Confusion with accuracy: When a chicken thigh is 30 different things

michwalton

Best bet is to weigh everything, no problem. Best way to measure!

Unfortunately, in the vast library of food, choices are wildly differing. When the entry states, "baked chicken thigh," and uses "one thigh," as the measure how big is that thigh? How big was that chicken? Some of the chickens in the stores are grown to pterodactyl size, with a chicken breast three or four times the weight of what used to be the standard size. In addition, the caloric count of "one thigh," varies between 150 and 800 calories.

OK- so I try to find and entry closest to what I made (chicken thigh, baked, bone-in, meat with skin,) so... do I eat the meat and skin and subtract the bone? Or does the weight include bone weight?

What's a girl to do? Please help

pmckinnis

So funny, I ran into this exact thing yesterday. I decided I can either take the meat off the bone and weigh it and then calculate as dark chicken meat or, forget the drumsticks and buy thighs that are easier to weigh.

cmriverside

I solved the chicken problem by just buying boneless, skinless pieces.

The other problem is finding the correct entry in the database. I'd suggest going to the USDA "Legacy Foods" section on the USDA website.

Here's the chicken entry, just add "chicken thigh" or whatever you want, like boneless skinless, in the search box:
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/?query=chicken

Then find one in Myfitnesspal that matches or create your own.

cwolfman13

michwalton wrote: »

Best bet is to weigh everything, no problem. Best way to measure!

Unfortunately, in the vast library of food, choices are wildly differing. When the entry states, "baked chicken thigh," and uses "one thigh," as the measure how big is that thigh? How big was that chicken? Some of the chickens in the stores are grown to pterodactyl size, with a chicken breast three or four times the weight of what used to be the standard size. In addition, the caloric count of "one thigh," varies between 150 and 800 calories.

OK- so I try to find and entry closest to what I made (chicken thigh, baked, bone-in, meat with skin,) so... do I eat the meat and skin and subtract the bone? Or does the weight include bone weight?

What's a girl to do? Please help

The weight is for the edible portion.

allaboutthecake

Usually if you type in USDA after the item it will have correctly info.i weigh it all. Also boneless skinless if has a bone in (like T-Bone steak), I weigh before and after whatever didn't get swallowed. (Gristle, fat, bone.)

michwalton

Thank you all for your answers and suggestions! Very helpful, indeed.

allaboutthecake

Also, look at your label to compare. I had a discrepancy on 2 items right after your post. The manufacturers change up their labels.