Logging something like a turkey

PrismaticPhoenix · December 2019

So, this could have been something that came up for Thanksgiving, but it didn't because I didn't do the cooking and for Christmas, I likely will.

How in heaven's name do you figure out the calories or even the servings in something like a turkey? Like, I have a recipe, and oddly enough it gives me the calories and even the number of servings, but it doesn't give me the amount in each serving, so I'm baffled. I obviously can't take all the turkey off the bones, divide it up, and measure it before I eat it and people will be taking various portions.

I'm not terribly concerned about this one meal, but it made me realize that I don't know how to log this type of thing. Maybe the whole thing doesn't matter because I'm unlikely to do this thing more than a few times a year, but I'm curious.

Lillymoo01 · December 2019

Use the recipe builder and add everything to it that you include with the turkey. Make sure the turkey weight is raw and on the bone. Once it is cooked weigh the lot. Have either a serving size of 1 gram or 100gms and then just weigh the portion that you eat. I do this with everything I make as I am cooking for a family so never eat the entire dish myself.

Here is one that I created with the web version to give you an idea.

Duck_Puddle · December 2019

Whole meat on a bone is sometimes a challenge-especially when there’s a recipe involved.

Weighing the finished product includes a lot of inedible weight (bones) so the calories/gram of finished recipe is off. And the calories for meat are usually the edible portion-so logging an 18 pound raw turkey assumes that’s 18 pounds of meat.

I have this issue the most with ribs -it’s impossible to get a raw weight for the meat (without the bone), and I typically add a lot of “stuff” (rubs, sauces). I sometimes use a USDA entry for “edible portion” for the meat (look in the actual USDA database). That won’t be precise but it’s close enough given that I don’t eat ribs 300 days a year.

I don’t know how sophisticated your recipe is, but I often just log turkey (cooked) for whatever portion I end up eating. I don’t figure that most of the stuff I put on the turkey makes it to the meat (I don’t really do anything fancy though).

Whole meats cooked on the bone that are part of a recipe and where you won’t be eating the entire thing are a challenge. I’m not sure there really is a good way to do it. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen that often (most of the meats I use are boneless or they are single serving pieces or there’s not a recipe/additional ingredients involved). I think “close enough” is good enough for those occasions.

lemurcat2 · December 2019

I do the same thing for turkey as for any meat on the bone (I roast chicken quite often). Cut off the part I want (usually I'm a breast person for turkey), weigh it, log the cooked entry for the part of the bird (i.e., breast). Choose skin or not depending (if cooked in skin I'd use at least partially the skin entry even if I don't eat any skin, since I think more fat gets in the meat). I don't add anything caloric to the meat so there's no recipe needed (adding some butter to the outside or a brine I don't think ultimately makes a big difference). If you eat a piece with bone, you can weigh before and then what's left.

The difficulty with this, and why I don't actually do it on holidays is I'm not weighing in a kitchen in front of everyone and it's only one day. But it would only take a minute if you wanted to.

This is based on how turkey-based holidays work at my place, which is that everyone dishes up from foods that are set out on the counter. (Christmas dinner is often more formal in feel, but also is usually not turkey.)

Obviously if you are a gravy person, you have to log that separately.

I find the difficulty with accurately logging Thanksgiving mostly the non turkey sides.

cmriverside · December 2019

Turkey isn't too calorific, so I just use database entries for cooked/roasted...after verifying with USDA. I do a lot of eyeballing and always assume I want to eat a whole lot more than the recommended 3 ounces.

The ribs are a whole other can of worms. I'm not happy until I've eaten 600 calories worth of ribs - and that's a wild guess.

FoodBodyChanges · December 2019

I just log by "deck of cards = 3 ounces" & then also log how many teaspoons or tablespoons of oil, sauce, etc. I figure are in the serving & call it good.

Logging something like a turkey

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