Calories in home-cooked meals?

I measure ingredients separately, and log them individually - either as a recipe to give myself a serve of, or an individual meal...

Eg.

Omelette - X jumbo eggs, X jumbo egg whites, X ml skim milk, 100g mushrooms, 100g red pepper, 100g zucchini, 30g light cheese

Spaghetti bolognese - X grams dry pasta, 150g lean beef mince, 50g onion, 100g mushrooms, 100g zucchini, 350g tomato passata, 30g Parmesan cheese

Perfection is not required, just search for 'stir fry' and pick the most reasonable substitute for what you made. This still builds awareness and focuses you on portion control.

This is what I would do for a fast and easy stir fry or pasta dish.

Measure out a serving of pasta or rice and cook it. (You can make more or less than a serving, but until you have down the calories you want and so on, a serving is a good way to start.) The bag or box tells you how many grams (or .33 cup or whatever if you don't have a scale, but a scale makes everything easier, IMO). That is for the dry, unless it states otherwise.

While the rice/pasta is cooking, take a big skillet, heat it to medium or medium high, add some oil (measure it out or use spray and log a small amount for that). Stir fry what you are going to add: lots of vegetables, whatever you have around, really (for example, I might use broccoli and zucchini, since I usually have them), mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, onion and garlic -- put them in depending on what they are and how fast they cook. Chop your protein and add it -- this works with really anything from tofu to chicken to shrimp or fish or lean beef or many other options (egg is great in a stir fry) -- again, add it depending on cooking time, or you can do it in a separate pan. Add in some things that seem good for flavor -- pine nuts or olives with a pasta dish, for example. Experiment with herbs and spices (if you can find it, I always recommend Japanese 7 spice for a stir fry). At the end mix it together -- you can turn the heat off or way down and add the rice and mix it around or mix the pasta and toppings in a bowl and add a little cheese at the end if you like.

This is one of the ways I learned to cook regularly years ago. I also did recipes and cooked more complicated things and read some books on basic cooking, but I just played around with the ingredients I had on hand to see what tasted good to me.

Another fast way to use vegetables is in an omelet, which I have for breakfast or dinner quite often. Again, I'll use what vegetables I have on hand, almost always including something like spinach or chard.

A salad with a mix of hot and cold ingredients can be easy and good too -- I might do the basic salad with spinach and spring greens and then add some radish, cucumbers, tomato, whatever you like and then also add some roasted brussels sprouts or sauteed mushrooms and zucchini and then some cooked meat or tofu and mix it around. I'll make a dressing with vinegar and olive oil (or just balsamic) and add some extras like olives, cheese, seeds, again.

For logging all of these things, if you are just cooking for you, I'd just note down the amount I used of each ingredient while chopping and then log it at the end (or after dinner). For whole ingredients you want to find the USDA entries, which someone can help you with -- it's easy after you do it a couple times.

You need to be using the recipe builder. It's a must use tool when doing any of your own cooking. Once you use it a few times it is really easy to use.

Kaolru wrote: »

Thank you guys, all of this information is REALLY helpful! I appreciate it! I actually didn't even realize the recipe builder was a thing. I'm not sure how I missed it, but I'll definitely mess around with it some more. I think I'm just going to have to practice.

Thank you again!

The recipe builder is a godsend! My S/O is no longer counting calories but when we did together it made life so much easier!