Weigh before or after ?

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RedPowder
RedPowder Posts: 44 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I know this might sound rediclous to some but please forgive me for not knowing.

When cooking pasta do I weigh it before I cook it or after? I would presume cooked pasta weighs more than uncooked pasta due to the water it’s absorbed.

When making gravy do I weigh that out before or after making it? So if it says 50ml is that before I add the water or after ? I understand you can’t really mesure dried food in ml but that’s why I’m confused.

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Replies

  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    edited July 2018
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    When you can, weigh everything before cooking.

    For the gravy, I would assume that is just the powder.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Unless the pasta package says "as prepared" or "cooked" or something like that, the nutrition info on the package is before cooking. Having said that, there are USDA entries in the database for many foods cooked, using words like "boiled" "roasted" "baked" that sort of thing in the search field will help bring them up.

    Raw weighing is always better IMO, but if you weigh it cooked, just make sure you choose a database entry that specifies cooked.

    Same thing with the gravy - the nutrition info on the package is for what is in the package as is, unless it specifically calls out "as prepared".
  • ExistingFish
    ExistingFish Posts: 1,259 Member
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    Pasta is by uncooked weight, because it absorbs water at different rates depending on the length of time cooked and thus is variable. It's a bear to log for me, I do my best to estimate.

    Best thing I can do is weigh before, then weigh after, and then allocated based on the before weight. Like if I cook 4 oz of pasta (2x2oz serving) I weigh it and make even halves, so it's two servings, no matter the finished weight. A serving is half of what I cooked. TBH, I eyeball, based on that principle. Some people need more precision.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Weigh pasta before.

    Here's a pasta hint. If you usually cook pasta for more than one person, weigh out one serving, boil it by itself, drain it, and then scoop it into a measuring cup to get a visual of how big it is. In the future, use that cup to measure out your portion from everybody else's. I did this a couple of years ago with spaghetti and found that 2 oz dry came out to a generously rounded 1 cup measuring cup full of pasta. From that point on I've always just used the measuring up as a serving spoon of sorts when we have spaghetti for dinner.
  • DaintyWhisper
    DaintyWhisper Posts: 221 Member
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    The grams/ounces for a serving of pasta is usually its pre-cooked weight. The label should specify dry or cooked. For the gravy, the label I found has calories for 100g as sold and 50ml prepared. I don't think you want to measure out the gravy once you cook it. So, I would use the 100g calories and do the math to scale down to the amount you use so you don't have to worry about weighing once your food is done. For example, if you use 40g of gravy powder, it would be 0.4 of a 100g serving. 20g of gravy power would be 0.2 of a 100g serving. Etc. It's definitely easier to weigh before cooking, as that's usually how the weight of a product is measured on the label.

  • RedPowder
    RedPowder Posts: 44 Member
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    Thank you all so much you have gone above and beyond with answering my questions and even giving me helpful tips on how to make it easier in the future. It’s still early days for me but I can say I owe a lot to you guys for the success I will have in my weight loss journey.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,484 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    Weigh pasta before.

    Here's a pasta hint. If you usually cook pasta for more than one person, weigh out one serving, boil it by itself, drain it, and then scoop it into a measuring cup to get a visual of how big it is. In the future, use that cup to measure out your portion from everybody else's. I did this a couple of years ago with spaghetti and found that 2 oz dry came out to a generously rounded 1 cup measuring cup full of pasta. From that point on I've always just used the measuring up as a serving spoon of sorts when we have spaghetti for dinner.

    I did the same thing did an individual portion dry, but then instead of using a. cup, I weighed it cooked.
    I split it into a 100g serving, 'cos that is what I eat, and worked out the cooked cals.
    Now I just weigh 100g onto my plate from the pot.

    Cheers, h.

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