Counting calories in "mystery" food?

millmill89

So since I'm in college a lot of the food that I eat comes from the campus dining halls which does not provide specific details about calorie information. I do know that we get our food from aramark so I use that to help me narrow some things down. However there are many food items that contain no specific calorie information and when I look up the generic meal in the database the range of calories can be huge. For example searching "pancakes" gives you ranges from as low as 54 calories to as high as 300+ calories (for the same exact serving size). How have other people dealt with this confusion?

mm3898

I've dealt with it a lot, and I'm curious about answers too!!!

What I do when I have absolutely NO idea is to try to find a middle of the road calorie number and use that. It isn't the best way AT ALL, but at least you're not purposefully underestimating or accidentally overestimating and depriving yourself of cals you might need.

Probably not the best advise, but it is what I do... You asking this question helps me too LOL

momma3sweetgirls

Have you asked the cafeteria manager for nutrition info? Shouldn't they have the information? At the very least they could provide you with a list of ingredients or recipes to figure it out on your own.

rmhand

Does your university provide any nutritional information in a large binder or on a web site?
My university is also run by Aramark and they have a large binder of the foods they make commonly and the nutritional information and the web site provides nutritional facts.

kkmark

i know its so difficult to have not regular food

what i do is Get 2-3 entries and get an average of it
so if you type Pancakes there might 4-5 options

i choose mayb 3-4 and avg the calories or sometime if 2 of the r close i choose one of it

hope this helps
Kathy

T_William

I often find something similar, try find an example you know are similar as you said that huge variety in pancakes alone but I bet some are tiny tiny ones and others large thick scotch syrup ones. Find one similar and then add or take away a little using your own judgment, its no big deal if your not 100% im sure you know whats right and wrong