Different serving sizes

deason91

Hi everyone!

When I look at recipes on Allrecipes, it give caloric information based on number of servings. My problem is that I can't figure out what size that is...is a serving 3 oz? A cup? Different people have different measurements for servings. Anyone have a quick way to convert serving sizes to something more concrete?

Thanks!

rosebarnalice

Not really, but sometimes I'll make a recipe I find on the interwebs, then weigh the completed dish. That way, if the recipe said it was 4 servings and the finished weight was 1200 grams, then I know that the servings are 300 grams each.

Strudders67

What's a 'reasonable serving' to one person could be huge or pathetic to another person. Different people write these recipes, therefore a serving size will differ per dish.

I start by looking at the key ingredients - how much protein? is pasta / potato / rice used in the recipe or do I need to add those as a side? I have a pretty good idea how many grams of chicken, pork, beef etc is reasonable for my meals. I then look at what other ingredients are padding it out and can usually gauge the number of servings it's likely to give me.

What usually happens is that I make the dish, look at how much food there is and adjust the number of Servings in the MFP Recipe builder because something that supposedly is 4 servings is actually 5 or 6 for me. I eat one portion and bag or box up the other four or five, in equal weights, for future dinners. The idea of that dish being 4 servings is either based on someone with a much higher calorie need than me or because the chef eats too much. Very very rarely, the opposite happens and something that's supposed to be 4 servings may only give me 3 meals.

I eat a little less over the next few days to balance things out if it turns out to be more cals than expected (or have dessert or some cheese on crackers if I end up way under my calorie count for the day).

Regardless of what a recipe says, I almost always reduce the quantity of pasta, based on the number of servings I expect to get. I know how much pasta I consider to be a serving. The same is true for anything that calls for cheese to be added - I usually add far less.

Almost every recipe that I use on a regular basis is printed out so that I can write my own notes on it as to how many servings and how many cals etc per serving, especially if I reduce the pasta or sub an ingredient.