Calculating Calories and Nutrients in Restaurant Meals

Calculating Calories and Nutrients in Single Ingredient Meals

1. Go to the USDA Nutrient Database at http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list.

1. A useful conversion tool is http://www.epicurious.com/tools/conversions/common.

Calories, nutrients and weights displayed for each food are for the edible portion of food (for example – without bones, etc.)

Calculating Calories for Recipes and Mixed Dishes

1. Type the names and amounts of each ingredient into the spreadsheet.

Calculating Calories for Full Meals

1. Type the names of the ingredients and the recipes, along with the amounts of each into the spreadsheet.

It is not always feasible to calculate nutrition information for all of your recipes, but having information for some of your meals is better than having nothing at all. Calculating nutrition information for more standard recipes is a great place to start.

We hope you find the following suggestions on how to calculate calorie and nutrient information in three scenarios helpful:1). Single Ingredient Meals 2). Recipes and Mixed Dishes 3). Full Meals

The calorie and nutrient content of single ingredients and individual foods can usually be found in the USDA’s National Nutrient Database. In addition, most packaged foods list information in the Nutrition Facts panel. Follow the steps below to find nutrition information for a single food or ingredient:

2. Search and select food item of interest. Sometimes there are multiple options (e.g. chicken breast with and without skin; roasted, fried, etc.) so choose the option that is the best match for the food you are using.3. Input the amount of food and click “apply changes.” Note that the values are given in grams, which is the same unit used on the Nutrition Facts label.a. For example, if you want to know the calorie content of 2 cups of a food item, adjust the numerical value in the column titled “cup”

to 2.b. Other unit conversions may sometimes be necessary if the unit of interest is not an available option. For example, if you want to know the calorie content of 8 oz of a food item but the value for 100 grams is available, then you will need to adjust the numerical value in the column titled ‘value per 100 grams’ to 2.27. 1 oz = 28.4 grams8 oz = 227 grams (8 x 28.4 grams) 227 grams/100 grams = 2.27 (so you would need 2.27 times the 100 gram value)

2. Calorie information is the second row and is titled “Energy.” Other nutrients commonly reported are in the rows immediately following: protein, total fat, carbohydrate and total dietary fiber. Sodium is in the section titled “Minerals” and saturated fat, unsaturated fat and cholesterol are located in the section titled “Lipids.”

A lot of the foods we eat have more than one ingredient. For example, a chicken breast is rarely prepared plain and may include some type of fat used during cooking, a sauce added afterward, or other ingredients. Multi-ingredient recipes can be calculated by entering data for each individual ingredient into a MS Excel® spreadsheet that has been set up for this purpose. The spreadsheet gives you the option to list how many servings the recipe makes and will calculate the calories and nutrients per serving. Follow the steps below to calculate the nutrition information for a multi-ingredient food or recipe.

2. Go to http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list. Determine calories and nutrients for each individual ingredient in the correct quantity as described above.3. Enter the data into the spreadsheet and it will add up values for the total recipe. When you enter the number of servings, the spreadsheet will determine calories and nutrients per serving.

Typically a meal consists of several different foods, some of which may be recipes that contain multiple ingredients. An example would be a stir fry (recipe with multiple ingredients) with a side of rice (single ingredient). Calorie and nutrient values for meals can be calculated by entering the values for the individual ingredients and for the single serving portion of recipes into a downloadable MS Excel® spreadsheet that is set up for this purpose. Follow the steps below to calculate the nutrition information for a meal.

3. Enter the information into the Meal Calculator spreadsheet which will sum calories and nutrients giving you values for the entire meal.

Notes

2. Go to http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list and look up the calories and nutrients for each individual ingredient in the correct amount. Use the Recipe Calculator to determine the calories and nutrients for a single serving of the recipes in the meal.

The USDA database does contain some ready calculated meals. However, we recommend you calculate for your own dishes as described above, so that the composition is accurate for your own recipes.

Remember, the more precise you can be with the exact food, amount, and servings per recipe, the more accurate the calories and nutrient values will be. Also be aware of often forgotten ingredients such as oil, butter, or broth used in cooking.

The methods described above assume that all of the fat used in cooking is consumed. For deep fried items, however, selected the appropriate choice directly from the USDA database.

Recipe: Values are rounded to the nearest whole number

Ingredient Servings Amount Protein Total Fat Fiber Sodium(g) (calories) (g) (g) (g) (g) (mg) (g) (mg)

Recipe:

TotalsRecipe: Whole recipe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Per single serving #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!

Amount Unit

Gram weight

Calories ( Energy)

Carbo-hydrate

Saturated Fat

Choles-terol

Meal: Values are rounded to the nearest whole number

Ingredient Servings Amount Protein Total Fat Fiber Sodium(g) (calories) (g) (g) (g) (g) (mg) (g) (mg)

Recipe 1:

Recipe 2:

Recipe 3:

Totals per Serving Recipe 1: Per single serving #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!Recipe 2: Per single serving #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!Recipe 3: Per single serving #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!Meal: Per single serving #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!

Amount Unit

Gram weight

Calories ( Energy)

Carbo-hydrate

Saturated Fat

Choles-terol

Meal: Chicken Stir Fry Values are rounded to the nearest whole number

Ingredient Servings Amount Protein Total Fat Fiber Sodium(g) (calories) (g) (g) (g) (g) (mg) (g) (mg)

Recipe 1: Rice 60Rice, white, long-grain, regular, cooked 60 Cups 9480 12323 255 27 2670 38 98 7 0Recipe 2: Sauce 80soy sauce (Tamari) 25 Cups 7200 4320 757 7 401 58 402192 1 0brown sugar 6.5 Cups 1375 5225 2 0 1349 0 385 0 0cornstarch 2 Cups 256 975 1 0 234 2 23 0 0sesame oil 6.5 Cups 1363 12044 0 1363 0 0 0 193 0Recipe 3: Stir Fry 1Peanut oil 2 Tbs 27 239 0 27 0 0 0 5 0chicken breast, meat only, cooked, fried 0.5 pound 227 424 76 11 1 0 179 0 24ginger root, raw 1 Tsp 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0garlic, raw 1 Tsp 3 4 0 0 1 0 1 0 0red or cayenne pepper 0.125 Tsp 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0green bell pepper (chopped) 0.5 Cups 75 15 1 0 3 1 2 0 0broccoli (chopped or diced) 0.5 Cups 44 15 1 0 3 1 15 0 0carrots (chopped) 0.5 Cups 64 26 1 0 6 2 44 0 0onion (chopped) 0.5 Cups 80 32 1 0 7 1 3 0 0

Totals per ServingRecipe 1: Rice Per single serving 158 205 4 0 45 1 2 0 0Recipe 2: Sauce Per single serving 127 282 9 17 25 1 5033 2 0Recipe 3: Stir Fry Per single serving 522 757 79 38 23 6 244 5 24Meal: Chicken Stir Fry Per single serving 807 1244 93 56 92 7 5278 8 24

Example scenario: Rice and sauce are made ahead of time in large quantities. Stir-fry is made to order by scooping out pre-cut ingredients. A single order is composed of 1 cup of rice, 1/2 cup of sauce and 1 order of stir fry.

Amount Unit

Gram weight

Calories, "Energy"

Carbo-hydrate

Saturated Fat

Choles-terol