Homemade Chicken Stock Recipe Topic

Tifffeelsgood 02/20/23
Hi - I see there is a "Chicken Stock, Homemade" in the foods library that I can add to any meal but there is no associated recipe. I make stock at home all the time but I imagine there can be quite a variation in calories, fat and other metrics based on the amount of meat/fat/bones and vegetables used. What is the best way to calculate the nutrition in my own recipe? What recipe is the "Chicken Stock, Homemade" in the food library based on? Thanks.

Dietician 02/20/23 replied to Tifffeelsgood
Hi Tifffeelsgood,
Great question! Most of the food items in our Staples come from USDA's SR Legacy database since they test the items for nutrient content. They don't give the recipe, they just use what they consider a standard method. Not helpful, I know.

But the good news is that if you make your own recipe, you can get what is accurate for your method. In case you haven't made a lot of customized recipes, here's a helpful link to get started: https://www.mynetdiary.com/tips-for-entering-your-recipes-into-mynetdiary.html

I enter a lot of custom recipes for both MyNetDiary and for my own use. Definitely weigh and measure your final cooked broth to get an accurate recipe record. You might be surprised how much water weight gets lost with cooking, especially broth.

Let us know how it goes and if you want more assistance.

Best,
Kathy (MyNetDiary Dietitian)

Tifffeelsgood 02/21/23
Thanks, Kathy. I have used the custom recipe feature in the past and it is very helpful to make larger family meals then use a percentage as my portion. I am not clear on how use the feature for making a stock. For example, I yield about 6 quarts of stock from 3.5 pounds of chicken backs (bone+bits of meat and skin/fat), 1 pound of yellow onion, .5 pound of celery, and 2 pounds of carrots--with about 8 quarts of water. How would I create a recipe from that?

Dietician 02/21/23
Hi Tifffeelsgood,

You would create your own stock recipe using the ingredients as you stated above and then use that recipe with the amount used as an ingredient within another recipe. Does that make sense? Brenda (MyNetDiary Dietitian)

Tifffeelsgood 02/22/23
Thanks Brenda. It doesn't make sense to me because I do not consume the chicken meat, fat, veggies (or bones of course). That's the challenge for me--how do I account for the fact that I am basically infusing water then straining out the ingredients. Some of the carbs, fat and protein would get into the stock but not all of it.

Dietician 02/22/23 replied to Tifffeelsgood
Hi there Tiffeelsgood-

There are several options to calculate the macro and micronutrients of your homemade chicken stock. Select the method that works best for you. Whichever method you decide will work when it comes to tracking-

Kathy suggested the method of creating a custom recipe. Using this method you'll want to record all the ingredients you used in your stock and make sure to weigh and measure them before and after cooking. By getting a weight of the chicken bones for example before and after cooking, you'll be able to get a rough estimate of what is in the stock.
Brenda added that by creating your own customized chicken stock recipe, you'd have this handy for whenever you made another recipe with the stock. For example, if you made chicken noodle soup with your stock base.
Personally, I feel confident in my tracking using the Staples food item titled: Chicken Stock Homemade. It contains 86 calories/cup. If I were concerned about sodium and didn't use salt in my stock I would copy and customize the recipe and lower the sodium, saving it as Joanna's Chicken stock.

Cheers to cooking from scratch! It is such a healthy and nourishing way to go:) Joanna (MyNetDiary Dietitian)

Tifffeelsgood 02/25/23
I appreciate all these suggestions and yes, I can read the responses. The reason I didn't want to use the Chicken Stock, Homemade Staple is that it shows 8 times the calories per cup as a store brand (Pacific, Kirkland each have 10 calories/cup for chicken and veg stock). That is a huge difference. The weighing approach doesn't make a lot of sense to me either for this type of infused recipe. Thanks anyway.

Homemade Chicken Stock Recipe