Fresh vs store bought

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dechowj
dechowj Posts: 148 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am having a hard time figuring out the difference in nutritional value for farm fresh items vs what you buy in the store. We have our own chickens (egg layers and meat birds), beef cows, and pigs that we raise and have a local butcher package for us. The taste difference is crazy and I always hear people say how much "healthier" the meat and eggs are than buying frozen from the store.

But how do I log these fresh items accurately? I tried searching and all I get is "generic" or name brands to add to my food diary. Is there a better way to log these items or do I just have to guess/estimate using the store brands?

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  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    The USDA foods database is full of whole foods, not brand names. "Beef," and "Egg, large" and "Milk, whole." Use those.

    With eggs, be sure you're picking the right entry. Eggs from backyard hens can be considerably different in size (I learned this from baking). There are references in older cookbooks to how much beaten egg, by volume, each graded size of egg contains -- and you'll want to use them for recipes where egg volume makes a difference, like meringues and some other baking recipes.

    While there's little caloric difference between farm eggs and market eggs, I can't go back to most market eggs after finding a local farmer to buy eggs from.

    There may be a difference in farm meat vs. supermarket, though its not what you'd expect. The meat I buy from my farmer has zero added water, while supermarket meats can contain up to a certain amount of added water (or brine). Over the yeras I've found its harder and harder to really brown ground beef (for example), because so much water cooks out that it just steams. Same with stew beef. The meat I buy from the farmers market acts like I remember meat acting when I was a kid -- you can brown it nicely, and very little water boils out.

    That suggests that if you calculate your calories based on pre-cooking weight there might be a calorie difference. The difference is probably much less if you base your calculations on cooked weight, but that's just a guess.
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,900 Member
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    I cannot even get into farm vs store.
    I have no farms around me to even be concerned.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    deannalfisher wrote: »
    you can try using USDA as the caveat - but in general the nutritional value isn't going to be significantly different - there may be some more micronutrients, but the macros (carb/fat/protein) will be fairly consistent

    This^^^
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited February 2019
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    MikePTY wrote: »
    There really isn't a significant calorie difference between meat raised locally vs. farm, assuming you know your fat percentage on your beef, etc.

    This.

    I get eggs, meat, and a lot of dairy from a farm (and produce during the season).

    Eggs are the same for anything logged at MFP, the only trick is knowing the size. If not good at eyeballing, weigh them by breaking them into a bowl when making omelets or scrambled or over easy to see weight (don't weigh with the shell), you will learn how to eyeball them). Use USDA entries, not some random brand and NEVER "generic" or "homemade."

    Dairy, you just need to know if it's full fat or not, and if there is more cream than normal full fat, I suppose. I log it as whole dairy, and again use the USDA entries.

    Meats, you can use the USDA whole entries (which is what I'd do with butcher counter meat too), but the difficulty is often the specific fat content/cut can be harder to find. I think there are some differences, but it evens out. With some meats (grass fed beef), I think it's often leaner, and with pork (at least if you have a breed like Berkshire, which is IMO so much tastier), it's going to be higher fat content than supermarket cuts. I just figured it would even out when I was logging and losing and used my best judgment and it made no difference.

    Best way to find the USDA entries is search at the site and then copy the specific words used when searching in MFP (all of the words). If the entry you find has lots of measurement options, it's the one you want, although cross checking the first time used isn't a bad idea.

    USDA search link: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list?SYNCHRONIZER_TOKEN=8979a411-3e68-46fb-a2d4-d4ab873c5758&SYNCHRONIZER_URI=/ndb/search/list&qt=&qlookup=&ds=SR&manu=

    Where it says filter on database up top, choose "standard" vs. "branded" and it will make it easier.

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