How do I figure up calories in my dinner?

AKNMHunt

I'm making chicken breast cooked in cream of mushroom soup with a packet of dry ranch (Hidden Valley) and a packet of dry brown gravy (McCormick).

There are five breasts and there's maybe 2T of the sauce on it when I eat the chicken.

cwolfman13

use the recipe builder

spmcavoy1

yep. Cut the chicken into consistently weighted pieces (maybe fillet them and half them for maybe like 8 pieces total) and then add the total weight of the uncooked chicken plus the other ingredients into the recipe builder. Set the serving size to one piece of chicken, so if you have one, one and a half, or two it'll be easy to estimate portions.

If you cut the chicken into consistently weighted pieces, it'll be easier to standardize the calories in each piece.

AKNMHunt

Thanks! I didn't know there was one.

I'm surprised at how high it's saying the calories are though....341 for one breast...

csmccord

Thanks! I didn't know there was one.

I'm surprised at how high it's saying the calories are though....341 for one breast...

Did you weigh each one? Or at least the entire package of chicken? One breast of chicken is rarely the same as another breast of chicken.

ColeCake292012

I always add up the calories for EVERYTHING I'm putting into my recipe, and divide the actual food by even amounts to get an idea...and yes, the recipe builder on here is heaven.

a_stronger_me13

Use the weight. Always use the weight.

asciident

Thanks! I didn't know there was one.

I'm surprised at how high it's saying the calories are though....341 for one breast...

Did you weigh each one? Or at least the entire package of chicken? One breast of chicken is rarely the same as another breast of chicken.

I think she meant after she used the recipe builder with all the other ingredients?

Either way I'm not surprised. The packets are about 80 cals each (16 if split 5 ways) and a can of Campbell's condensed Cream of Mushroom is about 250 (50 if split 5 ways) so it's 66 plus the chicken... if they're large pieces I can easily see it getting to 340.

OP, don't forget the recipe builder is just kind of blindly assuming you're evenly splitting all the ingredients by the number of servings you put in. It assumes nothing is left in the pan.

edit: math

cwolfman13

Thanks! I didn't know there was one.

I'm surprised at how high it's saying the calories are though....341 for one breast...

a recommended serving of boneless skinless chicken breast is around 120 calories per 4 ounces...so that would be almost a 12 ounce chicken breast (@ 341 calories), which is pretty damned huge. Most of the chicken breasts I eat are around 8 ounces, but it's variable. My wife usually has a 1/2 breast to generally be in the 4-5 ounce territory...for me, it just depends on where I'm at calorie wise and protein wise.

cwolfman13

Thanks! I didn't know there was one.

I'm surprised at how high it's saying the calories are though....341 for one breast...

Did you weigh each one? Or at least the entire package of chicken? One breast of chicken is rarely the same as another breast of chicken.

I think she meant after she used the recipe builder with all the other ingredients?

Either way I'm not surprised. The packets are about 80 cals each (16 if split 5 ways) and a can of Campbell's condensed Cream of Mushroom is about 250 (50 if split 5 ways) so it's 46 plus the chicken... if they're large pieces I can easily see it getting to 340.

OP, don't forget the recipe builder is just kind of blindly assuming you're evenly splitting all the ingredients by the number of servings you put in. It assumes nothing is left in the pan.

If this is the case, makes sense...but I wouldn't worry about it as 341 calories is really not much at all.