Calculating Serving sizes

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jakki_brown
jakki_brown Posts: 142 Member
in Food and Nutrition
How do you guys keep track of calories in home cooked meals. I find this to be a tedious task and it makes me hate cooking!

It's easy to calculate meals that are separate parts (like a hamburger), but what about meals like spaghetti? I don't have a food scale, but I think it'd be easier if I'd invest in one.

Any tricks or ideas you can give?!

Replies

  • kyylieeeeee
    kyylieeeeee Posts: 197 Member
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    I recommend a food scale in general, they're $10-50. I'd recommend a digital scale that has readouts in grams and ounces.

    Also, to calculate calories in homemade meals, there is a Recipe function on MFP that I use alll the time. It's under the "Food" tab. You add all the individual ingredients (which is where food scale comes in handy), say how many servings it makes, and MFP does the calorie/macros math for you!
  • Crystal817
    Crystal817 Posts: 2,021 Member
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    Food scale and this :
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/box
  • Mynue_Jeens
    Mynue_Jeens Posts: 98 Member
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    I also use the recipe tab a lot.
  • LisaMariaCallow
    LisaMariaCallow Posts: 170
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    Get a food scale!! You can get them fairly inexpensively, and they really help with portion control until you can better gauge serving sizes. You can also create recipes for meals-I do that for things that I eat regularly. It's a bit time consuming, but it does keep you on track.
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
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    yep, food scale will be your best option. sometimes with things like homemade spaghetti sauce ill pour it all into a big measuring cup... say its 8 cups, i make it 8 servings. its easy to remember 1 c = 1 serving.
  • bethdris
    bethdris Posts: 1,090 Member
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    I lost all my weight with guesstimate(no, I dont reccomend that way, but it worked). I did invest in a food scale when my husband joined MFP and we love it! It makes it a lot faster for weighing food and having it be correct. We got ours from Bed Bath and Beyond for 29.99. Love it!

    I also use the recipe function a lot on here. Good luck!
  • jakki_brown
    jakki_brown Posts: 142 Member
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    That's a good idea! thanks!

    My biggest problem is a lb of meat is like 4 servings and noodles 8 servings and sauce is 5. I never thought to just put it all together, calculate the meal entirely and then divide it. Awesome!
  • savvymommy2012
    savvymommy2012 Posts: 2 Member
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    That's exactly what you should do. And the recipe tab does it for you. I just put everything in it and then it asks how many servings it makes and it does the math for me. I appreciate it :)

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