Lean Cuisine vs doing it yourself
 

I've been eating Lean Cuisnes for lunch, but also as a no-brainer meal for dinner. Tonight I made my own Coriander chicken and divided it up along with some frozen veggies to freeze and reheat later. It's like my own Lean Cuisine. But I came in at only 130 calories, and I'm looking for 200. And what I already have is more than I get in a Lean Cuisine.

I was wondering, do you suppose the sauces really add up in calorie? My coriander chicken is pretty much just chicken and spices, no sauce/gravy. I could add rice to up the calories, but again, it's a lot more food than I get in a Lean Cuisine.

Anyone else with a similar experience?

I definitely found that I can get a lot more food (not to mention tastier food with less sodium) than I can get with anything premade...this is a huge part of why I cook most meals at home. Doing the sort of prep-ahead stuff you did is a huge help for that.

Howdy,
I have found making my own food is tastier, cheaper, and more accurate calorie wise, especially if I use a recipe analyser, and more filling.
Karen

Yea the sauces do add up. You could try some bottled ones to make it easier, there are lots of tasty ones out there without chemicals and preservatives.

Oh yeah, I totally am in support of making and freezing your own foods. This has been such a lifesaver for me! I purposely make extra on soups and casseroles to then pre-portion and freeze into individual containers. I mark each with the fat grams, calories and date. Then I eat these frozen leftovers for lunch or a quick dinner when I don't have time to cook. I love it!!

In the beginning, I bought some Lean Cuisines, but they were never very filling to me. I am fuller and more on plan when I eat my own frozen leftovers or fresh food that I make myself.

So how do you figure what the calorie and fat count is in your homemade foods?

I don't figure in the fat content. I'm a purist with just counting calories. :D I figure as long as I'm using lean meats and little to no sugar, I'm good. As for calories, I keep it simple. I know there are about 110 calories in half a chicken breast. If I add gravy, I buy a jar of it and use the nutrition label and I measure it. If I'm using spices, I don't count them. I don't know if there are calories in spices but it can't be much. I measure out my vegetables with a measuring cup to a serving size according to the package. I do the same when adding a starch.

Home made > pre packaged ANY DAY OF THE WEEK! ;)

and it taste better too!

I would say that yes the sauces add up as well as inferior ingredients compared to home cooked so it will be more fatty etc in general I would think.

Originally Posted by lots2go:
So how do you figure what the calorie and fat count is in your homemade foods?

weigh and measure everything that goes in, divide it equally and just figure out the calories per serving that way, I have even made a salad calculator that I use when I make salads that will add up all of the ingredients for me, all I need to do is put in how many ounces of each went in ;) things like Olives, sunflower seeds and meats can really bring the calorie count up in a salad so I find it best to weigh and measure everything. Of course there are times that I have to estimate and I find that because I have been doing this for so long now I can estimate REALLY close to the actual calories when I need to, it sort of becomes easier the longer that you do it ;)

As Ever
Me

So I've done some research today on some recipe analyzers...which do you all use and how user friendly is it?