New way to estimate calories in homemade bread

HeidiCooksSupper
HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I make bread. We slice it by hand as needed. Even if, as I've done before, I add up all the calories in the recipe, estimating number of slices is a crap shoot. I was avoiding my own delicious bread and eating store bought just for the count! A sad state of affairs.

After much deliberation, I've decided upon a new, easy way to "guesstimate" the calories in homemade bread. I weigh the slice in grams and use that and the USDA numbers for type of bread to log a slice.

For example, today I sliced off some nice, fresh caraway rye. The slice weighed 42 grams. I found the MFP listing for 100g rye bread with numbers matching what I saw in http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ and added "0.42" of a 100g serving to my log.

As they say, close enough for government work.

Replies

  • kjloiselle
    kjloiselle Posts: 101 Member
    What I do with my homemade bread is input everything into the recipe builder and in the serving size I put how many grams the entire loaf weighs once baked. When I slice some off I weigh it and put in that number. So if it weighed 42g then I would put in that I ate 42 servings. I am also thankful that I have a meat slicer (only use for bread) so all my slices are the same size (when I make non round loaves haha).

    Best of Luck!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Enter all your ingredients in the recipe maker... Weigh loaf. Put the number of grams as the number of servings... Weigh your slice, enter how much it weighs in grams, there you go.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
    What you describe is what I was trying to do but with hubby cutting off chunks, too, it seems a lot to ask of him. Your way is more scientific but I needed an easy method to work in a multi-person household.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    i dont understand the need to weigh stuff if you are making it yourself.

    - put the ingredients in the recipe builder
    - put the number of servings you intend to get from that recipe

    and that's it. there shouldnt be a need to weight it again.

    for instance when i make soups and chili in my crockpot i put all the ingredients in the recipe builder i know that the bowl i use gives me a bit less than 12 servings.each time i eat what i cooked in that bowl, it's a serving. no need to weigh
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    i dont understand the need to weigh stuff if you are making it yourself.

    - put the ingredients in the recipe builder
    - put the number of servings you intend to get from that recipe

    and that's it. there shouldnt be a need to weight it again.

    for instance when i make soups and chili in my crockpot i put all the ingredients in the recipe builder i know that the bowl i use gives me a bit less than 12 servings.each time i eat what i cooked in that bowl, it's a serving. no need to weigh

    Because sometimes you can't have the same servings each time, especially if other people are eating it as well or you might want more or less than what the serving "might" be.

    For example, I'll make a smoothie and weigh the ingredients, enter, then figure out the weight for the whole thing in ounces. Some days I might want 8 ounces, other 12-16. I've found it allows me to be more flexible instead of trying to sort equally and only be able to have that amount.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    i dont understand the need to weigh stuff if you are making it yourself.

    - put the ingredients in the recipe builder
    - put the number of servings you intend to get from that recipe

    and that's it. there shouldnt be a need to weight it again.

    for instance when i make soups and chili in my crockpot i put all the ingredients in the recipe builder i know that the bowl i use gives me a bit less than 12 servings.each time i eat what i cooked in that bowl, it's a serving. no need to weigh

    because good luck cutting some bread to get the exact same serving size every time. Plus, it takes 30 seconds.

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