I hear you guys. Every week I get a few comments asking for nutritional information for a particular recipe. And I understand. We are in a time where we are all becoming more aware of what we are feeding our bodies with – as we should be. You probably see food bloggers and recipe developers like me including this nutritional information in their recipes. But here’s the thing… they’re not correct.
Ok, ok… you’re close. But not exactly. Actually, sometimes they are far away. let me explain.
As bloggers, we all use software that allows us to showcase recipes in neat little formats that you can also easily print out. There are only a few of these pieces of software, so we all use one of about three different options. And some of these pieces of software provide nutritional information with a few simple clicks.
But it’s just guesswork.
And for recipes like many of mine, the nutritional content varies depending on the brand you choose. This nifty little piece of software doesn’t take that into account.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am in no way casting shadows on anyone using these calculators. So I just don’t choose to direct Southern Bite.
Let me show you what I mean…
Here are two popular brands of chicken broth. These were the two that took up the most shelf space in my local Publix – which probably means they’re the best sellers. Let’s look at the back of the boxes…
So, for every cup of broth, one has 5 calories and the other has 10. Sure, you’re only talking about 5 calories, but one has twice the calories of the other.
And if we talk about sodium, one contains 760mg while the other contains 860mg. If you’re on a strict sodium-restricted diet, there’s a significant difference.
Let’s look at another pantry staple – cream of chicken soup. These were the only two brands offered in my store.
In each half-cup serving, there are 80 calories in the soup on the left and 120 in the right.
When it comes to fat, the Pacific Foods has 2.5g while the Campbell’s has 8g. That’s quite a significant difference.
And then we look at 650 mg of sodium versus 870 mg.
Another example is this Italian Salad Dressing. Two popular brands again…
We have 60 calories in the dressing on the left versus 80 calories in the dressing on the right.
The Kraft Dressing has 4.5g of fat per 2 tablespoon serving, while the Wish Bone has 7g in the same serving size.
Do you see where I’m going here?
Next comes tomato and basil sauce in jars.
The Rao’s sauce on the left has 80 calories and 5g of fat per 1/2 cup serving, while the Barilla sauce has only 50 calories and 1g of fat.
Last on our list is salsa.
While both jars only have 10 calories per 2-tablespoon serving, these two differ in sodium content. The Pace has 130mg per serving, while the Herdez has 270mg.
In most cases these are not huge differences, but this is not always the case. And for people on a restrictive diet, even these small variations can make a big difference.
While many people argue that it’s just a general guideline, for me it’s just not how I want to do things when the nutritional content is wrong — no matter how small the difference.
And since many of my recipes use convenience foods like these examples here, nutritional information may vary depending on the brand selected.
So I ALWAYS recommend picking your favorite brands and using their nutritional information to find out the exact contents of my recipes.
If you want a general guideline, you can use Whisk’s handy calculator, which lets you drag the link to any recipe straight into the calculator and give you an estimate. Just remember it’s just that – an estimate.
If you want something more specific, I love MyFitnessPal’s recipe maker, which allows you to create a recipe using specific brands to ensure a more accurate calculation.
Y’all, I’m not evasive or inconsiderate. I’m just trying to be realistic and give you the most accurate information.
So now you know. 😊