Homemade: Where can I find a way to calctulate servings?

ECatherineS

Hi guys!
I've been on my fitness journey for a little over a month now. Sometimes I find it hard to eat healthy, other times I feel like i'm having a competition with myself to make things as healthy as possible.
This comes into play A LOT when I am cooking. I'm Italian. (Yes, I am going to use that excuse that Italians cook a lot. Now shut up and eat my food!) As a result, I also cook in mass quantities. Partially because I never feel like there's enough. (in case, you know, a troupe of the armed forces decides to drop by for lunch or something.) The other part being, my boyfriend has a bottomless pit for a stomach...
Anyway, the problem I run into a lot is calculating the portion size. I put all of my info into the MFP recipe calculator but i'm never sure how many servings it is. I try to estimate, but I have a tendency to really underestimate the size a serving of my meals could be. Sure, I could go through after cooking and count out how many servings there are by manually ladling it from pot to pot. Oh, and then logging it as exercise (kidding).
But this is the 21st century. There has to be an easier way, right?

bmstee03

I make a whole recipe one serving and then portion it out at the end to see how much there is and use the fraction of a serving to determine calories. It stinks that the recipe function makes you determine number of servings up front, but the fraction option seems to be working for me.

brookrd1

If you will look under food then to the right there is a recipe calculator. it allow you to put the ingredient of your recipe in and also have many serving that recipe if for, it will calculate a single portion for you. Hope this helps :-)

Mia_RagazzaTosta

Be honest with yourself about serving sizes and calories and all that. Get a food scale. It's better to overestimate calories in a dish than underestimate and end up eating more than you think.

cb83580

Sure, I could go through after cooking and count out how many servings there are by manually ladling it from pot to pot.

Either do this (it's really not that hard!) or weigh the whole batch and determine your own serving size from that--I like to use 100 grams. So if the whole recipe weighs 1300 grams, it has 13 servings. If it weighs say 1350 grams, I still list it was 13 servings--the calorie count will be slightly higher than it actually is, but only by a few calories. I'd rather think I'm eating more than I actually am than less.

Your "serving" size is really just a way to calculate. For something like soup, my typical serving actually weighs 300 to 500 grams, so I list it as 3 or 5 servings, whatever I'm actually consuming. It's just easier that way to use 100 gram measurements.

newdaydawning79

Food > Recipes > Enter New Recipe (button on right hand side)

I use this all the time now that I'm cooking more at home rather than eating processed stuff.

ron2e

Weigh what you cooked. Then ladle out one serving. Weigh that. Then divide total by serving giving you number or servings. Simples!

redheadedgal

If you don't save the recipe until the end, you can go back and edit the number of servings. I add all the ingredients, cook it, then weigh it. I then divide the total weight by 8 oz (I always associate that with a cup) and that gives me the number of servings. Then I measure myself out 8 ounces or ever how many servings I want. I go back in to the recipe, still not saved and then put the number of servings in there and save. It takes me forever to cook dinner now, because I am so precise with my calories, I don't ever just "guessitmate".

donna_glasgow

ladle from pot to pot, thats how we do it ... even then its kind of an estimate as you never know how many pieces of chicken or pepper made it into each serving .... we also cook in bulk, we freeze portions for later use

TimeForMe99

Sure, I could go through after cooking and count out how many servings there are by manually ladling it from pot to pot.

Either do this (it's really not that hard!) or weigh the whole batch and determine your own serving size from that--I like to use 100 grams. So if the whole recipe weighs 1300 grams, it has 13 servings. If it weighs say 1350 grams, I still list it was 13 servings--the calorie count will be slightly higher than it actually is, but only by a few calories. I'd rather think I'm eating more than I actually am than less.

And go ahead and eat 1.5, 2, or more servings if it fits. Freeze the excess and you have an easy lunch.

ECatherineS

I usually measure out my recipes by the cup, since I do a lot of whole grain pasta and brown rice dishes.
I think I have a good estimate, but by the time we're putting away left overs, it seems like there is twice what I thought I made. I always feel like I cheat myself because I am so afraid of overestimating a serving that it seems like I measure way under what I could be eating.
I guess i'll just have to start counting the out. I was just hoping there was an easier way.
Technology has made me a lazy brat. haha
Thank you guys! =]

dawnna76

I just always over estimate for the most part. I make everything a serving for 4 ( since I have 4 people in my family) sometimes it works out that it feeds 6-8 and I just go in and edit the recipe after that point and change my values for next time. Calorie counting is not a exact science so get as close to reality as you think you can. It's always better to over estimate than underestimate

goodarzi

I have to be honest with you--it is annoying and very time consuming to do this. I don't want to be obsessed with it but I want it to be as accurate as possible. I've done it few different ways. I've measured each item as I combine them to make a casserole or a soup, then add that all together. I've also weighed the pot/pan I'm going to be using, zeroed out the scale, and then see what it all weighs once it everything is assembled. I know it's not 100% but should be pretty close. Then I decide how much should be a serving by weight. For something like a lasanaga or baked zita, I can eyeball it and usually go with 1/8th as a servings but left overs can be harder to eyeball. :-/ So I prefer to get the weight.

With regular where this is only one or two incredients it's not that hard but for soups, casseroles, meatloafs, etc it can be be very time consuming. It can be difficult when you are cooking for the family.

I ordered a scale from amazon for like 10 bucks that is digital, and shows me grams, ounces, fl oz, etc so that also makes it easier too.

Lifting_Knitter

I weigh it and then divide it by the serving amounts.

Jessiebell527

http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

^^ I use this to get the nutritional info on homeade recipes and then add them into "my foods" in case i ever make it again.

TinaBaily

This used to be a problem for me as well. I am used to cooking for 7 people, but my children are growing and moving on with life, so right now it's just 5 of us. I've been on MFP since April of last year and have learned a lot about portion size, calories, measuring food, and all that happy stuff. Anyway, this is what I've started to do when making a dish:

When making a dish, I go to my "FOOD" section of MFP, then click on "RECIPES", then click on "ENTER NEW RECIPE". I title it however I want, enter all the ingredients (for example, 1lb of pasta, 1 lb Johnsonville Italian sausage, canned tomatoes/2 15oz., and so on), then I decide if I would like it to feed 5, 6, or however many people, but it's flexible at this point.

Let's say that I want that dish to feed the 5 of us for dinner and have leftovers for 2 the next day. I enter "7" in the serving area of the recipe page, and it tells me how many calories a serving will be. Now, how do you determine how much a serving is? Eyeball it? You could... Maybe there is a better way, but I have been measuring out the entire dish, cup by cup, so that I am as accurate as possible for my serving sizes. For easy math, I'll assume that with this dish the total cups measured came out to 14. That would make each serving a generous 2 cups.

What if you decide that the calorie count for that 7 servings is too high? (I've had this happen.) You can then choose to increase the number of servings per dish and decrease the portion size, or simply serve yourself half a portion. If there is a way to decrease the calories for that dish the next time you make it, you can then alter your recipe that you've entered into MFP, and be sure to hit "SAVE". I did this last night for a very delicious dish that originally called for 6 tablespoons of olive oil and half a stick of butter, a pound of spaghetti, a pound of chicken breast, lots of garlic, basil, a package of grape tomatoes, and parsley. I reduced the olive oil dramatically and it seemed to taste even better, plus it knocked off over 100 calories per serving. Win-win!

Have fun cooking (and eating) all the amazing Italian dishes that you have been, and let MFP's tools help you out. I hope this helped you!

NewCaddy

I actually go through and portion it out. My husband made a crock pot of chili the other day. I went through and decided that I wanted two ladles for a "serving." I then counted how many ladles were in the crockpot and used that number. I know its a bit tedious, but I'll never have to do it for chili again. :bigsmile:

traceyfunk

Measure out how many cups are in the pots and bowls you use the most. Mark the lines on the outside with a permanent marker. A full 3 qt pot will always be 12 cups - no need to measure out scoops every time! And as long as you measure what goes in your mouth, it doesn't matter what every one else ate and how much is left over! Just make sure you don't delete the recipe before you dig out the left overs out of the freezer!

heykaraoke

Weigh what you cooked. Then ladle out one serving. Weigh that. Then divide total by serving giving you number or servings. Simples!

This is a GREAT idea. Now I have a way to measure servings for soups and casseroles and stuff, yay!

3laine75

I make a whole recipe one serving and then portion it out at the end to see how much there is and use the fraction of a serving to determine calories. It stinks that the recipe function makes you determine number of servings up front, but the fraction option seems to be working for me.

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Querian

:flowerforyou: I measure the finished recipe cup by cup, not that bad since after dinner I just portion things into single servings - or if I want to put it all in a bigger container I still just fill it up cup by cup. But there are a lot of other good ideas here and I might start using some of them!

MightyDomo

I definitely had issues with this too but the Recipe function under food works really well. If you can measure everything out and add it one by one there, then figure out how many servings you make with those measurements you can enter the number of servings and then save it. Then just make it with the same amounts of everything you used each time and same serving size each time you make it in the future and you won't have to worry, already calculated You jut add from your recipes instead of adding each item in fractions.

usmcmp

I make a whole recipe one serving and then portion it out at the end to see how much there is and use the fraction of a serving to determine calories. It stinks that the recipe function makes you determine number of servings up front, but the fraction option seems to be working for me.

This is what I do. I make pancakes every weekend and can't remember if I decided the recipe makes 8 or 10. I changed it to say the recipe makes one serving. That way if I make 8 and eat 1 I had .125 of the recipe or if I make 10 and eat one I had .1 of the recipe.

Querian

I make a whole recipe one serving and then portion it out at the end to see how much there is and use the fraction of a serving to determine calories. It stinks that the recipe function makes you determine number of servings up front, but the fraction option seems to be working for me.

this

You know you can go in and edit the recipe and change the serving size? I often enter a recipe then go back and make adjustments to serving size or ingredients after it is entered but before I put it in my diary.

My1985Freckles

Depends.... If it is something in a pot, like soup, I take how many cups are in the pot (when I make soup it is in a 20 quart pot-80 cups) and that's the number of "servings" then I record how many cups I eat. If it is something in a pan, like lasagna, it's usually 8 servings because cutting the whole pan into 8 is usally what I do.

My hardest one is stuff like spaghetti or stir fry. I usually list it as 4 servings and adjust the number of servings accordingly (If I ate half the pot, I had 2 servings).

Not hard. :-)

Plus you CAN edit your recipes after they have been saved. Just an FYI.

caseythirteen

I count servings by counting how many spoon fulls I dish out in total. Then I just update the recipe to be how many spoons it was and go from there. So if I had two then it's two servings. This is easier though when you don't make much extra. I've also weighed things after cooking (last night with the taco meat) since it's a smaller amount and a bit more accurate. I think "suck it up" might have to be the approach you take. Everything in life isn't always easy and yes, portioning out the food does take some extra time and effort but after a while it gets easier because you can either guess better or it becomes routine. I have plenty of recipes now that they don't change so after putting in the effort the first time, it works every time.

ECatherineS

Let's say that I want that dish to feed the 5 of us for dinner and have leftovers for 2 the next day. I enter "7" in the serving area of the recipe page, and it tells me how many calories a serving will be. Now, how do you determine how much a serving is? Eyeball it? You could... Maybe there is a better way, but I have been measuring out the entire dish, cup by cup, so that I am as accurate as possible for my serving sizes. For easy math, I'll assume that with this dish the total cups measured came out to 14. That would make each serving a generous 2 cups.

What if you decide that the calorie count for that 7 servings is too high? (I've had this happen.) You can then choose to increase the number of servings per dish and decrease the portion size, or simply serve yourself half a portion. If there is a way to decrease the calories for that dish the next time you make it, you can then alter your recipe that you've entered into MFP, and be sure to hit "SAVE". I did this last night for a very delicious dish that originally called for 6 tablespoons of olive oil and half a stick of butter, a pound of spaghetti, a pound of chicken breast, lots of garlic, basil, a package of grape tomatoes, and parsley. I reduced the olive oil dramatically and it seemed to taste even better, plus it knocked off over 100 calories per serving. Win-win!

Have fun cooking (and eating) all the amazing Italian dishes that you have been, and let MFP's tools help you out. I hope this helped you!

Thank you for this! I only cook for two but I try to make sure there is plenty of leftovers for my boyfriend (so he doesn't eat like a 5 year old). I usually give him a double portion of whatever it is. I need to keep that in mind and make sure I measure out my whole recipe so I know how much I have for leftovers. I do love when I can shave off calories with the little things. =]

goodarzi

That is a great idea marking the pot for cups. I have a few bowls that have the cups marked, but the larget one I have I think goes up to 11 or 12 cups. So you could pour the food into a bowl that has a certain compacity.

Portion control is very hard all around, I think.

Fit_And_Heathy_Goalie

It does take extra effort to work out the calories per serving. I bought a box of single serving containers that I use for soups/stews. I fill as many containers as I can and divide the total calories by the number of containers I choose. Easy to store in the refrigerator or freezer. Allows me to control my calories and portion size. For those in your family who need bigger portions, just give them 1.5 or two servings. I also recommend a food scale!

savithny

Generally, I'm adding recipes that I know how many servings I'll get. I'm cooking for my family of 4 - me, husband, two growing kids who often eat as much or more than I do. I know whether I'm going to parcel out what I cook evenly onto our four plates, or whether I'm going to give us each a serving and put two servings away for lunches tomorrow.

So I usually base it on 4 or 6 servings. If it looks like we'll get more out of it, I either go back and recalculate, or I just give myself less than a serving in my food diary.

I also do weigh the whole thing sometimes and then weigh my portion, but generally my math is pretty good.