Dried Foods?

krystalraven

Hi there folks! Was just wondering with dry foods such as rice and pasta, do you take the weight of a portion before cooking or after cooking them?

thisismeraw

I normally do before cooking. Depending on how long you cook things like pasta or rice the weight will be different due to how much water they absorb. Always go with whatever the package says.

beattie1

It depends what it says on the packet or in the listing. As a guide, those "carb" foods tend to come in at about 100 calories per 100 grams when cooked, or in the state that you'd eat them. Holds more or less for rice, pasta, bread, potatoes (though new potatoes are a little lower) and it depends how much you boil them and therefore how much water the food has absorbed. Pasta cooked til soft has a lower calorie count than pasta cooked "al dente" if you compare cooked weight as the softer pasta has absorbed more water, so when you weigh it out in its cooked state more of what you're putting on the scale is water held in the pasta itself.

I usually weigh out these foods cooked as I'm usually cooking for more people than just me, so I spoon out my serving and weigh it. If you're cooking for just yourself you could weigh out the food uncooked and then eat the lot.

I find the "Allow xx grams per portion" on things like pasta or rice packets are far too big, by the way!! Another rule of thumb I use is that 30 grams of pasta or rice becomes about 100 grams when cooked.