients depending on how much of everything I put in.

VeronicaA76

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

VeronicaA76 wrote: »

amandacalories wrote: »

I'm curious about this too. I mean even if you log everything and split it into evenly sized portions it might not be the same calories right? Like if you make a soup with multiple ingredients the same serving size might have less or more calories based on how much of each item you include in your serving.

Very true. I do true meal prepping. So while serving A might have 100 calories more than average, serving B might have 100 less. At the end of the week they all average out to what the whole dish was. I make my recipes and use the entire amount for the dish, not just one serving, then divide it into it's number of servings. Example: Sheppard's pie, I use 2lbs of ground beef to make 8 servings. So while each piece I have may have slightly more or less than another. The whole dish is 8 servings and I am accurate for the week.

I have no idea what true or false meal prepping is, but if I'm making a dish to be portioned out, I also try and divide it as equally as possible - if you're eating all the portions yourself it really doesn't matter if one portion is a bit over as one will be under. If many people are eating it, you may have slightly more or less than expected, but it would likely be minimal.

I should have said extensive meal prepping. Where I preplan and premake 90% of my meals for the week, including snacks. Involves a lot of Tupperware type containers.

ncfitbit

Hmm, I see no one else mentioned this, so I will add that recipe builder is really helpful when you're importing a recipe from the web. I'm surprised at how easily it will grab a recipe from just about any website even when it seems like the recipe is embedded in a fair amount of other text. I don't know how they do that!

There's a bit of a learning curve because you will have to tweak the ingredient list a bit before it will accept all the ingredients (like take out any directions "rough chopped" ) but after you figure that out, it's pretty helpful.

JeromeBarry1

Today's lunch was a bunch of stuff thrown together in a pot. The trick was to identify the serving size. For that I added up all the grams of all the stuff I threw in the pot, and since I added 2 cups of water I used www.convertunits.com to convert cups to grams. Then I could add up all my grams and see how many total grams I had thrown into the pot. That total was the number of servings and a serving is equal to 1 gram, which had zero calories, BTW. When it came time to eat, I put my empty plate on my scale, zeroed the scale by pressing the "tare" switch, then piled a mess of food onto my plate. That was 350 grams, and I logged 350 servings.

PAV8888

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

Today's lunch was a bunch of stuff thrown together in a pot. The trick was to identify the serving size. For that I added up all the grams of all the stuff I threw in the pot, and since I added 2 cups of water I used www.convertunits.com to convert cups to grams. Then I could add up all my grams and see how many total grams I had thrown into the pot. That total was the number of servings and a serving is equal to 1 gram, which had zero calories, BTW. When it came time to eat, I put my empty plate on my scale, zeroed the scale by pressing the "tare" switch, then piled a mess of food onto my plate. That was 350 grams, and I logged 350 servings.

how do you account for evaporation?

n1tp1cky

I too mostly eat homemade food. Where is this Recipe Builder? The thought of all that weighing and counting and entering makes me want to just give up on it and make up the calorie counts. I barely have time to shop & make the food, not do all this metawork! Help!

cwolfman13

Recipe builder...

Calliope610

AnnPT77 wrote: »

If it's a dish I make often, even with slight variations or different proportions, I'd put it in MFP as a saved meal. When you copy the saved meal into your diary, it copies in the ingredients/quantities individually, then you can edit them for different amounts of things, or delete/add some, right on your diary page.

This. I eat salads for lunch or dinner several times a week. I have a saved meal named "basic salad" with all the variations of salad ingredients I routinely use - lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, also cheese, chickpeas, black beans. The only thing I don't include in that saved meal is my protein source (grilled chicken, tuna, etc) and the dressing.

So as I put my salad together, I weigh out the ingredients as I dump them into my salad bowl and jot down the weights on a little pad of paper I keep near my prep area. Then log my meal, deleting the items I didn't add and adjusting the weight quantities as needed. And because I keep that note pad and pen handy at food prep time, I don't have to have my phone at hand. I have all the info necessary to accurately log my meal later.