How Meal Plan Nutrition Is Calculated

The source data

We use USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy, April 2018, downloaded on 14 October 2026. This is a historical reference dataset; it does not describe every current brand or product. The links below identify the exact selected food records. Three ingredient references are overridden by specific US manufacturer nutrition labels: refrigerated Silk Organic Unsweet Soymilk, Nasoya High Protein Super Firm vacuum-pack tofu and Monterey High Vitamin D White mushrooms. Their labelled servings use 240 mL, 91 g and 85 g respectively; no mL-to-g density assumption is used.

The calculation

1. Compose the meals and their weighed portions for the target. Most menus scale shared recipes; the revised US ingredient menus use separately composed breakfasts, snacks and main dishes.
2. Use whole grams for weighed foods and whole millilitres for the selected soy drink.
3. For each ingredient, multiply its declared nutrient value by the listed quantity and divide by the reference quantity: USDA 100 g, or the labelled product serving in g or mL.
4. Sum declared ingredient values using exact integer units with the appropriate reference-serving denominators. Round half up: a meal's energy to whole kcal and macros to 0.1 g. This avoids binary floating-point rounding errors.
5. Sum the displayed meal values to produce each day's totals. Average daily energy over seven days and round to whole kcal.
6. Sum the same ingredient weights across all meals to create the shopping list.

Calorie targets organise the catalogue; they are not exact measured outcomes. Each page shows its actual estimated daily totals and difference from the target. Menus reuse a defined recipe library, with a different weekly arrangement for each eating-style/target pair and calculated portions. Portions also use editorial cooking limits: no more than 15 g oil per main meal, 10 g at breakfast or 5 g per snack. Large scaled portions of meat, grains, nuts and vegetables are capped rather than multiplied without a limit. Where needed, the menu includes explicitly weighed sides with their own preparation steps. Keto examples also use a net-carbohydrate budget per meal. These are recipe-design limits, not clinical serving recommendations.

Vitamin and mineral estimates

Low-energy menus also show an ingredient-based check using 29 nutrient fields from the same USDA archive. Missing source values stay unknown, not zero. Folate uses reported dietary folate equivalents (DFE), or food folate only when folic acid is explicitly zero. Database niacin is not adjusted for tryptophan and is not directly compared with niacin-equivalent requirements. Iodine is reported for the selected soy drink only; most ingredient iodine values remain unknown. Biotin, chromium, molybdenum and chloride are not available. Raw/dry ingredient totals do not account for cooking retention, bioavailability or individual requirements. Revised US ingredient menus also use exact USDA cooked, boiled and drained spinach and beet-green profiles. Their listed weights and shopping-list totals are cooked edible amounts. Raw purchase quantities depend on yield. Calcium totals from high-oxalate greens are not estimates of absorbed calcium.

Soy drink, tofu and high vitamin D white mushrooms use the specific manufacturer labels linked in the table, not their former generic USDA nutrient profiles. Unlisted manufacturer nutrients remain unknown; a rounded zero is the declared label value, not proof of analytical absence. Ground flaxseed uses the whole-flaxseed record as a disclosed proxy. Neither fortification nor a nutrient table establishes that these menus are nutritionally complete.

Important limits

• Estimates include the measured oil. Water, salt and optional herbs, spices or lemon juice are excluded; substantial additions require a new calculation.
• Net carbohydrate equals total carbohydrate minus fibre. It is an estimate and does not guarantee ketosis.
• Fibre omitted from an animal-food source record is treated as zero. Other missing core nutrient values cause an import error.
• Certified gluten-free oats use the ordinary rolled-oat record as a nutrient proxy. Check certification and the label on your actual product.
• Vegan bread must be explicitly labelled suitable; vegetarian cheese must use suitable rennet. The generic reference values are not a verification of a brand's ingredients.
• Energy may not equal 4 × protein + 9 × fat + 4 × carbohydrate because database factors and fibre treatment differ.
• These calculations do not establish micronutrient sufficiency, clinical suitability, cooking losses or product-label allergen safety.

Ingredient reference records

Values below refer to the stated reference quantity and preparation state. Product values are manufacturer declarations; other rows are USDA per 100 g.

Preparation and food safety

Cooking instructions use the USDA safe minimum temperature chart: poultry 74°C / 165°F; fish 63°C / 145°F; eggs cooked until firm. Check doneness with a food thermometer rather than time alone. Preparation times are approximate and depend on equipment and portions.

For refrigeration and leftovers, follow USDA leftovers and food safety guidance.