How
To Figure the Points For a Recipe
Below
is the what I've found to be the most accurate way to figure the
points in a recipe. I will be using a recipe for Beanies 'N
Weenies as an Example. There are only 3 major ingredients that
really need to be figured in this recipe (water and spices have no
nutritional value to count). Here are the
labels from those 3 ingredients so you can refer to them as we go
along:
1
Pound Great Northern Beans
1
(15 oz.) Can Tomato Sauce
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8
Fat Free Hotdogs
 |
First
thing you'll want to do is get a piece of paper and label it like
this
(leave the columns under Calories, fat, and fiber
blank):
 |
Calories |
Fat |
Fiber |
| Beans |
910 |
0 |
169 |
| Sauce |
105 |
0 |
0 |
| Hotdogs |
320 |
0 |
0 |
| Totals |
1335 |
0 |
169 |
#
of Servings
(I got
7,
so that's
what
we'll use) |
191 |
0 |
24 |
We'll start with the Beans:
According to the package, there are
13 servings in a bag,
so this is what the calories, fat, and fiber
will be multiplied by.
-----------------------------------------------
Each serving has 70 calories, so you'll have:
70
x 13 = 910
(Place
this # in the calories column next to beans.)
Each
serving has 0 grams of fat, so you'll have:
0 x 13 = 0
(Place
this # in the fat column next to beans.)
Each
serving has 13 grams of fiber, so you'll have:
13 x 13 = 169
(Place
this # in the fiber column next to beans.)
Now
for the Tomato
Sauce:
According to the
can, there are 7 servings,
so this is what the calories, fat, and fiber
will be multiplied by.
-----------------------------------------------
Each serving has
15 calories, so you'll have:
15 x 7 = 105
(Place
this # in the calories column next to beans.)
Each
serving has 0 grams of fat, so you'll have:
0 x 7 = 0
(Place
this # in the fat column next to beans.)
Each
serving has 0 grams of fiber, so you'll have:
0
x 7 = 0
(Place
this # in the fiber column next to beans.)
Last
are the Hotdogs:
There are
8 servings, so this is what the calories,
fat, and fiber
will be multiplied by.
-----------------------------------------------
Each serving has
40 calories, so you'll have:
40 x 8 = 320
(Place
this # in the calories column next to beans.)
Each
serving has 0 grams of fat, so you'll have:
0
x 8 = 0
(Place
this # in the fat column next to beans.)
Each
serving has 0 grams of fiber, so you'll have:
0
x 8 = 0
(Place
this # in the fiber column next to beans.)
Now
all you'll need to do is add up each column.
So you'll have:
Calories
= 1335
Fat = 0
Fiber = 169
Divide
these numbers by the total number of servings* (7).
So you'll have:
Calories
= 191
Fat = 0
Fiber = 24
Now
just use your points finder and figure up the points for each
serving. Remember you can only count 4 grams of fiber.
Each
serving would be:
3
Points
*Not
sure what a serving is?
Before
you serve the meal, get out your measuring cups.
I usually use
1/2 cup measurements and go from there.
Measure out the
entire pot making sure your measuring cup is level.
Count how
many measurements you get.
For
example:
I'm using a 1/2 cup, so each time I do this:
scoop,
level, pour into another bowl and count 1
scoop, level, pour - 2
scoop, level, pour
- 3
scoop,
level, pour - 4
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc.
Just
keep doing this until you have nothing left.
Now I scooped
until I had nothing left. I counted 14 scoops, so that would be 14
half cup servings. You could stop now and just divide your numbers
by 14. But I can't just eat a half of cup, so I
thought well how about 1 whole cup? So since 2 half cups = 1 whole
cup, I ended up with 7 whole cups. So that gives me 7 servings per
batch of Beanies N Weenies, and everyone gets 1 cup which is
plenty considering how heavy this meal is! :)
Hopefully I haven't confused you!
If you have
any questions, feel free to email me.
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