Calories in homemade food?

Options
Owlibee
Owlibee Posts: 138 Member
in Food and Nutrition
When you are baking/making your own food items (for example a quiche/homemade sauces or a cake ect) how do you go about working out how many calories is in them?

I am only asking as I made my own hot chocolate last night with squirty cream,marshmellows ect (all the trimmings) but finding it hard to calculate how many calories was in it

Do you calculate the calories of each ingredient you used?

For example I made my hot chocolate using two tablespoons of melted nutella and a cup of whole milk and then squirted about two inches of cream on top and a small handful of marshmellows. (I worked it out to be around 300 calorie but this sounds a bit low)

Replies

  • penelopeyvonne
    penelopeyvonne Posts: 97 Member
    Options
    Yep ... each and every ingredient, which can be a bit of a bore at times :yawn: I've not been able to find any more reliable way.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,017 Member
    Options
    Yes, calculate the calories for each ingredient then divide by number of portions.
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    Options
    Enter it as a 'meal' in your diary. That way each time you have the same thing, all items are entered in at the same time, call it 'my hot chocolate' or something like that. You can also change the amounts once it appears in your log for the day.

    ETA: for food cooked at home, use the recipe builder. All you really need to do is decide how much each serving should be. I put the amount (1 cup, 1/2 cup etc. in the title so I remember.)
  • PinkyPan1
    PinkyPan1 Posts: 3,018 Member
    Options
    Every ingredient counts. I use the recipe keeper and manually put my ingredients in and then log it. I have many of my own homemade recipes in the data base and it is so easy to use. You just input the ingredients and how many people the recipe serves and it calculates the calories and other essential info for you.
  • Owlibee
    Owlibee Posts: 138 Member
    Options
    Looks like I will have to do it the hard way then XD

    I normally just throw stuff in when I cook and add more if it needs it.

    will have to get in the habit of weighing everything beforehand
  • nehushtan
    nehushtan Posts: 566 Member
    Options
    Use the MFP recipe calculator! Just enter in the total of all ingredients and it will take care of computing the number of calories per serving
  • Owlibee
    Owlibee Posts: 138 Member
    Options
    Enter it as a 'meal' in your diary. That way each time you have the same thing, all items are entered in at the same time, call it 'my hot chocolate' or something like that. You can also change the amounts once it appears in your log for the day.

    ETA: for food cooked at home, use the recipe builder. All you really need to do is decide how much each serving should be. I put the amount (1 cup, 1/2 cup etc. in the title so I remember.)

    Thats a great idea! I was thinking of what way I can add meals I regularly eat without having to go through it all again

    thanks :)

    Just gone back and re-calculated a meal I had yesterday and it came to over 1000 calories! So I was greatly underestimating /guessing before
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    Options
    Enter it as a 'meal' in your diary. That way each time you have the same thing, all items are entered in at the same time, call it 'my hot chocolate' or something like that. You can also change the amounts once it appears in your log for the day.

    ETA: for food cooked at home, use the recipe builder. All you really need to do is decide how much each serving should be. I put the amount (1 cup, 1/2 cup etc. in the title so I remember.)

    Thats a great idea! I was thinking of what way I can add meals I regularly eat without having to go through it all again

    thanks :)

    No prob :wink:
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Options
    I just enter every ingredient separately. The 'meal' idea is a good one, but I never use exactly the same quantity of stuff anyway so it wouldn't work for me.
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    Options
    I just enter every ingredient separately. The 'meal' idea is a good one, but I never use exactly the same quantity of stuff anyway so it wouldn't work for me.

    that happens to me sometimes too, you can change the amounts once it appears in your diary.
    All the 'meal' function does is add everything at once.

    I've also added as a 'meal' half servings of things like chia seed cereal, which has the same ingredients as my full portion (butter, coconut oil, cream etc.) but only half the amounts.

    At first I would just change the amounts in my diary, then I realized I can add as a '1/2 meal' so to speak.
    It's really easy, try it :drinker:
  • feralkitten1010
    feralkitten1010 Posts: 219 Member
    Options
    If you use the recipe option, it does the calculation for you. It's fairly straight forward. I use it all of the time.
  • FindingAmy77
    FindingAmy77 Posts: 1,266 Member
    Options
    what I been doing is I use the recipe builder on here. it has been a godsend for me to keep track of all these new creations and recipes I been trying out. I make sure to keep track of the measurements of each ingredient and log it on a notepad while cooking then later on I input it as a new recipe. This way when I make it again, its already in my food database and easy to track. I already have quite the collection of recipes and meals in mine. I been using mfp for over a year and just now started taking advantage of this feature. its great. try it out.
  • JenniDaisy
    JenniDaisy Posts: 526 Member
    Options
    I hardly ever use the recipe builder, I'm to haphazard of a cook. I have a couple of things in there like bread or pastry where the ingredients and the amount doesn't change.

Categories