How To Determine Calories of a Food Prepared by Someone Else

FireRox21

How do I determine calories of spaghetti, casserole, etc. when it is prepared by someone else? My current predicament is spaghetti. She mixes meat, sauce and pasta together and I have no way of determining the calorie content. Any tricks or ideas as to how to determine calories? Should I just quick add a caloric number (with pasta I know it would be a larger number)? I'm lost.

estherdragonbat

You can't really. You can just estimate by looking at database entries and aiming for the middle/middle-high end of the range.

kimny72

estherdragonbat wrote: »

You can't really. You can just estimate by looking at database entries and aiming for the middle/middle-high end of the range.

This. The cool thing is, if you log accurately and consistently for a decent period of time, it gets A LOT easier to guesstimate when you are eating out.

I usually try to guess what was in it and log as best I can, over-estimating a bit if I'm not sure. For restaurant meals, I'll log an extra tablespoon of butter or oil, jic.

hesn92

Take a wild guess

Lounmoun

Is it a daily thing or once in a while?

You can ask for the recipe and enter it.
You can find a recipe for a similar dish to log.
You can guesstimate the amounts of ingredients.
Take smaller portions of mixed dishes.

CarvedTones

As others have said, find something similar. Or even not that similar if it's the best you can do. IMO, absolute consistency is more important than absolute accuracy. In other words don't ever justify not logging something; that is a very slippery slope.

ExistingFish

If it is something you do often I'd seek out the recipe. Otherwise I'd estimate. I make spaghetti enough (with the sauce and meat mixed in) to kind of estimate the amount of meat in it and sauce in it.

I eat at my in-laws fairly often. Luckily for me they are pretty happy just leaving all the individual things separate. They may use separate spices or sauces and condiments than I don't normally, but I'm pretty good at guessing.

VUA21

Best guess. I'm trying to guess calories in restaurant dishes that I am very unfamiliar with (vacationing half way around the world). I generally pick one of the highest calorie listings to be safe.