How do I count calories for homemade meals?

seedawg23

Yesterday I made a homecooked meal for the first time since I started logging my intake. I live alone and was preparring a huge pan of spaghetti and baked beans, both with ground turkey, for the college group at my church. With no one else around I had to do all the sampling and tasting for myself. Meaning after adding each ingredient, etc., I downed a small spoonful of the dish to see what I needed to add/change. In the process I realized this would present a challange in recording my intake. Also once everybody arrived I had a plate for myself. I managed to avoid the cookies and treats everyone brought over, but I did have a plate featuring a salad and my baked beans and spaghetti. Also nothing was measured when making the dishes, I just cooked how I normally do and added ingredients until they tasted good. How have you all managed recording intake for homecooked food.

michelec64

Go to the recipe section on the "Food" tab. Input the number of servings and ingredients and it will give you the number of calories for reach serving.

JohnMessmer

By actually measuring what you are adding. My wife never goes exactly by a recipe, so logging right off the bat proved to be a bit time consuming because every item has its own serving size. Basically now she makes the serving for two, or three, or eight and then portions it out to a serving size, this allows a pretty good approximation of the calorie count. If it is a dish she makes often she will put the bare bones of the dish as a meal so that she can just add in the extras each time she makes it.

QueenofScott

I add together the total calories of all the ingredients in the recipe, then divide by the number of servings. Sometimes it takes a little time, but once you enter it into your food diary, it's already there for the next time you make that recipe.