Actual vs expected yield on recipes

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jenniferbwest
jenniferbwest Posts: 6 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have a set of measuring cups that are spoon shaped and I have started using them as serving spoons. They are accurate. I try to be accurate (no heaping measuring cups) when dishing out food.

I made mac and cheese (from a box) for my kids. The box says it makes 3 one cup servings. We got half that.

I made some rice for dinner today. It says that 1/4 cup dry rice makes about one cup cooked rice (on the package) I made a huge batch of 12 servings. It was nowhere near 12 cups. I think we got about 8 cups.

How do you deal with this sort of thing? I cannot cook my rice separately from my family so that I can weigh dry rice for myself.... that's way too much work. I thought I was doing the right thing measuring.

PS- not limiting the kids food- just mine, but I use the same serving spoon.

Replies

  • jenniferbwest
    jenniferbwest Posts: 6 Member
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    PS- thanks for help
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    Yes I always weigh everything. It's the only way to be truly accurate.
  • Wynterbourne
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,200 Member
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    Unless it's a liquid, always weight it.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
    edited October 2017
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    You've discovered why measuring cups aren't the best tool. Use the recipe builder and a food scale.
  • jenniferbwest
    jenniferbwest Posts: 6 Member
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    Yes, but I have 4 kids. I don't want to cook two pots of rice- one for me, one for them. Once I add water, weighing it isn't as accurate, unless I eat all that is prepared.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
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    jenniferbwest wrote: »
    Yes, but I have 4 kids. I don't want to cook two pots of rice- one for me, one for them. Once I add water, weighing it isn't as accurate, unless I eat all that is prepared.

    You weigh the rice in to the pot, and know that it's X serves of a certain number of grams. When it's cooked, you weigh it again and you can work out how many serves you are eating.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
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    Weigh the rice before cooking so you know how many calories you are making in total. Weigh again once cooked to determine how to portion up the finished product. Although weight will change between raw and cooked, total calorie count will not (assuming that you only use water to cook the rice).
  • Avidkeo
    Avidkeo Posts: 3,190 Member
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    Just weight what you put on your plate. so cook your rice, put your plate on a scale, serve your portion, see what the weight is and log it. MFP does have cooked rice as an option. Leave any left overs for something the next day.

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