I need help!

rchambers2072

How the heck do you determine the amount of servings in a dish and the size of each serving, besides the obvious way of waiting til its done and using a measuring cup and counting? There has to be a better way that can be figured out before the meal is done. I can't plan my day not knowing how many cals is in dinner! AARRGGG!!

howekaren

Is it a recipe you're cooking, or are you talking about something like a roast with side dishes? If it's a recipe, they should give the typical number of servings, and you can utilize the "My recipes" function to determine the calories/nutrition per serving. For roasts and things, I've found that weighing out a portion is very important in the beginning until you get a feel for the sizes of portions.

Or did you mean something else entirely?

mamamc03

The only thing I can think of it sit down and determine the volume. If you use 1 C broth, 1 lb (16 oz) meat, 1 C onions, etc...look at it that way , yes it will meld together some, but you can round down if necessary. Then from the amount of C's youhave your servings. It takes time, but well worth it to be accurate IMO.

rchambers2072

its a recipe I made up. LOL I do that a lot unfortunately. Salsa chicken. I used 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, 2 jars pace mild chunky salsa (16 oz each), a can of black beans (15.5 oz), and a drained can of pinto beans (15.5 oz). Put it all in the crockpot and let it cook all day. The kids loooove it! I came up with 9.5 cups of food, and divided that by 1/4 cup each serving and got 38 servings, but no clue if that is how I should be doing it.

MinnieInMaine

It's tough with new recipes unless, as the above poster mentioned, the recipe tells you exactly how many servings and/or the size of a serving. Some are definitely easier than others... Most casseroles, like lasagna, you can divide it up in the pan before servings (cut into 6 or 8 servings). I've got a few recipes for chicken thighs that call for a certain number so you can know ahead of time that 2 is a serving. For things like one pot meals, I assume there will be 4-6 servings depending on how big of a portion I'll be eating on a given night. In that case, I try to plan for eating a larger serving just in case and then go back and adjust my calories the next day if needed.

For the rest, the best you can do is guesstimate if you're not willing to measure.

howekaren

I've created my own recipes before, and it can be tricky, but it just takes a little planning. If I know I want 4 servings, for instance, I enter what would be considered 4 servings of meat/noodles, whatever, and add the rest of the ingredients. Then when I do the calorie count, I can see if the ingredients should be lessened to make a more reasonable calorie count. Then, when I serve it, if the portions seem out of whack, I can adjust the next time I cook. Sometimes, it's not so easy though. For instance, I prefer to make my own soup and bottle it in 1c mason jars so I can take it for my lunch. Typically, I will keep track of how much of each ingredient I use, and then see how many servings I get out of the pot. That means I may, if I'm not careful, end up with a more calorie laden soup than I planned, but usually it's pretty good. After awhile, you will get the sense of how many servings are in the dish.

Not too surprisingly, I guess, I've come to find out that I was grossly underestimating the amount of food I was eating and that my serving sizes were pretty darn large. That's why this site is so wonderful: you have access to so much information that can only help.

smsinger75

its a recipe I made up. LOL I do that a lot unfortunately. Salsa chicken. I used 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, 2 jars pace mild chunky salsa (16 oz each), a can of black beans (15.5 oz), and a drained can of pinto beans (15.5 oz). Put it all in the crockpot and let it cook all day. The kids loooove it! I came up with 9.5 cups of food, and divided that by 1/4 cup each serving and got 38 servings, but no clue if that is how I should be doing it.

I would probably enter the ingredients into the my recipe section of the food diary and calculate 4 servings. If that still looks too high, then I might put it at 6 servings. From what you described it sounds about typical for a family of four. With a possibility of one or two lunches. That is why I suggested 4-6 servings. Hope that makes sense. I had to recalculate a recipe the other night because it stated it made 10 servings. but when I divided it up I got 14 nice size containers worth. good luck!

infamousmk

its a recipe I made up. LOL I do that a lot unfortunately. Salsa chicken. I used 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, 2 jars pace mild chunky salsa (16 oz each), a can of black beans (15.5 oz), and a drained can of pinto beans (15.5 oz). Put it all in the crockpot and let it cook all day. The kids loooove it! I came up with 9.5 cups of food, and divided that by 1/4 cup each serving and got 38 servings, but no clue if that is how I should be doing it.

That's exactly how I do it. You're entering all of this information in to the "my recipes" section right?

rchambers2072

its a recipe I made up. LOL I do that a lot unfortunately. Salsa chicken. I used 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, 2 jars pace mild chunky salsa (16 oz each), a can of black beans (15.5 oz), and a drained can of pinto beans (15.5 oz). Put it all in the crockpot and let it cook all day. The kids loooove it! I came up with 9.5 cups of food, and divided that by 1/4 cup each serving and got 38 servings, but no clue if that is how I should be doing it.

That's exactly how I do it. You're entering all of this information in to the "my recipes" section right?

Yes, I did. And that was 38 1/4 cup servings. Each person can have as many as they want/need. I wanted to find out how many cals etc per individual spoonful. We put this into tortillas and make soft tacos. My kids usually eat like 4. So it probably makes about 9 1 cup servings then.

lb051971

Your recipe does not have that many ingredients, so I would put all of ingredients into the recipe feature, come up with total calories for the entire crockpot, and then divide out how many calories you are allowed to consume personally for this given meal, then divide total calories by calories you can consume to come up with how many portions there are available in your crockpot.