measure pasta before or after cooking?

pmg2000m

2 oz dry is about 1 cup cooked... so if I'm cooking a whole box for several people, I just scoop out a cup for myself once it's done. It also helps if you're eating elsewhere to know that 1 cup is a serving.

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OldHobo

I must be very tired because many of the posts in this thread seem to make no sense at all.

seska422

MrM27 wrote: »

You're talking about a situation where you eat out, we would all have to try and guess but OP wants to know if she should weigh it dry or cooked so obviously she has an option. To say for her to cook it then weigh it and if she underestimates makes no sense seeing that she has a better option. Why settle for guessing when you can know you have accuracy.

I was responding to:

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

what is the point of weighing if you aren't going to do it correctly?

The OP was cooking at home but there are situations where you can't weigh before cooking. You can get a better estimate weighing after cooking that you can by just guessing.

ZiggySquish

alicaramik2 wrote: »

I made this mistake in the beginning. Two ounces of cooked pasta is such a tiny amount, I almost gave up on ever having it again. Two ounces of dry pasta is a pretty reasonable amount (still a whole lot less than I used to eat) so that makes my Italian heart happy. One thing I have been doing is using a different shapes pasta for myself. That way I don't have to cook it separately. For example, penne for me and spaghetti for everyone else. It's easy to pull out my serving without having to re-measure after cooking.

This is Way Clever,
Gold star for you!

Sarauk2sf

WeddedBliss1992 wrote: »

wow.
now i have no clue what to do! LOL

i can just use a separate pan for my pasta, measure out 2 oz of dry, cook in separate pan than the rest of the family's, then eat mine. it will be interesting to measure it after i cook it, and see the post-cooked weight in ounces as compared to the pre-cooked weight.

i have so many "extra" calories today, it won't really matter, but it might on another day.

Weigh the amount you need for everyone. Work out what % your 2oz is (and the calories for that dry weight).

Cook it - weigh it - take your % out of that.

So....6 oz of dry say - your portion is 33.3%

If its 12oz cooked - take 33.3% of that which = 4oz - that is your portion of cooked pasta.

Use the dry weight (as that's usually what is given) for the calories.

lindaloo1213

from someone who cooks for my family I refuse to cook my food seperate. I weigh out the dry pasta and write down exactly how many servings I am cooking. when it is done cooking I drain my pasta very very well. (let it sit for about 5 minutes in strainer above pot) and then weigh the cooked pasta divide that total weight by how many servings and there yah have a serving. simple.
your after weight will be different every single time and with every single type of pasta because they retain water differently/difference in how done it is etc.

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Cortelli

Sarauk2sf wrote: »

WeddedBliss1992 wrote: »

wow.
now i have no clue what to do! LOL

i can just use a separate pan for my pasta, measure out 2 oz of dry, cook in separate pan than the rest of the family's, then eat mine. it will be interesting to measure it after i cook it, and see the post-cooked weight in ounces as compared to the pre-cooked weight.

i have so many "extra" calories today, it won't really matter, but it might on another day.

Weigh the amount you need for everyone. Work out what % your 2oz is (and the calories for that dry weight).

Cook it - weigh it - take your % out of that.

So....6 oz of dry say - your portion is 33.3%

If its 12oz cooked - take 33.3% of that which = 4oz - that is your portion of cooked pasta.

Use the dry weight (as that's usually what is given) for the calories.

Yup.

And if that's too much for you, and if you're cooking for your family regularly (and you usually have your pasta to the same "doneness"), within a matter of a few meals you'll have a pretty accurate sense of what your particular cooked pasta favorites equate to as dry weight -- i.e., you'll know that X grams of "Wedded Bliss's Perfect Penne" when cooked is approximately Z grams of uncooked dry weight penne. Not precise, but depending on how you're doing and where you're at, oftentimes close enough for government work.

FWIW - I sometimes do the same thing with steak ('cause I don't eat a lot of pasta but do eat a lot of steak!). I know that a new york strip cooked "a la Cortelli" is generally going to be between 85% - 90% of dry weight. Since I often grill 'em for the family and we're not limiting ourselves to one particular steak (i.e., they often get cut up / portioned) I often have to use the cooked weight to be "accurate" and have found "a la Cortelli" estimates of dry weight to be more accurate than using db entries for the same cut of meat broiled / grilled.

Also +1 for the different pasta ideas. Smart idea.

hnm921

maxit wrote: »

I weigh and cook 6 oz of pasta. I weigh the cooked pasta (colander first, tare, then with pasta) and eat a third of the cooked pasta by weight. It's not as cumbersome as it sounds lol

Did this an hour ago, weighed 6 oz, boiled it, drained it then weighed it. Divided by 3 and ate my portion!

GGorast

Hi all.
I have this dilemma forever so Im trying to figure out. This is my understanding:

Nutrition facts on the packaging are propably for not cooked product. So i compare the weight of one cooked spagett and a dry one.

The cooked one weights 3x times more than the dry. So my math is:

Cooked spagetti / 3 = the actual weight in raw spagetti. That with the nutrition facts on the lable should give us correct anumbers.

Right...?

Thanks,
Gorast

fitfabforties

and this is why I don't eat pasta or rice....problem solved!!!

patrikc333

always dry, normally it's around 350cal/100g

if you boil xxx grams weight it cooked, compare to the dry weight, work out the dry to wet factor and then portion accordingly.

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cwolfman13

any package of pasta I've ever looked at lists a serving as 2 oz dry...meaning you would weigh that out before you cooked it.

Mischievous_Rascal

fitfabforties wrote: »

and this is why I don't eat pasta or rice....problem solved!!!

I eat all the pasta and rice I can, but this kind of thread is why I don't own a kitchen scale. (And since I'm the only person on this site that eyeballing portions seems to have worked for, I'm gonna duck and run now...)