How big is a "serving"

TiredOfBeingRound

I'm planning on making a turkey chili ....but how do I know how much a serving is? one cup? 2 cups? I was going to add everything up and divide it by the number "servings", is that correct? thanks!

sbwood888

I wold probably have to eat 2 cups. Even with a salad, I don't think 1 cup would satisfy me. Maybe your appetite is not as big as mine! :laugh:

merrillfoster

It's whatever you want it to be, just make sure you're accurate (don't say it's 4 servings when you're having it in 2)

jenroseb

I make the Weight Watchers turkey chili all the time and a serving to them is one cup. One cup also only equals one point to them. I probably eat about 2 cups myself!!

jimmydeanbakker

I actually think it's one cup.

AggieCass09

When I make chili, I put the recipe into the recipe thing on MFP (food > recpie) and then i play with how many servings makes a good calorie portion (10 or 12 is typical) then in the pot, I will divide up the whole pot into even serving amounts (usually 4 containers of 4 servings). So I don't do mine by measuring...its more about diving. I've found that this tends to be more accurate in the calorie department,

Good luck

Genie30

You could try running it through the recipe calculator and see what it divides up by sensibly. That way you get an idea of how much a portion should be.

jclji4

Yes, you are correct. The thing is, you will have to either know how the chili can be divided equally. Can it be divided into 4 equal parts? Can it be divided into 8? That is the problem I come across when I cook. So, generally I estimate, unless it isn't so much that I can measure how much it is.

skinnylizzard

If you're just eating chili and there are a lot of veggies in it, I would say 2 cups. But if you're having it on rice or with a salad I usually go one cup.

gangstagirl625

i would do that add all the ingredients up and divide by how many servings. although i saw a challenge on the biggest loser and a bowl (styrofoam) of chili (beef) with cheese (1/8c) and onion only had 267 calories hope that helps

lindainak

Hmmmm, turkey white bean chili sounds good. Must cut recipe so I won't be eating it for the next week or freeze; my husband travels for work. And I can add dark green leafy things to that. My dietition wants me to add 2 cups of organic dark greens a day to diet? She must be thinking dry leaves but even so.

hroush

I did it backwards when I was entering my meals. I would count how many meals it lasted (actual number of servings) and then change the recipe (first enter an educated guess and then change if was different), but it usually is around 2 cups for me. Then when I make the same meal again it should be the same amount.

mistawalka

When I make chili, I put the recipe into the recipe thing on MFP (food > recpie) and then i play with how many servings makes a good calorie portion (10 or 12 is typical) then in the pot, I will divide up the whole pot into even serving amounts (usually 4 containers of 4 servings). So I don't do mine by measuring...its more about diving. I've found that this tends to be more accurate in the calorie department,

Good luck

I do something similar to this - using 1 kilo of turkey mince as a base - throwing in the rest ot ingredients and dividing into 5 small bowls gave me a nicely sized portion of around 200 calories each. It then gets bagged and frozen for the coming week or two.

paniolo5

That's my biggest complaint about a lot of recipes. They tell you how many servings, but not the size of the servings. I use my scale a lot. If the final pot of food is supposed to be 8 servings and it weighs 98 ounces, then a serving size is 12.25 oz. A lot of times, I'm winging it by eyeballing it (looks to be about 2 quart casserole, so 8 servings equates to 1 cup per serving) and it seems to be working.

Painten

I count a serving as how many the meal will feed. So i make a pasta bake and i know it can serve 6 so i'll say it's 6 serving and i usually have 2 but enter that i have 2.

If you enter that a meal is 4 servings and you say you had a serving after having more than a quarter you will be out.

gmom81158

If your are following a recipe it should tell you the serving size. How much you eat is up to you based on what you have available calorie wise. If I make "cupboard" surprise I add all the ingredients in a large bowl first and then use a measuring cup to transfer it to the crock or pan-that way I know how many cups are in there and then I enter those cups as "servings" to figure out all my values.

raising2ells

I usually do the hard/messy way. I just made chili the other night and had a crockpot full. I then took a large bowl and a 1 cup measuring cup and dipped into the extra bowl until the crockpot was empty. Ugh! BUT IT WORKED! I just decided I wanted a serving to be 1 cup and there were 12 cups in my crockpot. I typed the recipe into "My Recipes" on MFP and put servings as 12. I ended up having 2 cups that night, but just put in 2 servings for the amount.

Did any of that make sense???? I'm tired!

pyro13g

Record the calories for the entire batch of chili. Weigh the batch, don't forget to zero the scale to the container you will weigh the entire batch in.. Divide that number by how many calories you want per serving. That gives you number of servings. Calculate weight of batch/Servings. That gives you weight per serving.

Example:

Entire batch of chili. 1000grams
Total calories in that 1000gr 1600
I want 300 calories per serving
1600/300 = 5.33 servings
1000gr/5.33 = 187.6grams in weight for 300 calories.

Make sure you stir the batch well before you scoop into servings to be weighed.

You can do the same thing but use volume(cups, liters, etc..)

Total volume 6 cups
1600/300 = 5.33 servings
6Cups(48ounces)/5.33
= 1.12 cups or 9.00 ounces per serving of 300 calories.

tolygal

I would measure how many cups your receipe makes when complete. Then set your recipe to serve that many. Then you can eat as much you want, just update how many servings of it you ate.

For example, I just made chile today (beans only - no meat), and it made 20 cups exactly. So, my recipe had 20 servings (one cup each). So if I wanted 2 cups of chile, I'd enter that I ate 2 servings of it. If I wanted 1.5 cups, I'd say I had 1.5 servings of it.

TiredOfBeingRound

Thank you everyone for all your info and advice!!