Home-made meals and keeping track of calories.

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princelukas777
princelukas777 Posts: 36
in Food and Nutrition
I'm sure a lot of us here are home-cooks, LOL, myself included - how do you guys manage with keeping track of the number of calories in the meals that you guys make? It's obviously easier to keep track of foods that are already premade or pre-packaged from the beginning, so how do you do it when you're working from scratch? Do I really have to measure out each and every ingredient I use, or is there an easier method? For example, I tend to do a lot of stir-frys - where would I begin to keep track of calories then, for instance?

Thanks for the advice you guys!!! =D
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Replies

  • kathrynmahan
    kathrynmahan Posts: 7 Member
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    I'm in the same boat Prince, I cook for my kids and myself from scratch most meals. Going through and adding all the nutrients to create your own custom meal is a pain, and unless you have only 4-5 "go to" recipes it's really not worth it.

    An easier route is to just enter all the ingredients for a meal that day, with nothing else in that time slot, then do "remember meal." Later you can just add your "Moroccan Sweet Potato-Lentil" dinner and it will list the ingredients the same as the first time you remembered the meal.

    The down side is that you don't get to show off your fancy meal name to your MFP friends that way. The up side is that it lists the meal by ingredient, so if you're the kind of person (like me) who varies the recipe from time to time you can adjust it every time.

    For me "Kathryn's Skillet Frittata" is one of these. Sometimes I use one egg, sometimes two, now and three. Sometimes I use spinach or sun dried tomato or sometimes even asparagus. I add the basic remembered meal that day then adjust once all the ingredients have been added to my entry.

    I hope this isn't too confusing. Nice to meet another cook :)

    kathryn
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    Use the recipe builder. I cook almost everything from scratch and have about a gazillion recipes in my recipe builder. It's annoying at first, but once it's in there, it's in there.

    Also, yes...you should measure out pretty much everything if you want it to be as accurate as possible...especially cooking oils and the like as a little bit goes a long way calorie wise.
  • geralynhoerauf
    geralynhoerauf Posts: 73 Member
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    And even with the Recipe Builder you can go back and revise the ingredients list. For example, my husband makes omelettes every Sunday morning so I have a recipe named "Hunky's Famous Omelette". It always has three eggs, zucchini and cheese, but I typically swap out the other ingredients like mushrooms, tomatoes etc., then save it and post it.
  • Jchambers1130
    Jchambers1130 Posts: 173 Member
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    Wally World has a digital scale that weighs oz, kg, lbs, grams. It was about $20 bucks and puts you at ease with measuring.
  • cmurphy252
    cmurphy252 Posts: 279 Member
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    Use the recipe builder. I cook almost everything from scratch and have about a gazillion recipes in my recipe builder. It's annoying at first, but once it's in there, it's in there.

    Also, yes...you should measure out pretty much everything if you want it to be as accurate as possible...especially cooking oils and the like as a little bit goes a long way calorie wise.

    This^^ . . . . .and I bought a food scale at RiteAid for about $20 to keep accurate measurements of the ingredients.
  • Runfaster14
    Runfaster14 Posts: 90 Member
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    I use Spark People Recipe Builder. Easy to use then transfer the informaiton in to MFP.
  • UrbanLotus
    UrbanLotus Posts: 1,163 Member
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    Yes, measure everything and save it in the recipe builder, easy!
  • Railr0aderTony
    Railr0aderTony Posts: 6,803 Member
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    Use the recipe builder. I cook almost everything from scratch and have about a gazillion recipes in my recipe builder. It's annoying at first, but once it's in there, it's in there.

    Also, yes...you should measure out pretty much everything if you want it to be as accurate as possible...especially cooking oils and the like as a little bit goes a long way calorie wise.

    This^^^
  • silverinc13
    silverinc13 Posts: 216 Member
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    The recipe builder is a huge life saver. I have pages and pages of em, it's so much easier than entering individual ingredients all the time!
  • Babeskeez
    Babeskeez Posts: 606 Member
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    I use the recipe builder but I am so lazy and really dont like figuring out how many servings are exactly in my fricken pasta salad :grumble:

    I just guess and hope I am right.
  • Flab2fitfi
    Flab2fitfi Posts: 1,349 Member
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    i just add everything and add it too my database. It get easier after a while as my normal measurements for oil, garlic , oinions tend to stay the same for whatever I'm preparing.
  • spetermann190
    spetermann190 Posts: 289 Member
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    I hear you OP! For Me was more trouble then worth ... So I stopped! Eat smart and use the time to exercise instead of log ;)
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
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    Measure each ingredient.
    Create a recipe in MFP (I generally create a new one each time I cook, because I rarely have the exact same mix or amounts)
    Decide how many portions it is.
    Put the 'leftovers' container on the scale, and zero it.
    Before you serve, move the whole lot into the leftover container and weigh it.
    Divide the weight by the number of servings to find the right portion size.
    Serve that portion size.

    Voila accurate (or as accurate as you can get without a bomb calorimeter) calorie counts for a home made meal.
  • unapologetically_crystal
    unapologetically_crystal Posts: 278 Member
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    i love the recipe builder.. and if its something you and your family regularly eat then you can save it and have it for next time. i actually find it FUN.. call me weird lol. =)

    in time, you will get used to it.
  • dmaloof2013
    dmaloof2013 Posts: 134 Member
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    I use he recipe builder if it is something that I make often. If it's something that I don't typically make or it's the first time, what have you, I plug in each ingredient into the food diary. Tedious, I know, but it gets the job done!
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    I use the recipe builder almost every supper. Oftentimes, I put in what I plan to use and then revise the recipe and replace the old version on my dairy based on what actually happens. I also find the recipe builder makes it easy to see the impact of various tweaks upon the recipe, e.g., "What if I used twice the bell pepper and half the oil?" or "Do I still have spare calories to add some more cheese?" If you look at the suppers on my diary you'll see lots of recipe names. I also reuse recipes and adjust them as I do. For example, the next time I stuff portabellos, I might take one of the recipes I already put in and adjust it based on what goes in the mushrooms that day.
  • MadameLAL
    MadameLAL Posts: 108
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    Logging improvisional cooking is hard. If they are a bunch of veggies, I log those ingredients separately. My sauces tend to add the most calories, so I have those in the MFP recipe builder and log those separately.
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
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    For stir fry type stuff, I add each ingredient to my food diary. If it's something I make a lot, I save it as a meal and just adjust the grams/oz when I add it again.

    For other stuff (pot pie, chili, etc) I build recipes and enter the servings in either grams or cups.
  • Babeskeez
    Babeskeez Posts: 606 Member
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    Measure each ingredient.
    Create a recipe in MFP (I generally create a new one each time I cook, because I rarely have the exact same mix or amounts)
    Decide how many portions it is.
    Put the 'leftovers' container on the scale, and zero it.
    Before you serve, move the whole lot into the leftover container and weigh it.
    Divide the weight by the number of servings to find the right portion size.
    Serve that portion size.

    Voila accurate (or as accurate as you can get without a bomb calorimeter) calorie counts for a home made meal.

    Well ****. That makes sense. :laugh:
  • mlcantwell
    mlcantwell Posts: 243 Member
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    I use the recipe builder add everything and then do the servings per people. There are 3 of us so I enter 3 servings and add 1 serving to the diary.

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