Calculating calories in homemade meals...

calroseangelo
calroseangelo Posts: 144
in Food and Nutrition
When I make something at home from scratch how can I figure out the calories? Is there a formula or something?

Replies

  • taxidermist15
    taxidermist15 Posts: 677 Member
    you put all the raw ingredients you use into the recipe calculator, split up themeal into how many serving you made... and wa-lah.. calories!
  • christibam
    christibam Posts: 478 Member
    I just add up the calories per ingredient and amount then add everything together and divide by how many servings there are in the entire dish.
  • ThePunkHippie
    ThePunkHippie Posts: 213
    There's a lot of sites online where if you put in the ingredients, it'll tell you how many calories is in the food (I think MFP has one under the Tools tab)
  • toutepechtite
    toutepechtite Posts: 32
    You can create a recipe on here. It takes time though. I often don't finish my daily journal because I mainly cook from scratch and it's just too much having to try to figure it all out.
  • calroseangelo
    calroseangelo Posts: 144
    THANK YOU!! Now I can be more accurate in my food diary...I hate estimating that kind of thing.
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/box
  • martymum
    martymum Posts: 413 Member
    it also saves all your recipes under that tab for next time you eat it

    martyx
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    you put all the raw ingredients you use into the recipe calculator, split up themeal into how many serving you made... and wa-lah.. calories!
    tigerpalm.jpg
  • ThePunkHippie
    ThePunkHippie Posts: 213
    you put all the raw ingredients you use into the recipe calculator, split up themeal into how many serving you made... and wa-lah.. calories!
    tigerpalm.jpg

    I'm glad someone said it...
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
    you put all the raw ingredients you use into the recipe calculator, split up themeal into how many serving you made... and wa-lah.. calories!
    tigerpalm.jpg

    voila-logo-3.jpg
  • Goldenbast
    Goldenbast Posts: 227 Member
    I was here for a long time before I realized there was a recipe box. :laugh:
  • pat6250
    pat6250 Posts: 90
    I think the tool on here takes too long. A lot of foods I buy have calories listed, and I have a calorie reference book that I got off the clearance table at a book store. I usually add the calories from the entire dish, then divide to find calories per serving. To save time, if there is a couple tablespoons of chopped onion and celery and garlic, I'll just add 10 calories to the entire dish to save time. Be aware that a can of chicken broth might say 5 calories per cup. So if you use a cup, you add 5. But if you use the entire can, it might say 3.5 servings per can, so, the whole can has 18 calories. (if one serving = a cup) The more you do it, the quicker it goes. You will find that if you cook without adding extra butter and other fat, and you do things like cut down the starch used to make a sauce, your calorie counts will be lower than similar reataurant dishes. This is the advantage of cooking at home! :happy:
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
    I think the tool on here takes too long. A lot of foods I buy have calories listed, and I have a calorie reference book that I got off the clearance table at a book store. I usually add the calories from the entire dish, then divide to find calories per serving. To save time, if there is a couple tablespoons of chopped onion and celery and garlic, I'll just add 10 calories to the entire dish to save time. Be aware that a can of chicken broth might say 5 calories per cup. So if you use a cup, you add 5. But if you use the entire can, it might say 3.5 servings per can, so, the whole can has 18 calories. (if one serving = a cup) The more you do it, the quicker it goes. You will find that if you cook without adding extra butter and other fat, and you do things like cut down the starch used to make a sauce, your calorie counts will be lower than similar reataurant dishes. This is the advantage of cooking at home! :happy:

    How is the tool that searches an entire database for you and does the math slower than searching by yourself in a big book? Oh well, whatever works for you. :flowerforyou:
  • taxidermist15
    taxidermist15 Posts: 677 Member
    you put all the raw ingredients you use into the recipe calculator, split up themeal into how many serving you made... and wa-lah.. calories!
    tigerpalm.jpg

    voila-logo-3.jpg

    oh god i just got face palmed by a tiger....

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