Pasta is SO calorific!
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snickerscharlie wrote: »And the reason pasta servings on the label are indicated from dry weight is also because different people cook their pasta to varying levels of 'doneness.' The softer you like your pasta, the more water it will have absorbed through the longer boiling time, making cooked weights highly inaccurate.
But if you cook it as instructed...that will be accurate yes?!0 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »And the reason pasta servings on the label are indicated from dry weight is also because different people cook their pasta to varying levels of 'doneness.' The softer you like your pasta, the more water it will have absorbed through the longer boiling time, making cooked weights highly inaccurate.
But if you cook it as instructed...that will be accurate yes?!
my box has a range of cooking times - typically it says cook 8 to 10min (and then says if you want al dante cook less) - so that is still a range2 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »And the reason pasta servings on the label are indicated from dry weight is also because different people cook their pasta to varying levels of 'doneness.' The softer you like your pasta, the more water it will have absorbed through the longer boiling time, making cooked weights highly inaccurate.
But if you cook it as instructed...that will be accurate yes?!
I just find it easier to use the dry weight of the pasta, because then I know it's accurate, regardless of how I cook it.
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Thanks all0
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BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »You’re running into the issue of dried vs cooked weight here though. 170g of pasta weighed in dried form would be a massive portion! The information you’re looking at is the portion if you’re weighing it cooked, so it includes the volume of water the dried pasta absorbed during cooking. Some pasta packs will state a serving size of 56g dried weight as a portion. That 56g will weigh approximately 170g when weighed after cooking.
Ah! You see you learn something new every day! Thank you BabaraHelen2013! But I also see...by looking closer at the instructions on the webpage for the pasta (https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/254878545)...the suggested 75g of uncooked pasta...which gives you the 6.66 portions per this pack...and the devil's jiggery-pokery ensues again! lol!
But if I calculate correctly...a 50g "dry" weight serving would garner approximately 113g cooked weight at 200kcal...so a saving of 100kcal as well as the opportunity for 10 portions in a pack...
Just from recent posts in a number of threads I'm getting the sense that in the UK packages more commonly give cooked weight, and that standard portion size for pasta (on bags, anyway) is different.
In the US I pretty much always see dry weight, and based on a 2 oz (56 g) size.1 -
deannalfisher wrote: »my box has a range of cooking times - typically it says cook 8 to 10min (and then says if you want al dante cook less) - so that is still a range
Crap! Yes...just double checked the link I posted earlier...that says 10-12 minutes...so it's a case of weighing it after cooking and doing the maths...0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »my box has a range of cooking times - typically it says cook 8 to 10min (and then says if you want al dante cook less) - so that is still a range
Crap! Yes...just double checked the link I posted earlier...that says 10-12 minutes...so it's a case of weighing it after cooking and doing the maths...
or just weighing it before...if you cook 56g of dry pasta for 10min and it comes out to 120g or 56g for 12 min and it comes out to 150g...its base is still 56g dry - that is why dry is recommended3 -
Yes but dry isn’t available on the packet or website, that’s why I posted about this.
It’s v annoying.
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^^ this
honestly in all my years of eating pasta - i think a standard serving is between 50-60g dry andi 've eaten multiple brands in multiple places over the years0 -
BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »You’re running into the issue of dried vs cooked weight here though. 170g of pasta weighed in dried form would be a massive portion! The information you’re looking at is the portion if you’re weighing it cooked, so it includes the volume of water the dried pasta absorbed during cooking. Some pasta packs will state a serving size of 56g dried weight as a portion. That 56g will weigh approximately 170g when weighed after cooking.
Ah! You see you learn something new every day! Thank you BabaraHelen2013! But I also see...by looking closer at the instructions on the webpage for the pasta (https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/254878545)...the suggested 75g of uncooked pasta...which gives you the 6.66 portions per this pack...and the devil's jiggery-pokery ensues again! lol!
But if I calculate correctly...a 50g "dry" weight serving would garner approximately 113g cooked weight at 200kcal...so a saving of 100kcal as well as the opportunity for 10 portions in a pack...
Just from recent posts in a number of threads I'm getting the sense that in the UK packages more commonly give cooked weight, and that standard portion size for pasta (on bags, anyway) is different.
In the US I pretty much always see dry weight, and based on a 2 oz (56 g) size.
I’ve just done a quick check of all the pasta packs in my cupboard and it becomes more confusing the more you look at them! I have a range of shapes (spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, orzo and tagliatelle currently) from various different UK supermarkets - all own brand. In the nutritional information panel they all give the cals per 100g cooked and per 200g cooked. (Though why the second column cannot be simply extrapolated from the first is beyond me).
Underneath the nutrition panel some shapes/brands actually state that 90g dry pasta yields approx 200g when cooked as instructed. Some of these packs also - in a separate panel, on the side of the pack, often where there is a suggested recipe - state quite clearly to allow 56g weighed dry per person. Other shapes/brands give no information beyond what is contained in the nutritional info panel, there seems to be no brand consistency here either!
My conclusion; if they’re suggesting the pasta be used as part of a ‘recipe’ which has other ingredients 56g dry weight is a portion. However if you fancied your pasta plainly boiled with very little else then 90g is the right portion! 🙄2 -
If you say so but can you only eat just 1 serving? I'm skeptical but I'm not the one eating it. Never would.
Yes...I did for dinner tonight along with some broccoli. Appropriate servings sizes for me is something that I have been working on. Surprisingly it has been easier than I thought it would be. I don't finish dinner and have that overstuffed feeling. I still have room for a dessert if I wanted one.
I will remember not to ask you over for dinner on the nights that I am serving that dish.
Kudos to you for your graceful response to an extremely rude post. Sounds like you've been able to figure out what works for you. You go, girl! ☺3 -
Yes but dry isn’t available on the packet or website, that’s why I posted about this.
It’s v annoying.
Weighing it when cooked is going to be good enough. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
(Also, if you overcook the pasta it won't taste as good, but calorie wise you will be logging (slightly) more cals than you ate. Since more people likely overcook by accident than undercooking -- al dente would IMO be cooking correctly and the difference between that and what the cals are based on is also probably very slight -- it's not something to stress about.)4 -
Of course! It’s always the foods that taste the best which have the most calories0
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A few days ago, I cooked 8 oz of spaghetti with the idea that hubs and I would have 2 servings as our dinner, with 2 left over for lunches. Typically, we mix the cooked pasta into the pot of sauce, so that it can absorb some of the sauce. This does increase the volume of the pasta, but doesn't dilute the flavor. I didn't weigh the cooked pasta, but we both had a hearty dinner portion, accompanied by a serving of squash. The remaining 'half' of the batch will easily make 4-5 lunch sized servings accompanied by a larger portion of vegetables than we had at dinner.0
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I love pasta and I eat without guilt. lol0
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I love pasta and it made me very sad when I actually started weighing it dry and realizing how many calories I was actually consuming - and how pathetically small the servings were (vs the calories out of my day). I can eat way more - like, WAY more - than I should!0
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smoofinator wrote: »Yep. It's depressing. Peanut butter too! After I got a food scale, I was so sad about those serving sizes
Ditto. Before I started looking into nutritions, I like to eat peanut butter in hopes of stopping my cramps after intense workouts. Now I avoid it like the plague.
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