How to count calories/protein in homemade food

[Denn 66]

I hope this doesn't sound ignorant- but how does one count nutrition facts in home made food. I am asking this because I plan to make small batches of Soup, blending it, and freezing it in small containers.

Is it a matter of counting each ingredient?

Is it reliable?

I don't want to rely only on store bought stuff because its pricy and in my head homemade is healthier than store bought ???

Thanks for any replies.

[katikati 127]

Yep, you count each ingredient. I use myfitnesspal.com for that. You can enter the recipe ingredients, being sure to enter how many servings it is, and it does all of the calculating for you. If you then use myfitnesspal to log your food each day, you can just put in that recipe when you eat it, and it'll enter your intake numbers for you.

[mom2five 292]

The way I do it is I calculate the calories and other nutrition info (like carbs and protein) in each ingredient I put in the food. Then I total it all up and have the total calories (carbs, protein) for the entire dish. Then I figure out how many servings I have all together...(by measuring it out in cups or whatever size portions I am using. Once I figure out how many servings I have all together, I divide my calories (carbs, protein) by that number... so then I have my nutrition information per serving.

So, say I have 500 calories in the entire dish, and I've determined I have 5 one cup servings. I divide the 500 calories by the 5 servings, and I have 100 calories per one cup serving... Does this make sense?

[mrsmsp 3]

Denn

Thanks for posting this question. I've been wondering the same. So confused! Because I only eat home cooked food. Not packaged stuff with nutritional values.

[SpaceDust 585]

The way I do it is I calculate the calories and other nutrition info (like carbs and protein) in each ingredient I put in the food. Then I total it all up and have the total calories (carbs, protein) for the entire dish. Then I figure out how many servings I have all together...(by measuring it out in cups or whatever size portions I am using. Once I figure out how many servings I have all together, I divide my calories (carbs, protein) by that number... so then I have my nutrition information per serving.

So, say I have 500 calories in the entire dish, and I've determined I have 5 one cup servings. I divide the 500 calories by the 5 servings, and I have 100 calories per one cup serving... Does this make sense?

Yup, that's the way to do it manually.

However, it gets problematic for sleevers when you're really interested in calories, Protein, fat and carbs as well as other nutritional info - it just becomes overwhelming to do by hand for everything if you do a lot of home cooking (as I do). It really is generally quicker and easier use an application or a website that allows you to build recipes with complete nutrition info like MyFitnessPal, WeightWatchers, and so on. These sites usually have the nutritional information for standard ingredients, or if they don't have the info for an ingredient you use, you can enter it yourself as you build your recipe. Then as katikati said, identify the portion size and you're good to go. If you know that the standard portion size is a cup, but at first you can eat 2 oz., you could enter .25 of a portion to get an accurate count with all the necessary information.

[SerendipityHappens 1,594]

I use Myfitnesspal to track my calories and Protein anyway. I add my recipe. Don't forget the spices.. a pinch of oregano might not matter, but a few tablespoons of chili powder adds quite a few calories and glorious fiber!

Also, I sometime ALSO enter the recipe into nutritiondata.com also.. I like the way nutritiondata.com breaks down and analyzes the meal for Protein completeness and it will tell you ALL the Vitamins in it as well as inflammation factor... which I like to know since I try hard to keep my diet as anti-inflammatory as possible. Also Nutritiondata.com seems more accurate since it doesn't have a bunch of member added stuff which you have to be careful of.. If you already use MFP for tracking calories then I'd suggest you use that database and enter from there just to make it easier, but if you don't like to use MFP, then Nutritiondata.com is definitely superior when it comes to analyzing recipes.

Also as with anything the first few times will take FOREVER for you to enter the ingredients in, but once you get used to how the database works and how to enter your amounts, it becomes quite easy and quick.

[Denn 66]

Thanks everyone!! Really appreciate it

[gravedigger 15]

Myfitnesspal works great for this and you can also store recipes for things that you freeze and eat a serving later I have been using it for a couple of months it works great