Meals that are easy to count calories

dangerousdumpling
dangerousdumpling Posts: 1,109 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Some meals are more time consuming to count calories. They may have lots of ingredients or involve weight or measuring before and after cooking. They're fine sometimes but not all the time. What are your go to meals that are easy to count calories?

Replies

  • musicfan68
    musicfan68 Posts: 1,123 Member
    My basic diet consists of a protein like a piece of chicken, pork, turkey, beef with a side of vegetables and either potato, sweet potato or rice. Easy to prepare, and easy to track.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I don't really let that drive what I eat, but you do get to know the cals of things you eat regularly. With enough habit, everything is easy to log. I'm not a fussy cook though.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    chicken, baked potato and a bag of steamed vegetables
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    eggs or cottage cheese or frozen veggie burger or canned tuna

    plus

    baked potato or instant rice or canned beans or bread

    with

    frozen veggies

    and

    oil or butter or mayo or avocado or cheese

    That's a total of 4 things to weigh. Add in whatever seasonings/herbs you'd like for extra flavor.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Are you using the recipe builder tool? You can put in all the ingredients of your dish and then just save it to enter next time. Also, you can copy meals from one day to the next--say, if you're eating last night's leftovers for lunch--and not have to enter all the ingredients again.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    Sticking with a protein, starch, and veggie with a little oil (fat) to cook in is easiest. Otherwise recipe builder is how I keep meals efficient.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    edited January 2018
    I use the recipe builder, and most of my food is in my recent list, so it's easy to count calories for complex meals. I also save entire meals for situations like restaurants where I regularly eat the same things. So for example, I only need to make one entry to log Garibaldi's spaghetti with half a cup of meat sauce and two meatballs, greens, side salad with dressing, and Parmesan cheese. As far as measuring, I don't measure every time, just when something is new to me, and once in a while to make sure my estimating doesn't creep up. I've got a pretty good eye, my last tablespoon of peanut butter that I checked weighed exactly what it was supposed to. And when making a recipe I have made before, I put the pot directly on the scale and weigh the ingredients into the pot directly using the tare function.

    If you aren't using the recipe builder, and other tools like copying meals, the location option for restaurants, and the scanner, those can really help speed up logging. Nothing takes me more than a few seconds to log.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,961 Member
    Any foods that are on my "frequent" or "recent" lists, so I don't have to check database entries (which I find much more time consuming than weighing foods). Coincidentally, at any given time, I'm likely to have on hand in my kitchen at least some of the foods that are on my frequent and recent lists.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    All my meals are easy to measure, even if they contain 20 different ingredients. Just plan ahead. if I know I have to add a certain veggy or spice to my dinner in a minute I have it ready and it's been on the scale and logged. Just takes 5 seconds for each ingredient.
  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
    Anything prepackaged...frozen meals, individual cups of yogurt, that sort of thing. For the main meal, a meat and two vegetables...sometimes a roll on the side.
  • murp4069
    murp4069 Posts: 494 Member
    Baked potatoes with basically any variety of toppings is pretty easy and not time consuming. Weigh the potato, while it cooks in the microwave/oven, weigh out your toppings. Put together when potato is done.

    Also salad kids (I'm thinking like the Publix or Fresh Express Caesar salad kits) are easy to prepare and weigh while perhaps you are grilling/baking/broiling some protein, as are frozen veggies.

    Of course there are also frozen entrees and other individually prepared and packaged meals. I'm a fan of several Amy's frozen meals (and a few other brands by Amy's is my go to). I think the trick with those is making sure they fit your needs (some people have to watch sodium for example) and finding a few that you really like and keeping them in stock if you need to have a quick meal.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    musicfan68 wrote: »
    My basic diet consists of a protein like a piece of chicken, pork, turkey, beef with a side of vegetables and either potato, sweet potato or rice. Easy to prepare, and easy to track.

    Something like this would have been my answer too, for dinners.

    Log any added fat, also.
  • dangerousdumpling
    dangerousdumpling Posts: 1,109 Member
    Yes, I use the recipe builder and it's helpful. Most of the time it's not a big deal but sometimes I want something that's quick and easy and I was looking for some new ideas for those times.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Quick and easy to log (just a couple ideas):

    Roasted chicken (weigh it cooked) with potatoes and brussels sprouts on the side.

    2 egg omelet with spinach and broccoli and mushrooms, plus a little feta, some cottage cheese on the side, with an apple.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    Are you using the recipe builder tool? You can put in all the ingredients of your dish and then just save it to enter next time. Also, you can copy meals from one day to the next--say, if you're eating last night's leftovers for lunch--and not have to enter all the ingredients again.

    This is what I was going to say, so yeah, this.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    I often just use stereotypical calorie measurements for foods that have a low calorie density, like many veggies. If I cook with three stalks of celery, it's getting logged as 18 calories, I'm not going to bother weighing as it's just not worth it - all food has some degree of imprecision in calorie counts, I won't sweat over the odd calorie or two. Even if I were off by 30% that would still be under 6 calories.

    If I get accurate weights & measures for the foods that account for 90% of the calories of a meal, dish, or component, I'm fine with estimating the last 10%. So I only really spend my time where it's most valuable, on the calorie-rich components of the meal.

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