How to log Cooked pasta?

dhara06
dhara06 Posts: 18 Member
in Food and Nutrition
How do I log cooked pasta ? When I scan it it comes up from tied portion

Replies

  • harper16
    harper16 Posts: 2,564 Member
    Log the weighed dry pasta.
  • Unicorn_Bacon
    Unicorn_Bacon Posts: 491 Member
    It's hard to log cooked pasta because noodles will absorb more water the longer someone cooks it... so.. you're better off weighing it dry..

    Pasta is calorie dense for a small amount so.. if you're going to guess a calorie amount for your cooked pasta, I would aim generously
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    All of the above. Did you buy the past already-cooked (hence you're scanning it- seems odd that it would come up with dried pasta if so though) or are you cooking it? If you're cooking it from dried, weigh the dried pasta first. If it helps, packaging in the UK says 75g dried pasta weighs approx 170g when cooked, so maybe you can work back from that - but as said above, it's not exact as different cooking times mean different amounts of water absorbed.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct. It's quite likely that you are getting a user-entered entry.

    Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both user-created entries and admin-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. To find admin entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP.

    The USDA recently changed the platform for their database and it is unfortunately a little more difficult to use. I uncheck everything but SR Legacy - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

    Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was user entered.

    I'd use the following entry, or "Pasta, cooked, unenriched, with added salt," depending.
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Here's one: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169751/nutrients

    I'd copy the description of the food (Pasta, cooked, enriched, with added salt) exactly and search for it at MFP, and you should similarly have an option to log with 100 g as your unit option (so for 150 you'd log 1.5 servings). The nutrient and cal amounts should be close, although they vary a bit year to year.

    I think it's much easier and more accurate to weigh pasta dry, but if not this works too.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    Just buy the scale. It costs $15 on Amazon.
  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,770 Member
    edited April 2020
    I know that two oz. of pasta is 200 calories, per the packaging. So I need to cook my weighed portion separately from my family? Ugh. I wish I knew how many oz. of water pasta absorbs, so I can avoid cooking separately. Two oz. of COOKED pasta is basically nothing!

    For now I’m just logging it as 2 portions (400 cals).
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Womona wrote: »
    I know that two oz. of pasta is 200 calories, per the packaging. So I need to cook my weighed portion separately from my family? Ugh. I wish I knew how many oz. of water pasta absorbs, so I can avoid cooking separately. Two oz. of COOKED pasta is basically nothing!

    For now I’m just logging it as 2 portions (400 cals).

    A serving is 2oz dry, not cooked.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,235 Member
    You've been given some ideas... have you looked?!? :smiley:

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169751/nutrients says that 100g are 157 Cal, so 2oz = 56.7g cannot be 400 Cal... unless it was uncooked pasta, and in fact, as we see below, it can't EVER be 400 Cal!

    Also if the 75g uncooked yields 170g cooked is true, then your 56.7g would yield about 200 Cal, not 400 Cal. So we are dealing with a potentially incorrect entry too.

    Using Barilla's online guide that 2oz pasta yields 1 cup cooked for spaghetti, and USDA's sample of about 50 where 1 cup spaghetti not packed is about 124g and packed about 151g we conclude that 2oz of uncooked pasta yields between 124g and 151g of cooked pasta worth about 200 to 237 Cal.

    Incidentally this serves as a cross reference to the previously stated 75g yields 170g cooked since the values are very similar.

    And it also serves to prove that it is much easier to:

    Measure total weight of uncooked pasta going in the pot.
    Then weight of cooked/drained pasta coming out of the pot.
    Then weight of portion of pasta in your plate.

    And using the above values calculate the uncooked percentage that you ate and the calories!



  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    Womona wrote: »
    I know that two oz. of pasta is 200 calories, per the packaging. So I need to cook my weighed portion separately from my family? Ugh. I wish I knew how many oz. of water pasta absorbs, so I can avoid cooking separately. Two oz. of COOKED pasta is basically nothing!

    For now I’m just logging it as 2 portions (400 cals).

    Just remember your algebra. If you weigh the whole portion of pasta dry, then you weigh the whole of the pasta cooked, then you weigh your cooked portion you will know exactly what part of the dry pasta you had and therefore how many calories you had.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    2 oz of cooked pasta is about 90 cal based on the entry I posted earlier.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    USDA is king.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Womona wrote: »
    I know that two oz. of pasta is 200 calories, per the packaging. So I need to cook my weighed portion separately from my family? Ugh. I wish I knew how many oz. of water pasta absorbs, so I can avoid cooking separately. Two oz. of COOKED pasta is basically nothing!

    For now I’m just logging it as 2 portions (400 cals).
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Just remember your algebra. If you weigh the whole portion of pasta dry, then you weigh the whole of the pasta cooked, then you weigh your cooked portion you will know exactly what part of the dry pasta you had and therefore how many calories you had.

    What he said ^.

    Or you can use "Pasta, cooked, unenriched, with added salt," which as far as I'm concerned, is close enough.

    And like other posters said, the serving size is 2 oz dry.
  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,770 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Womona wrote: »
    I know that two oz. of pasta is 200 calories, per the packaging. So I need to cook my weighed portion separately from my family? Ugh. I wish I knew how many oz. of water pasta absorbs, so I can avoid cooking separately. Two oz. of COOKED pasta is basically nothing!

    For now I’m just logging it as 2 portions (400 cals).
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Just remember your algebra. If you weigh the whole portion of pasta dry, then you weigh the whole of the pasta cooked, then you weigh your cooked portion you will know exactly what part of the dry pasta you had and therefore how many calories you had.

    What he said ^.

    Or you can use "Pasta, cooked, unenriched, with added salt," which as far as I'm concerned, is close enough.

    And like other posters said, the serving size is 2 oz dry.

    You are all brilliant. Thanks so much!!!!! So incredibly helpful!
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