How do you account for roast chicken?

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euronorris
euronorris Posts: 211 Member
in Food and Nutrition
OK, I'm British, so we love having a roast chicken dinner on a Sunday. But, I'm a bit at a loss of how to account for it calories wise. What does everyone else do?

Do you weigh out the chicken portion once cooked and carved, and then add an estimate for the butter rubbed into the chicken skin? Or, what? Use a similar entry from the database? But then, how do you know that's accurate? I'd rather not have to weigh it, as I just want it to go fresh, straight onto my plate, still piping hot. But, is there an alternative? I don't know how to make this one remotely accurate. Please help!

Replies

  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,646 Member
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    Are you doing the cooking? If so there is a recipe builder. If not, estimate.
  • suziecue25
    suziecue25 Posts: 289 Member
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    Hi, I'm a Brit too and love my roast chicken dinners. Personally I weigh the chicken after carving and weigh as I plate up.....my food doesn't get cold because I heat the plates.

    I use " morrisons cooked chicken breast" from the database [grams] to log my homemade roast chicken
  • blobby10
    blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
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    You rub butter into chicken skin before roasting?! I only ever chuck it in the oven - sometimes rub some soy sauce into the skin but nothing else. Have I been roasting chicken wrong all these years?
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    I've tried the butter thing, but think chicken tends to have plenty of fat and taste good without it too, so don't anymore.

    I ate roasted chicken or roasted chicken breast (skin on, bone-in) quite often when losing. What I do for calories is weigh the amount I have and then use the USDA entry for chicken, breast, skin and flesh, cooked, roasted (or whatever part of the chicken you are eating, you'd weigh white and dark separately). If you used butter I'd estimate how much would be on your piece based on total used and roughly the amount you are eating.

    If for some reason you think weighing would ruin the experience (it was easy to include as part of plating for me), why not do in one week and then try to just made sure you have similar amounts in subsequent weeks? If it's a weekly thing, being consistent is more important than being exactly correct.
  • mister_blobby
    mister_blobby Posts: 24 Member
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    Normally I much prefer to weigh everything raw before it's cooked so I can plan my meals in advance (Sainsbury's labelling is annoying because it usually gives nutrition for when the food is cooked).

    However with roast chicken I think it's best to weigh the chicken, roast potatoes and veg separately after cooking. It's a slight faf at first but it doesn't take long and if you have the same portion sizes each time then after a few times you'll know roughly where you are so you won't need to weigh, as long as you're honest with yourself.

    Assuming you don't eat the skin then not all that butter you put on will be in the meat that you eat, so find a realistic value for that.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    I weigh the chicken cooked, as noted above, but everything else raw. I don't think it's that hard to estimate portions of the whole for things like roasted potatoes and roasted veg.
  • JennJ323
    JennJ323 Posts: 646 Member
    edited January 2019
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    I had roasted chicken last night, I weighed my portion on my plate (still with the bone-in) ate what I wanted, then reweighed what was left on my plate to see how many oz/g I had actually eaten. Nothing got cold, took hardly any time to weigh. I used a roasted chicken entry, I've eaten enough chicken over my time to know approx how many calories an ounce of chicken breast/leg/thigh should, so I knew it was pretty accurate. I didn't eat the skin, so I didn't worry about that.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,944 Member
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    Yeah, you just put your plate on the scale and weigh your portion, write it down and re-weigh the bones/skin afterwards. Or at least that's what I do. I wouldn't even bother putting butter on a chicken, but since you did, just estimate.

    Close enough is really good enough. Even the best of us are making a couple or three hundred calories in errors every day and it still comes out close enough.
  • euronorris
    euronorris Posts: 211 Member
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    Thanks all. I used some of your tips, and estimated where necessary. I must have been close enough as it didn't hinder my weight loss this week.

    I use the butter because I feel it helps crisp the skin up, and I do like to eat the skin. It's only once a week, so I'm quite happy to indulge a little with that meal (especially as I go swimming every Sunday morning so I have some extra cals available).

    Thank you all x
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    use the recipe builder.

    that is if your deficit is enough that it can accommodate some margin of error. it will also help account for the butter and seasonings and whatever else you use to prepare your chicken or recipe.

    but your food is not going to cool significantly weighing it. put your plate on the scale. tare it out. dish up, write the #. boom. done. doesnt take any longer than just putting it on a plate on the counter.
  • euronorris
    euronorris Posts: 211 Member
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    Mmmmmm flavour! *drools* lol

    Thanks for the tip about putting plate on the scale, but my scale is a small, flat square digital one. If I put the plate on it, I can't see the reading lol. I think I'll just put a small plastic bowl on the scale I think, and weigh the food in that instead (like I do with most things).
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
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    I take the total raw weight of the chicken as indicated on the price sticker. I usually have 1/4 of a large chicken or half of a small one. I type on MFP food "roast chicken with skin" and enter the weight. Voila.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,944 Member
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    euronorris wrote: »
    Mmmmmm flavour! *drools* lol

    Thanks for the tip about putting plate on the scale, but my scale is a small, flat square digital one. If I put the plate on it, I can't see the reading lol. I think I'll just put a small plastic bowl on the scale I think, and weigh the food in that instead (like I do with most things).

    Or put the plate on top of the small plastic bowl, then you can see the readout. The fewer things to fuss with and wash the better, I say.
  • euronorris
    euronorris Posts: 211 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    euronorris wrote: »
    Mmmmmm flavour! *drools* lol

    Thanks for the tip about putting plate on the scale, but my scale is a small, flat square digital one. If I put the plate on it, I can't see the reading lol. I think I'll just put a small plastic bowl on the scale I think, and weigh the food in that instead (like I do with most things).

    Or put the plate on top of the small plastic bowl, then you can see the readout. The fewer things to fuss with and wash the better, I say.

    That's true, but you vastly underestimate how clumsy I am! haha. I sliced my finger open cutting potatoes to make chips recently. So my husband got me a gadget to push the potato through instead (like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-Potato-Chipper-Vegetable-Machine/dp/B0001IWVO4). Supposedly safer......I then crushed my thumb in the thing.......

    I can easily see myself knocking that plate off if it's balanced on a round plastic bowl. Much safer to just have a little bit extra going in the dishwasher lol

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