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Do I have PASTA Logged Right?
Leka1000
Posts: 160 Member
Okay so pasta is listed on the box as per "dry" stats right? With that said, I should be weighing it dry and cooking it separate so I can log accurately, right?
If I weight this preweighed dry pasta, it should roughly double in weight. 85grams when dry and about 170grams when cooked.
Is this the best way to go about logging pasta?
If I weight this preweighed dry pasta, it should roughly double in weight. 85grams when dry and about 170grams when cooked.
Is this the best way to go about logging pasta?
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I weigh it cooked and divide that by the number of servings in the package. It's a lot easier than cooking it separately IMO.0
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I do the same (just double the weight cooked), but I found this chart online for the different pastas (see link below). I need to remember to start buying capellini orzo and spaghettini so I can eat more! They must absorb more water or something. It would have been nice if they had done it in 100g instead of 300g so we didn't have to do math.
http://www.kraftcanada.com/~/media/Kraft Canada/pdf/guides/PastaMeasuringChart.pdf0 -
^^I don't think this is accurate folks...When I weighed dry on 2 occasions with the same product, I got different cooked weights....there for if weighed and logged cooked, inaccurate...0
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I used to weigh it cooked and go by the 85g on the box. I take insulin and was always getting low! No wonder! 85grams is NOT for the cooked weight, it's for the dry weight! I was over logging and therefore was taking insulin for carbs i wasn't even consuming.0
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In the database, you will find cooked pasta listed as "macaroni." For whatever reason, this is the way it is listed in the USDA nutrition database (my guess is cuz that was started a long time ago before Americans started calling it "pasta"). Search for "macaroni cooked"0
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Is MFP mainly USA entries?0
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All of my pasta is 56g (dry). Just cook that (or the amount you want) and eat it. No need to weigh it again!0
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Do you ever cook pasta for more than one person at a time? If so, do you cook yours separately?Queenmunchy wrote: »All of my pasta is 56g (dry). Just cook that (or the amount you want) and eat it. No need to weigh it again!
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I don't eat pasta, but yes, years ago I used to cook mine separatately. It was just easier to track.0
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Easier than cooking the package, weighing it all cooked, and taking 1/8 (or whatever) of that weight to get a cooked serving weight? Seems like more of a PITA, but whatever works, works.Queenmunchy wrote: »I don't eat pasta, but yes, years ago I used to cook mine separatately. It was just easier to track.
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If I'm cooking for more than one person I weigh before and after, just like doing a recipe. Unless I make the whole box-then I would use deguello'a strategy and just weigh cooked since I know the servings for the whole box.0
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I measure dry. Pasta is fiddly to judge and calorie-dense so I would never not weight it. It's one of the things for which a scale is invaluable. If cooking for two I allow 33% for me and 66% for him. I don't weight it back out again cooked so there's an error margin, but my eye for proportions is good. Otherwise weighing again would work.0
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If I'm cooking for more than one person I weigh before and after, just like doing a recipe. Unless I make the whole box-then I would use deguello'a strategy and just weigh cooked since I know the servings for the whole box.
This is what I started doing recently. It's rare that I'm cooking a whole box of pasta. Actually, never. So the other night I weighed what I planned on cooking, cooked it, and weighed it all again so I would know how much to portion out.
However, I did recently read that with rice you can triple the grams when cooked.0 -
I have a family so I always cook for everyone together. 2oz dry pasta is roughly 4oz cooked i found in my trials.0
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^^I don't think this is accurate folks...When I weighed dry on 2 occasions with the same product, I got different cooked weights....there for if weighed and logged cooked, inaccurate...
And do you remember if a portion was ever less than double the dry weight? My hubby usually does the cooking and I can't figure out a polite way to measure the entire pot and make everyone wait while I do this. I guess I was going with double should be close enough.0 -
Yeah, it doesn't have to be the whole box, just the whole batch to be cooked. As long as you know how many servings you're cooking, you can just divide the cooked weight by that number to know how much cooked pasta there is per serving, without having to cook any separately.If I'm cooking for more than one person I weigh before and after, just like doing a recipe. Unless I make the whole box-then I would use deguello'a strategy and just weigh cooked since I know the servings for the whole box.
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Hmmm well i guess the best way is too weigh out say 4 dry portions (4X85g) and then cook it, then weigh the cooked amount and divide by 4. The answer will be your cooked weight serving and go by what's on the nutrition info on the box for the 85grams.0
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RunRachelleRun wrote: »^^I don't think this is accurate folks...When I weighed dry on 2 occasions with the same product, I got different cooked weights....there for if weighed and logged cooked, inaccurate...
And do you remember if a portion was ever less than double the dry weight? My hubby usually does the cooking and I can't figure out a polite way to measure the entire pot and make everyone wait while I do this. I guess I was going with double should be close enough.
NEVER less than double. Doublish or over!
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RunRachelleRun wrote: »^^I don't think this is accurate folks...When I weighed dry on 2 occasions with the same product, I got different cooked weights....there for if weighed and logged cooked, inaccurate...
And do you remember if a portion was ever less than double the dry weight? My hubby usually does the cooking and I can't figure out a polite way to measure the entire pot and make everyone wait while I do this. I guess I was going with double should be close enough.
NEVER less than double. Doublish or over!
Thanks! That's perfect. That's what I thought, so that means I'm underestimating the calories by just weighing a cooked serving to double the dry weight, which I'm good with.0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »I weigh it cooked and divide that by the number of servings in the package. It's a lot easier than cooking it separately IMO.
But the box is never exactly what they say.. so it's not accurate either.
Weigh it dry to see how many servings you have. Let's say it's 620g (I know, boxes are not that big, but whatever), so that's 620/56 = 11.07 servings. Then weigh it cooked... if you have 1300g, divide by 11.07, and a serving cooked is 117g give or take. So if you end up having 150g of cooked pasta, you can log it as 150/117 = 1.29 of a serving.
Honestly I just do it every time I cook rice or pasta, it just takes 30 seconds, otherwise yeah I don't always get the same numbers (although for rice it's always been fairly close with the 'boil in a bag' stuff).0 -
All who are weighing it once cooked (for more than a single serving) I have a few questions about your method. How exactly are you doing this? Are you using a pot holder to keep your scale from getting burned? Pouring the cooked pasta into a new large bowl? If so, is the pasta not getting cold while it's transferring from pot to dish and then into new serving dishes? I'm thinking my husband is going to be quite annoyed with me if I attempt to weigh the whole pot. It's one thing to weigh my own food, it's another to make everyone wait while I weigh all the food. Pasta is the one thing I haven't weighed exactly (I mean I weigh out my portion based on a guesstimate of 100g dry = 200g cooked). Am I just overthinking it?0
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I transfer it to a tared bowl and just serve from there.0
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I just stopped eating pasta.0
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
Easier than cooking the package, weighing it all cooked, and taking 1/8 (or whatever) of that weight to get a cooked serving weight? Seems like more of a PITA, but whatever works, works.Queenmunchy wrote: »I don't eat pasta, but yes, years ago I used to cook mine separatately. It was just easier to track.
For me, it was. My child eats much earlier than I do, so if it was a small amount for her, then later I cooked some for me - no problem. I was a single mom for years. You can always weigh the entire bag dry, cook it all, and portion to flash freeze the remainder in portions. It reconstitutes in sauce or hot water like new, and you already knew that each portion is 56g (or however you'd want to portion it).0 -
Queenmunchy wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
Easier than cooking the package, weighing it all cooked, and taking 1/8 (or whatever) of that weight to get a cooked serving weight? Seems like more of a PITA, but whatever works, works.Queenmunchy wrote: »I don't eat pasta, but yes, years ago I used to cook mine separatately. It was just easier to track.
For me, it was. My child eats much earlier than I do, so if it was a small amount for her, then later I cooked some for me - no problem. I was a single mom for years. You can always weigh the entire bag dry, cook it all, and portion to flash freeze the remainder in portions. It reconstitutes in sauce or hot water like new, and you already knew that each portion is 56g (or however you'd want to portion it).
Except a box is never exactly 8 servings.0 -
No, but you can weigh the entire thing dry and split it into portions then divide by portion.0
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I weighed like 10 packages when I started and none were off by more than a few grams which, split over four people, is random noise.DeguelloTex wrote: »I weigh it cooked and divide that by the number of servings in the package. It's a lot easier than cooking it separately IMO.
But the box is never exactly what they say.. so it's not accurate either.
Weigh it dry to see how many servings you have. Let's say it's 620g (I know, boxes are not that big, but whatever), so that's 620/56 = 11.07 servings. Then weigh it cooked... if you have 1300g, divide by 11.07, and a serving cooked is 117g give or take. So if you end up having 150g of cooked pasta, you can log it as 150/117 = 1.29 of a serving.
Honestly I just do it every time I cook rice or pasta, it just takes 30 seconds, otherwise yeah I don't always get the same numbers (although for rice it's always been fairly close with the 'boil in a bag' stuff).
If you feel like you need to measure beforehand, by all means, do so.
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