Meal calories calculator

Add each item in a meal from its label and see the whole meal, plus how it sits in your day.

Your details

Sex
Which meal?
Food or drink 1
How many
Food or drink 2
How many
Food or drink 3
How many
Anything else, from a label
And another label

This lunch

494

kcal, 25% of a 2,000 kcal day

  • 1 × Chicken salad sandwich (180 g)310 kcal
  • 1 × Bag of crisps (25 g)123 kcal
  • 1 × Apple (120 g)61 kcal
  • Fat16.6 g (24% of the reference intake)
  • Saturates2.8 g (14%)
  • Sugars17.9 g (20%)
  • Salt1.4 g (24%)
  • Protein21.6 g
  • PHE guide for lunchabout 600 kcal (400 breakfast, 600 lunch, 600 tea)
  • Left for the rest of a 2,000 kcal day1,506 kcal
  • Biggest itemChicken salad sandwich (180 g), 63% of the meal

That is lighter than the 400-600-600 rule of thumb, so a snack or bigger next meal may suit you. Fat, saturates and salt only count the picked foods, from UK CoFID data.

The working

A simple add up

Pick foods from the lists, which use portion weights shown in each name and nutrient values from the UK CoFID 2021 dataset, or type kcal from a label. We add them up, show fat, saturates, sugars and salt against the adult reference intakes (70 g, 20 g, 90 g and 6 g), and compare the total with the NHS guide for a day: 2,000 kcal for women and 2,500 for men. A chicken salad sandwich (180 g, 310 kcal), a 25 g bag of crisps (123 kcal) and an apple (61 kcal) come to 494 kcal, or 25% of a 2,000 kcal day and a little under the 600 kcal lunch guide.

Your meal

Rest of the day, the biggest item and a swap

Under the totals we show what is left of a 2,000 or 2,500 kcal day, which item gives the most calories, and the lightest item from the same part of the list, so a swap is like for like. In the example the sandwich is 63% of the meal and is already the lightest sandwich on the list, so no swap is shown; pick the cheese and pickle sandwich instead and the chicken salad one saves about 198 kcal. Swaps are ideas, not rules: a filling lunch you enjoy beats a lighter one that leaves you hungry by three.

Reading labels

Per pack or per 100 g?

UK labels show per 100 g and usually per portion too. If you ate half a pack of something that serves two, use the per portion number. For loose foods, kcal per 100 g times your weight in grams, divided by 100, gives your amount.

The 400-600-600 guide

A rule of thumb for meals

In 2018 Public Health England suggested adults aim for about 400 kcal at breakfast, 600 at lunch and 600 at tea, with drinks and snacks making up the rest. It is a handy yardstick for eating out, not a rule, and the daily guide stayed at 2,000 and 2,500 kcal.

Balance

Meals do not need to match

Some people like a big breakfast, others a big tea. There is no right split. If you would like a meal to keep you going longer, adding protein and fibre (beans, wholemeal bread, an egg) helps more than counting.

Read with care

What this cannot tell you

  • Home cookingOils and butter used in cooking are easy to forget.
  • Label toleranceLabels can legally be out by a fair margin.
  • Your needsThe NHS guide is an average, not your personal number.

Questions

Common questions

How many calories should a meal be?

There is no rule. Splitting a 2,000 kcal day into three meals and snacks often gives meals of 400 to 600 kcal, but your pattern is up to you.

How do I work out calories in a homemade meal?

Add up the labels of everything that went in, then divide by the number of portions. The recipe nutrition calculator does that for you.

Are meal deals high in calories?

They vary from about 400 to over 1,000 kcal. Swapping crisps for fruit or a sugary drink for water makes a big difference.

Sources

Last checked 21 October 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we will fix it.

If food feels hard

If eating, weight or food is on your mind a lot, you are not alone. Your GP can help, and Beat has a free helpline on 0808 801 0677 (England, weekdays 3pm to 8pm).

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