How to account for water weight in pasta?

Hi

today I weighed some pasta(catelli healthy harvest spaghettini) I put on my plate and it came out to be 342 grams(this is minus plate weight). So I entered that serving size into my diary using one of the entered records of that brand of pasta. I saw it came out as 1box and 1,160cals.

I started to think this can't be right I did not eat the entire box and the grams is more than the box. It hit me then that it must be water weight in it.

The box nutritional facts are probably dry amounts vs what I had. Does anyone know on average how much water weight gets added.

I know the best thing would probably have been to weight it before cooking but since I usually come home and the meals are done that is not really an option.

Replies

  • blleadon
    blleadon Posts: 187 Member
    Would u be able to divide it by the number of servings in the box and just "eye" it that way? I know some items in the list are off but I'm sure you didn't have the whole box on your plate. I don't think the water weight would be that much. I also noticed that a lot of pasta in mfp is entered as ounces.
  • Crochetluvr
    Crochetluvr Posts: 3,285 Member
    Best way I can think to do it for future reference is to measure a dry amount, cook it separately and then weigh it. After that you can calculate any amount.
  • Javajunkie67
    Javajunkie67 Posts: 167 Member
    We eat so many different pasta shapes, I got tired of trying to figure it out. Awhile back I started cooking the entire box, checked the weight and divided it by the number of servings.
    I kept/cut off a piece of the box with the brand/type and on the back I wrote out the weight of a portion cooked and calories.

    After several months, I can usually correctly recall the weight and calories without looking.
  • ZeroWoIf
    ZeroWoIf Posts: 588 Member
    Hi

    today I weighed some pasta(catelli healthy harvest spaghettini) I put on my plate and it came out to be 342 grams(this is minus plate weight). So I entered that serving size into my diary using one of the entered records of that brand of pasta. I saw it came out as 1box and 1,160cals.

    I started to think this can't be right I did not eat the entire box and the grams is more than the box. It hit me then that it must be water weight in it.

    The box nutritional facts are probably dry amounts vs what I had. Does anyone know on average how much water weight gets added.

    I know the best thing would probably have been to weight it before cooking but since I usually come home and the meals are done that is not really an option.

    Always weight pasta when its dry as indicated by the box. Pasta grows twice its size much like oatmeal as well.
  • jmoneycgt
    jmoneycgt Posts: 80 Member
    I weigh all of the cooked pasta together and divide it into equal servings
  • fatmom51
    fatmom51 Posts: 173 Member
    A serving of pasta is typically 2 oz. dry, which works out to about 1 cup cooked. If you're making it for yourself, it's easy -- just weigh it before cooking. If it's already cooked, measure out whatever you want -- 1/2 or 1 cup -- and account for the calories accordingly.