Store bought items are easy peasy for keeping track of calories and carbs. Snag the item on the grocery shelf, look at the label and instantly you know the calories, carbs, proteins, sugars and vitamins and everything else that makes up the product inside. Easy peasy. (The first U.S. Nutrition Facts label arrived in 1994! Prior to that was a guessing game – although there are many cook books that list ingredients & their nutritional information.)
Now what do you do when you have a hankering for Aunt Sue’s pecan pie, Lady Betty’s deep fried doughnuts or Bev’s famous spaghetti sauce?
Homemade recipes, handwritten recipes and cookbooks prior to the 1990s aren’t going to give you any information further than (if you’re lucky) how many servings the recipe makes.
This means you’re entering into the zone of: MATHS!
Yup, you’re going to need to break down each element that goes into the creation you’re making and manually figure out what each serving is for approximate calories, carbs, dietary fiber and proteins. (You can track fat and sugars as well, though if you’re in a low carb / CICO diet you may not need to use the extra info.)
Now note – these maths are approximates. With all homemade food, there is a variable per each chef. Some might be heavy handed, some light, others more prone to eyeballing the recipe. Measurements (esp with flour) may be less or more depending on how scooped.
Due to this there will be a wiggle amount of actual nutrition. These maths will get you close enough so you are able to enjoy the vintage and classic recipes in your collection and have them as part of your food plan.
Maths: Doughnuts
Let’s figure out the maths! Starting with Orange Doughnuts from Your Neighbor Lady Book 1954. Start with a separate sheet of paper (maths is best on spare papers, instead of in margins of cook books!) and list all of the ingredients. We also need to know how many servings the recipe makes. The recipe for Orange Doughnuts says it makes approx 2 dozen at ½ inch thick.
- 2 packages yeast, compressed or dry
- ½ cup water (lukewarm for compressed, warm for dry)
- ½ cup orange juice with
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 ½ cups sifted flour
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup melted shortening
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons shredded orange rind
- 3 ½ cups sifted enriched flour
Tadah! All of the ingredients!
Now we need to figure out each ingredient’s information. First check the packaging of each ingredient. Some will be straightforward for a serving, some will be a looser and take extra maths. We will be focusing on calories, carbs, and protein. Onward!
2 packages yeast, compressed or dry → 0g everything
½ cup water (lukewarm for compressed, warm for dry) → 0 everything! It’s water!
½ cup orange juice with → 56g calories / 12g carbs / 0g protein
1 tablespoon sugar → 48g calories / 13g carbs / 0g protein
1 ½ cups sifted flour → 682g calories / 143g carbs / 19g protein
2 eggs → 148g calories / 0g carbs / 12g protein
¼ cup melted shortening → BIG MATHS! The nutrition information is for 1 tablespoon. There are 4 tablespoons per ¼ cup.
— 1 tbsp: 113g calories / 0 carbs / 0 protein → x4 = 452g calories / 0 carbs / 0 protein
½ cup sugar → 774g calories / 199g carbs / 0 protein
2 teaspoons salt → 0 everything
2 tablespoons shredded orange rind → BIG MATHS 1 tablespoon = 15 grams so the amount needs to be divided 6
— per 100 g = 97g calories / 14g carb / 1.5g protein = 16g calories / 2g carbs / 0 protein
3 ½ cups sifted enriched flour → BIG MATHS per cup = 455g calories / 92g carbs / 12g protein – we need 3 cups + 1/2
— 1365g calories / 276g carbs / 36g protein + 227.5g calories / 46g carbs / 6g protein
= 1592.5g calories / 322g carbs / 42g protein
WHEW! That’s a ton of teenie maths! Now… we add up the bits.
Calories: 0 + 0 + 56 + 48 + 682 + 148 + 113 + 774 + 0 + 16 + 1592 = 3429
Carbs: 0 + 0 + 12 + 13 + 143 + 0 + 0 + 199 + 0 + 14 + 322 = 703
Protein: 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 19 + 12 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 42 = 73
Grand total: 3429g calories / 703g carbs / 73g protein! OOOOF on the calories!
But wait! We need to divide this number by 24 as it makes 2 dozen doughnuts!
For one doughnut: 143g calories / 30g carbs / 3g protein – not too shabby for a doughnut!
This recipe also calls for an orange glaze. Use the same process for computing out the information for glazes and frostings.
Then we need to add in the oil for frying the doughnut. Frying will add calories, though the amount of calories gained seems highly variable and pretty unknown. If you fry them correctly, your doughnuts shouldn’t absorb a ton. Figure as a rough number in gaining 50% of calories – which would be 71.5 calories for these orange doughnuts. This pushes us up to 214.5 calories.
Not too shabby for a tasty fresh out of the fryer doughnut 🍩!
Maths: Meatloaf
Another recipe to breakdown, this time a savory dinner option. Found in 365 Way to Cook Hamburger from 1960 this recipe is for Macaroni and Cheese Meat Loaf found on pg 46. (This cook book has 67 recipes for meatloaf. The Cheese-Layered Meat Loaf has also caught my eye. Dinner idea…) This recipe serves 6.
4 oz cooked macaroni → 180g calories / 35g carbs / 6g protein
1 lb hamburger → 1152g calories / 0g carbs / 78g protein
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs → 213g calories / 36g carbs / 7 protein
1/2 cup milk (whole milk) → 73g calories / 5g carbs / 3 protein
2 eggs, slightly beaten → 148g calories / 0g carbs / 12g protein
1/2 cup chopped onion → 33g calories / 7g carbs / 0g protein
2 tbsp chopped green pepper → 4g calories / 1g carbs / 0g protein
1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese → 150 calories / 0g carbs / 9g protein
1 tsp salt → 0 everything
1/4 tsp pepper → 0 everything
Total: 1953g calories / 168g carbs / 115g protein. Split it into 6 servings and one slice will be 325.5g calories / 28g carbs / 19g protein. Not too shabby in the least for a hearty meat loaf! Have you ever had a meat loaf with macaroni?
(For those curious the Cheese-Layered Meat Loaf is 384g calories / 4g carbs / 25g protein!)
Pretty easy peasy though it does take a bit of time to jot down everything. Now you know what Aunt Sue’s pecan pie, Lady Betty’s deep fried doughnuts or Bev’s famous spaghetti sauce will “cost” you in calories so you can add them into your low calorie adventure without blowing your budget.
If you can’t find the information (fresh veggies, fruits, cuts of meat without a label) you can find the info via google searching. Some of the information can also be found in vintage cookbooks too!
Keep the info on paper or archive it digitally for easy access when you’re tracking your calories or carbs (or both!). That way you know if you need to share (doughnuts, cake & pie) or you can have a second helping.
