Holiday Meals and Tracking Calories

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DupreeTheTRex
DupreeTheTRex Posts: 105 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay, so I cooked my first ever thanksgiving turkey for me and my wife. I also did ham and sides and boy, I now have so much respect for my parents preparing these meals growing up. Due to rising COVID cases we opted to not visit family for the holidays and cooked food ourselves.

The issue is that because of this we have so much left overs. My concern now is I don’t want the food to go to waste but I don’t know the best way to track the calories. I didn’t put a lot of effort into measuring like I normally do because of how much work everything was.

I’m thinking of just finding an entry on MFP and using that as a rough estimate. Any thoughts or suggestions for anyone who has experienced holiday eating and how to track left overs? I imagine this would still be a problem if I went out as we’re usually sent home with leftovers but my family wouldn’t know the exact measurements of every ingredient used.
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  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
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    are you in CA? I plan those meals as an all or nothing meal 😂
  • DupreeTheTRex
    DupreeTheTRex Posts: 105 Member
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    @Fflpnari Yes, we are Canadian. That’s what I basically planned as well but I cooked way to much food. The turkey we got was for 8 people we wanted smaller but the stores were sold out. No regrets though cooking this was good practice for the future.
  • gewel321
    gewel321 Posts: 718 Member
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    I have a thanksgiving entry I made in my personal meals. It has all the things I normally eat at thanksgiving and an amount. I can change the amount of each item and see what it does to my calorie count. I may not have enough for that extra scoop of stuffing but I can have another few grams of turkey.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    DupreeTheTRex wrote: »
    @Fflpnari Yes, we are Canadian. That’s what I basically planned as well but I cooked way to much food. The turkey we got was for 8 people we wanted smaller but the stores were sold out. No regrets though cooking this was good practice for the future.

    You can use entries for cooked turkey and cooked ham. How complicated are your sides?
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
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    Have you already prepared everything. I thought your Thanksgiving is 10/12. If not, you could use the recipe builder. Even if you have prepared it, using the recipe builder and approximating would get you close. Freezing individual portions is an option for leftovers you don’t want to go to waste.
  • DupreeTheTRex
    DupreeTheTRex Posts: 105 Member
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    @missysippy930 You’re correct on the date but everyone I know celebrates on one or all of the days on the thanksgiving weekend. Usually visit one side of the family and the other side the next day.

    I have a rough idea of the Ingredients but it’s the serving sizes that’s going to throw me off the most. I think I’m just gonna have to risk it and use entries for turkey/ham. See my recipe book of 100+ recipes is built for exactly two servings so it’s easy for me to input ingredients and split dishes.

    My turkey was meant to serve 8, and my stuffing was way more than what I needed too. Oh well lesson learned lol
  • gracegettingittogether
    gracegettingittogether Posts: 176 Member
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    I just look at the range of entries and find the one with the highest calorie count and go with that. It’s working so far for me.
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
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    DupreeTheTRex wrote: »
    @missysippy930 You’re correct on the date but everyone I know celebrates on one or all of the days on the thanksgiving weekend. Usually visit one side of the family and the other side the next day.

    I have a rough idea of the Ingredients but it’s the serving sizes that’s going to throw me off the most. I think I’m just gonna have to risk it and use entries for turkey/ham. See my recipe book of 100+ recipes is built for exactly two servings so it’s easy for me to input ingredients and split dishes.

    My turkey was meant to serve 8, and my stuffing was way more than what I needed too. Oh well lesson learned lol

    I think it’s pretty cool that you took this on. It IS a lot of work ! Enjoy all the good food, log as best you can, and continue on. At least you’ll be better prepared for the next holiday!

    Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It won’t be the same without my sisters and their families.
  • AliNouveau
    AliNouveau Posts: 36,287 Member
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    Happy Thanksgiving!!!! We did ours yesterday too. I'm not sure I know anyone who actually does their dinner on Thanksgiving Monday.

    You might be able to find a generic entry for a turkey dinner

    As for the leftovers you can make it and freeze it. I know a woman who will buy a turkey in sale Tuesday and cook it up and freeze the meat in gravy for future use

    Turkey and ham are great made into a stew or soup. I make turkey and ham pot pie usually. This year we're taking care packages of Thanksgiving dinner to some friends who live alone
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,154 Member
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    DupreeTheTRex wrote: »
    @missysippy930 You’re correct on the date but everyone I know celebrates on one or all of the days on the thanksgiving weekend. Usually visit one side of the family and the other side the next day.

    I have a rough idea of the Ingredients but it’s the serving sizes that’s going to throw me off the most. I think I’m just gonna have to risk it and use entries for turkey/ham. See my recipe book of 100+ recipes is built for exactly two servings so it’s easy for me to input ingredients and split dishes.

    My turkey was meant to serve 8, and my stuffing was way more than what I needed too. Oh well lesson learned lol

    It's only a few meal in the grand (multi-month) scheme of things. Estimating should be fine. Don't stress about it. 🙂

    If you do it in the future sometime, you can do it differently. Or not, because you're going to find that a few days of estimating make remarkably little difference.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    You can Freeze the leftovers. It’s ok to use a similar entry on MFP to estimate. Happy Thanksgiving!!
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
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    AliNouveau wrote: »
    Happy Thanksgiving!!!! We did ours yesterday too. I'm not sure I know anyone who actually does their dinner on Thanksgiving Monday.


    Thanks for setting me straight. You learn something every day. I don’t know anyone in the US that doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day. Just assuming, without knowledge, and we all know what assuming does☺️
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    missysippy930 wrote: »
    AliNouveau wrote: »
    Happy Thanksgiving!!!! We did ours yesterday too. I'm not sure I know anyone who actually does their dinner on Thanksgiving Monday.


    Thanks for setting me straight. You learn something every day. I don’t know anyone in the US that doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day. Just assuming, without knowledge, and we all know what assuming does☺️

    I was so confused at first. My first reaction was wait, it’s not thanksgiving yet. Then I followed that up with Canadian thanksgiving but I was like “isn’t that today?”

    @missysippy930 I have worked in retail or warehouse management for my entire adult life, so now you know someone in the US who normally does NOT celebrate thanksgiving on thanksgiving. The hubby and I usually celebrate it on whatever day close to thanksgiving that we both have off 😊

    OP freeze away if you have the space. Guesstimate as best you can and remember, that a few days being over or under on calories isn’t going to change much in the grand scheme of things. I hole you had a nice thanksgiving!
  • DupreeTheTRex
    DupreeTheTRex Posts: 105 Member
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    @Dogmom1978

    My wife and I have ALMOST finished all of our left over turkey. We have way too much stuffing left over though so maybe to the freezer that will go. On another note, I had a sneak peak at my weight loss for the month (about 1 and a half weeks early) and I’ve lost more than expected. I’ve been extra cautious with my entries and probably overcompensating too much. I can’t wait to get back to food that I can easily track but I’m happy I didn’t put on weight.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,898 Member
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    DupreeTheTRex wrote: »
    @Fflpnari Yes, we are Canadian. That’s what I basically planned as well but I cooked way to much food. The turkey we got was for 8 people we wanted smaller but the stores were sold out. No regrets though cooking this was good practice for the future.

    People in the US who want a smaller turkey should take note that there is an expected scarcity of smaller turkeys. Retailers needed to tell the turkey farmers in March or April that they wanted a higher proportion of smaller turkeys and this didn't happen.

    At 6-8 pounds, Perdue's Oven Stuffer Roaster whole chickens might be a good alternative.

    I love turkey and like to plan for lots of leftovers. My "Joy of Cooking" has many recipes that call for cooked chicken or turkey. If I have no choice but an overly large turkey I might plan to make soup and other recipes that freeze well.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,052 Member
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    I know EXACTLY what you mean, OP. Weighing the uncooked ingredients and finished dish is the last thing on my mind when trying to get everything to the table hot at the same time, and the time I told elderly guests to expect to be at the table. What I do is enter my recipe after the fact using my best guess at measures and visualizing servings and just wing it with best guesses for the leftovers. It's all estimates anyway, some more accurate than others.

    Hope it was delicious, and Happy Thanksgiving to you all up there. I love all things Canadian and have been thinking December is the perfect time for my family to rent a place in Canada, but sadly, your government doesn't agree. :(
  • DupreeTheTRex
    DupreeTheTRex Posts: 105 Member
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    @kshama2001 I can confirm we had trouble getting our hands on a small turkey and the grocery store pretty much told us the same thing. We had to make due with a bigger bird but less guests than we’d normally see around the holidays (because we only invited one other couple who effectively is constantly in self-quarantine).

    Should note all four of us work from home and are introverts so we spend our free time playing video games. We don’t even go into grocery stores we have the groceries brought to our car.
  • DupreeTheTRex
    DupreeTheTRex Posts: 105 Member
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    @ahoy_m8 I guess it depends where you want to be in December. Growing up I remember it being cold and wet and snowy but I lived much more North than I do now. I’ve had December’s where I live now where I was in short sleeves on Dec. 24.

    I love fall time around here, my wife and I have been taking lots of walks around a pond near our condo and the colours/temperature is just perfect!

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