Calculating Calories and Nutrients in Restaur

It is not always feasible to calculate nutrition information for all of your recipes, but having information
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 thr
1). Single Ingredient Meals 2). Recipes and Mixed Dishes 3). Full Meals

Calculating Calories and Nutrients in Single Ingredient Meals

The calorie and nutrient content of single ingredients and individual foods can usually be found in the
most packaged foods list information in the Nutrition Facts panel. Follow the steps below to find nutrit
1. Go to the USDA Nutrient Database at http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list.
2. Search and select food item of interest. Sometimes there are multiple options (e.g. chicke
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 gra
Facts label.
a. For example, if you want to know the calorie content of 2 cups of a food item, a
to Other
2.
b.
unit conversions may sometimes be necessary if the unit of interest is no
know the calorie content of 8 oz of a food item but the value for 100 grams is ava
value in the column titled value per 100 grams to 2.27.
1 oz = 28.4 grams
8 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)

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

2. Calorie information is the second row and is titled Energy. Other nutrients commonly re
protein, total fat, carbohydrate and total dietary fiber. Sodium is in the section titled Minera
cholesterol are located in the section titled Lipids.

Calories, nutrients and weights displayed for each food are for the edible portion of food (fo

Calculating Calories for Recipes and Mixed Dishes

A lot of the foods we eat have more than one ingredient. For example, a chicken breast is rarely prepa
during cooking, a sauce added afterward, or other ingredients. Multi-ingredient recipes can be calcula
into a MS Excel spreadsheet that has been set up for this purpose. The spreadsheet gives you the o
and will calculate the calories and nutrients per serving. Follow the steps below to calculate the nutrit
1. Type the names and amounts of each ingredient into the spreadsheet.
2. Go to http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list. Determine calories and nutrients for each ind
described above.
3. Enter the data into the spreadsheet and it will add up values for the total recipe. When yo
will determine calories and nutrients per serving.
Calculating Calories for Full Meals

Typically a meal consists of several different foods, some of which may be recipes that contain multipl
(recipe with multiple ingredients) with a side of rice (single ingredient). Calorie and nutrient values for
the individual ingredients and for the single serving portion of recipes into a downloadable MS Excel
the steps below to calculate the nutrition information for a meal.
1. Type the names of the ingredients and the recipes, along with the amounts of each into th

2. Go to http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list and look up the calories and nutrients for eac

the Recipe Calculator to determine the calories and nutrients for a single serving of the recip
3. Enter the information into the Meal Calculator spreadsheet which will sum calories and nu

Notes
The USDA database does contain some ready calculated meals. However, we recommend you calcula
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 mo
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 i
directly from the USDA database.

Recipe:

Ingredient

Values are rounded to the nearest whole number

Servings Amount

Amount
Unit

Gram
weight
(g)

Calories
( Energy)
(calories)

Protein
(g)

Total Fat
(g)

Carbohydrate
(g)

Fiber
(g)

Sodium
(mg)

Saturated
Fat
(g)

Cholesterol
(mg)

0
#DIV/0!

0
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0
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0
#DIV/0!

0
#DIV/0!

0
#DIV/0!

0
#DIV/0!

0
#DIV/0!

0
#DIV/0!

Recipe:

Totals
Recipe:

Whole recipe
Per single serving

Meal:

Ingredient

Values are rounded to the nearest whole number

Servings Amount

Amount
Unit

Gram
weight
(g)

Calories
( Energy)
(calories)

Protein
(g)

Total Fat
(g)

Carbohydrate
(g)

Fiber
(g)

Sodium
(mg)

Saturated
Fat
(g)

Cholesterol
(mg)

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Recipe 1:

Recipe 2:

Recipe 3:

Totals per Serving

Recipe 1:
Recipe 2:
Recipe 3:
Meal:

Per
Per
Per
Per

single
single
single
single

serving
serving
serving
serving

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.
Meal: Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredient

Values are rounded to the nearest whole number

Recipe 1: Rice
Rice, white, long-grain, regular, cooked
Recipe 2: Sauce
soy sauce (Tamari)
brown sugar
cornstarch
sesame oil
Recipe 3: Stir Fry
Peanut oil
chicken breast, meat only, cooked, fried
ginger root, raw
garlic, raw
red or cayenne pepper
green bell pepper (chopped)
broccoli (chopped or diced)
carrots (chopped)
onion (chopped)
Totals per Serving
Recipe 1: Rice
Recipe 2: Sauce
Recipe 3: Stir Fry
Meal: Chicken Stir Fry

Gram
weight
(g)

Calories,
"Energy"
(calories)

Protein
(g)

Total Fat
(g)

Carbohydrate
(g)

Fiber
(g)

Sodium
(mg)

Saturated
Fat
(g)

Cholesterol
(mg)

60 Cups

9480

12323

255

27

2670

38

98

25 Cups
6.5 Cups
2 Cups
6.5 Cups

7200
1375
256
1363

4320
5225
975
12044

757
2
1
0

7
0
0
1363

401
1349
234
0

58
0
2
0

402192
385
23
0

1
0
0
193

0
0
0
0

27
227
2
3
0
75
44
64
80

239
424
2
4
1
15
15
26
32

0
76
0
0
0
1
1
1
1

27
11
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
1
0
3
3
6
7

0
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
1

0
179
1
1
0
2
15
44
3

5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
24
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

158
127
522
807

205
282
757
1244

4
9
79
93

0
17
38
56

45
25
23
92

1
1
6
7

2
5033
244
5278

0
2
5
8

0
0
24
24

Servings Amount

Amount
Unit

60
80

1
2 Tbs
0.5 pound
1 Tsp
1 Tsp
0.125 Tsp
0.5 Cups
0.5 Cups
0.5 Cups
0.5 Cups

Per
Per
Per
Per

single
single
single
single

serving
serving
serving
serving