Dieting can be hard enough without having to track the calories. But what if you like to cook and need to know the calories in your own recipes? I feel your pain! As a healthy eater and mom of a diabetic, I have always needed to know at least the carbohydrate counts in the recipes I make. There are plenty of apps that will scan the bar codes of foods to instantly give you the nutrition info. But how can you easily calculate the calories in your favorite recipes? With a recipe calorie calculator!
Luckily for all of us, there are plenty of apps to help. But let’s discuss ways to make it more user-friendly to calculate the calories in any recipe you love to make.
- To track the calories in any recipe, you first have to figure out the nutritional information for each ingredient. If you’re one of the millions of people who use My Fitness Pal, there is a recipe calorie calculator included in the app to help you figure this information out. MFP is widely used because it is user-friendly and it works!
- For the most accuracy, consider investing in a digital food scale. That way you can precisely measure each ingredient. Once your recipe is put together you can weigh the total amount. Now divide the weight of your full recipe by the number of servings you want. This will give you the number of calories per serving. For example, if you make a pot of stew and want one serving for each of 6 people, you will weigh the pot of stew and divide by 6.
- Before you start cooking, measure the pot or pan that you will be cooking the recipe in {like the pot for the stew}. After you measure the pot of stew, but before you divide by 6 servings, subtract out the weight of the pot.
- My Fitness Pal or the Fitbit app will both tell you the macronutrients of your recipes as well.
