Actual vs expected yield on recipes

jenniferbwest

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.

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jenniferbwest

PS- thanks for help

Confuzzled4ever

Yes I always weigh everything. It's the only way to be truly accurate.

Wynterbourne

Unless it's a liquid, always weight it.

Ready2Rock206

You've discovered why measuring cups aren't the best tool. Use the recipe builder and a food scale.

jenniferbwest

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

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

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

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.