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

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Replies

  • MightyDomo
    MightyDomo Posts: 1,265 Member
    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
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    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
    Querian Posts: 419 Member
    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
    My1985Freckles Posts: 1,039 Member
    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
    caseythirteen Posts: 956 Member
    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
    ECatherineS Posts: 42

    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
    goodarzi Posts: 15 Member
    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
    Fit_And_Heathy_Goalie Posts: 55 Member
    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! :smile:
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    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.

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