[owlsteazombies]

What's the best way to log the calories of these? Individual item? I'm so confused! I love soups and chili's, but I've been kind've shying away because I don't know how to measure the calories properly!

[Ruthxxx]

If they are canned or frozen, the info is on the package.
For homemade, I enter the ingredients for the whole recipe into Fitday to get the total nutrients and then divide by the number of servings.

[thewalrus0]

Ruthxxx is correct. Those are the two best ways to go about it.

If it's not home made you can make a guesstimate. Chili tends to be higher calorie, especially with meat. Soups can be lower if it's broth based and has mostly veggies, but account for higher calories in soups with potatoes, noodles, chicken...

Soups with a cream base are generally higher calorie.

I usually buy it canned or I make it myself, but I have gotten soups at restaurants and you can either google the calories or estimate based on the type of soup/chili.

[owlsteazombies]

thanks! I've been wanting to make some veggie and pearl couscous soup, but wasn't sure how to log it

[TripSwitch]

Are you making your own? If so have you looked for recipes that include the nutritional info... Or just add up the calories of all the ingredients in your recipe and do the math to figure out your calories per serving...

If you are talking about when you are eating out... I do my best to estimate based on what's in it and the portion size... and estimate on the high side...

Unfortunately studies show that most people tend to underestimate the calories in their meals by 50% or more...

[owlsteazombies]

I always make my own, that way I can control the sodium and what veggies I put into it

I estimated my soup, which has 1/3 cup pearl couscous, 1 cup of light and free chicken broth, 1/4 cup of organic tomato sauce, 2/3 cup of frozen mixed veggies and 1/4 cup of sliced mushrooms is about 195 calories. I might add some shrimp to that, it depends on how fast the suckers thaw

[grneyedmustang]

I use this when counting calories of a recipe that I've made:

http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

[owlsteazombies]

oh wow! Thank you! That is incredibly useful! I really appreciate that

[TripSwitch]

Originally Posted by owlsteazombies

I always make my own, that way I can control the sodium and what veggies I put into it

I estimated my soup, which has 1/3 cup pearl couscous, 1 cup of light and free chicken broth, 1/4 cup of organic tomato sauce, 2/3 cup of frozen mixed veggies and 1/4 cup of sliced mushrooms is about 195 calories. I might add some shrimp to that, it depends on how fast the suckers thaw

That sounds good... Enjoy!

[domesticbliss]

I enter my ingredients into Spark People Recipe Calculator, say I'm using a whole can of kidney beans or something, first I'll do the math and add up the amount of servings in that can, then I'll add that whole amount as an ingredient in my soup.
After I've entered all the ingredients you can plug in how many serving sizes and it will break it down for you.
Meat is tricky, I look at the store packaging for how many calories per (x number of oz) servings and multiply that by the total oz of the meat I bought.
Confusing, sorry, but I hope it helped.