Weezl's phase 1- recipe testing and frugalisation- come one, come all!

System

weezl74 wrote: »

Avocet if you're still around, can I ask you to check the calcium spreadsheet, I think I've got the maths wrong and I don't think my column headings are quite as usefully manipulable as they could be!

I've made some changes, but can't seem to save them! How do I do that, please?

Basically, I've tweaked it a bit to simplify input and to make it easier to update if quantities change:

• Working in 100g blocks is quite difficult for people, requiring them to do a fair amount of mental arithmetic before entering the data, so I have split that into number of packs, and the size of each pack. These are then picked up automatically in the calculation.
• This also makes it easier to update if you add or remove a pack of something! Just change the figure in column C and update the description of the amount on the shopping list in column E.
• I've changed the auto-update fields to blue, to differentiate them from the ones for people to fill in.
• I've made the calcium-per-100g column a weird shade of yellow, so that it is obvious which is the key field for completion. I'm assuming that researchers might only add the calcium figure, and mightn't have time to cross-match that with the latest shopping list (which I guess you haven't yet published, since I see that evaporated milk has appeared).
• The garlic puree tube is 90g according to the shopping list, but it was entered as 10 X 100g = 1 kg! Might be a bit much ;-) so I have dropped it down to 90g.
• Three entries appear to have been made manually, without a base figure for mg calcium per 100g product. I have left these as they are, but added a comment to the cells with the total figure for those lines.

Hope this helps. I can put back the original figures if you want them, but foolishly neglected to copy your formulae before fiddling with them! Apologies for that.

Mind you, since I haven't been able to save it, I assume that your original is still intact. If it isn't possible for me to change the layout/formulae etc via GoogleDocs (which I haven't used before, so don't know) I have downloaded a copy of my edited version, which I could email to you if you PM me a suitable address.

LilacPixie

I have been totally MIA this last week. damm work interfearing in my cooking. I am planning on doing the carrot cake tonight but the only carrots I have are chanteny (sp??) carrots so i will be using them. I have a concern over the amount of oil in it but I will give it a go.

got-it-spend-it

I just fed the carrot cake to my family and it was a big hit! I have filled in a survey for me and OH, but my parents and grandparents all also liked it a lot!

As others have said, I would personally reduce the oil next time as I am all about saving calories, but I appreciate Bob, Shirley et al may not be.

Plans for this week are a veggie version of the puttanesca, sweetcorn soup and the cereal bars.

Fire_Fox

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Thanks :T I had assumed the flour was not fortified with calcium as Asda website just lists the ingredients as wheat flour! Virtually all the websites seem to list the calcium content of white bread and not white flour. :mad: Apparently the lower end of the range is 0.9g per kilo which for 21kg of flour would add 19g calcium to our total, not to be sniffed at!

homegrown_life wrote: »

http://www.graininformationservice.co.uk/content/1/58/vitamins-and-minerals.html

I make it, from the website I linked to above that the flour would give us 23.1g of calcium. Which would take us to 56.6g, a shortfall of 42g.

weezl74 wrote: »

Hiya

The best example of the compulsory restoration of the level of vitamins and minerals lost during manufacture in the UK is the addition of nutrients to all types of flour, other than wholemeal flour. The quality of flours is regulated by the Bread and Flour Regulations (1984) and low-extraction flours have to be enriched by the addition of thiamin (0.24 mg), niacin (1.60 mg), iron (1.65 mg) and calcium (235 mg minimum-390 mg maximum)/100 g.

with this minimum amount, we gain a further 5g of calcium from the pasta.

I have just been puzzling why we are not getting the same figures. I *think* your stats are for calcium carbonate, not elemental calcium. Does that make sense to you?

This isn't the journal article I was using yesterday but it has the same stats:
"Since 1942, all wheat flour except wholemeal has been fortified with calcium carbonate, which at present contributes between 0.94-1.54 g Ca/kg flour (Department of Health and Social Security, 198 1 a) and is a significant source of dietary Ca."
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=848676&jid=BJN&volumeId=51&issueId=02&aid=848668

weezl74

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I have just been puzzling why we are not getting the same figures. I *think* your stats are for calcium carbonate, not elemental calcium. Does that make sense to you?

This isn't the journal article I was using yesterday but it has the same stats:
"Since 1942, all wheat flour except wholemeal has been fortified with calcium carbonate, which at present contributes between 0.94-1.54 g Ca/kg flour (Department of Health and Social Security, 198 1 a) and is a significant source of dietary Ca."
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=848676&jid=BJN&volumeId=51&issueId=02&aid=848668

Ah right! So we're going to assume a 0.94g per kg as this is the most conservative? How do people feel about that?

Also I'm intrigued you've said it's CaCo3, I had thought it was Ca3(C6H5O7)2 (citrate) which is why I thought the 3rd egg shell method might be a good bread flour fortifyer (as it's there already) only now I think it's not :rotfl:

weezl74

calcium gate 2 the revenge.

Tea prevents the available calcium

it's all we're giving them to drink all month!

Bad times at the ministry of food

Fire_Fox

weezl74 wrote: »

Ah right! So we're going to assume a 0.94g per kg as this is the most conservative? How do people feel about that?

Also I'm intrigued you've said it's CaCo3, I had thought it was Ca3(C6H5O7)2 (citrate) which is why I thought the 3rd egg shell method might be a good bread flour fortifyer (as it's there already) only now I think it's not :rotfl:

Found it!
"Milling, however, reduces the calcium content by 50%, as much of the
calcium content is in the germ and bran. For these reasons, all flour, except
wholemeal flour, is required by law to be supplemented with 235-390 mg calcium carbonate per 100 g in the UK."
http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/evm0112p.pdf

System

weezl74 wrote: »

calcium gate 2 the revenge.

Tea prevents the available calcium

it's all we're giving them to drink all month!

Bad times at the ministry of food

Keep calm and carry on! We're not exactly giving them very much tea, are we? Half a teabag each on weekdays, with a luxurious whole teabag each on Saturday and Sunday, and a whopping five teabags left over to offer visitors. I don't think that's going to inhibit very much at all. :-)

Fire_Fox

weezl74 wrote: »

calcium gate 2 the revenge.

Tea prevents the available calcium

it's all we're giving them to drink all month!

Bad times at the ministry of food

As does insoluble fibre and oxalates in green veg especially spinach! :mad: That is why my personal preference is for assuming the minimum of everything, giving the family the minimum amount of dairy and overall calcium but also assuming the minimum level of fortification. We aren't overdoing fibre or tea in the omnivore diet, so I feel OK with disregarding that as these are normal inclusions in British family diets.

Overall I am confident this diet will be healthier than Bob and Shirley are accustomed to - national surveys have shown the average person does not eat five portions of fruit and veg nor two portions of oily fish per week. Dieting women are particularly vulnerable to low levels of calcium in their diet, so we need to be aware of this when we recommend Shirley skip a snack.

Calcium carbonate v. calcium citrate v. dairy:
http://www.ion.ac.uk/healthnotes.php?org=ion&ContentID=2819007

homegrown_life

• Oxalic acid, found in spinach, beets, celery, pecans, peanuts, tea and cocoa, can bind to calcium and form an insoluble complex that is excreted in the feces. While research studies confirm the ability of phytic acid and oxalic acid in foods to lower availability of calcium, the decrease in available calcium is relatively small.

from this website. Shall keep googling. I do love googling