[Spain/Canary Islands] Calorie information?

yirara
yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So first long summer vacation coming up soon. I'll be going to Tenerife, San Juan de la Rambla for nearly 3 weeks. As this is the first long vacation in ages I'd like to try and track. However, how difficult will it be?

I don't have a lot of money will probably cook my own food most evenings. Could imagine warming up tins of bean soups, making salads and maybe pasta, barbecuing a bit or cooking a fish en papillote and similar things. Calories are no problem for those things. Fruits and tins of tuna are not a problem either. But freshly baked bread? Goats cheese and meat products for my bread from the cheese and meat counter? Salami? Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks a lot.

Replies

  • londoneye
    londoneye Posts: 202 Member
    You'll find Spanish language entries in the database for most common brands in Spain. Worse case scenario, add a similar English language equivalent. You'll be fine! Enjoy!
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    edited August 2018
    When I visited Spain, I found the database to be somewhat wanting for products there for packaged products compared to the United States. I had to create half a dozen entries because those already in the database were either missing or wrong. The matches through the barcode scanner weren't any more accurate/correct than those found using the text search. Some were close enough that I just went with it, like maybe they were for the same product in a different country or out of date.

    For eating in, I had calorie information on packaged products, or ate stuff for which there were standard entries (e.g. milk, coffee, fruits, vegetables) and the person I was visiting had a kitchen scale, so that was easy enough.

    For those items while I was out... mostly a lot of educated guessing based on years worth of experience, recipe look ups to get a reasonable calorie estimate, and regular use of a food scale with similar foods while at home for eyeballing portions. It was close enough for the couple of weeks period I was on vacation. Not that I was really trying to limit calories on this vacation... I mean, how many times are you going to get to have fresh suckling pig in Segovia?

    (This is net calories including 31 miles of running that week and a spin class :p )

    x8kqm592tcsv.png
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
    Thanks all. I'm still a bit undecided on taking my scale along and logging. On the other hand I'm still somewhat vulnerable and that might show up during this vacation. Basically I regained some weight due to being depressed and only lost it again earlier this year. First proper vacation alone so I might end up not feeling well and eating a lot. Logging might allow me to keep some control. My last few vacations were either very short (Svalbard) or very intense (archaeological dig), thus not a big chance of overeating.
  • cdjs77
    cdjs77 Posts: 176 Member
    I'm from Germany and our database here is pretty well established now. A few years ago it was less so, but now I find it has most everything I scan. It also has entries for most of the chain bakeries/delis/etc., and I have had no problem entering things I've found in a lot of other Euro countries, so I would imagine it is similar for Spain. Just note the local name of the thing you are eating and search for that. As far as the cheese/meat counter, you can usually ask for the specific brand that they are offering and search for that as well.

    Safe Travels!

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