weighing food

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debrag12
debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
in Food and Nutrition
How does It work, how much of each item do you need eash meal etc?

How do you cook fdor more than one person and have the correct amounts?

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  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    You choose how much you want. For example, I was making some green beans at my house one day that I was sharing with a friend I had over. I weighed out around 150g for myself and made extra for my friend. I boiled mine first then boiled his while mine were being shocked in ice water. I measured out 1tsp of olive oil and out it in a pan to cook mine and added some spices. Then I took mine off and cooked his. This way I know 150g of green beans + 1tsp of olive oil is what ended up on my plate. If it's too much of a hassle you can estimate, but I like to be as accurate as possible with my logging.
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
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    No way am I cooking twice.piece of meat easy, setting my food aside while oven cooking easy, not making a chili or slow cook meal twice.
    Will just measure so much, estimate 1/2 and use those calories.
  • kayl3igh88
    kayl3igh88 Posts: 428 Member
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    No way am I cooking twice.piece of meat easy, setting my food aside while oven cooking easy, not making a chili or slow cook meakl twice.

    Weigh the ingredients for the whole thing, log them, cook the meal, weigh the whole thing after & weigh out however much you want of it, i.e. half or divided by however many other people/servings you want.
  • muwchck
    muwchck Posts: 261 Member
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    Use the recipe tool. It is wonderful. You put in all your ingredients and how many servings it makes. Then you get one serving for yourself, and it's all figured out for you. I have tons of recipes saved, and then I just adjust my recipe if I make it different than normal. I refuse to cook separate meals for my family and myself, but instead make the option I cook healthier without them knowing it.
  • tkcasta
    tkcasta Posts: 405 Member
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    Use the recipe tool. It is wonderful. You put in all your ingredients and how many servings it makes. Then you get one serving for yourself, and it's all figured out for you. I have tons of recipes saved, and then I just adjust my recipe if I make it different than normal. I refuse to cook separate meals for my family and myself, but instead make the option I cook healthier without them knowing it.
    This
  • summersbest
    summersbest Posts: 194 Member
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    Use the recipe tool. It is wonderful. You put in all your ingredients and how many servings it makes. Then you get one serving for yourself, and it's all figured out for you. I have tons of recipes saved, and then I just adjust my recipe if I make it different than normal. I refuse to cook separate meals for my family and myself, but instead make the option I cook healthier without them knowing it.
    This
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
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    Use the recipe tool. It is wonderful. You put in all your ingredients and how many servings it makes. Then you get one serving for yourself, and it's all figured out for you. I have tons of recipes saved, and then I just adjust my recipe if I make it different than normal. I refuse to cook separate meals for my family and myself, but instead make the option I cook healthier without them knowing it.

    I use that, I suppose its always an eastimate then.
  • AmandaReimer1
    AmandaReimer1 Posts: 235 Member
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    I weigh/measure all my food and ingredients then add them into the recipe section and put in the appropriate number of how many servings if it's a meal. I usually weigh all meat, since it's usually me and my hubby and our toddler gets a bit of what we eat, I remember what side of the pan/baking sheet, etc are my pieces.
  • Avandel
    Avandel Posts: 283 Member
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    Use the recipe tool. It is wonderful. You put in all your ingredients and how many servings it makes. Then you get one serving for yourself, and it's all figured out for you. I have tons of recipes saved, and then I just adjust my recipe if I make it different than normal. I refuse to cook separate meals for my family and myself, but instead make the option I cook healthier without them knowing it.

    This
  • Avandel
    Avandel Posts: 283 Member
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    Use the recipe tool.
    I use that, I suppose its always an eastimate then.

    No It's not an estimate if you put the right amount in to start with
  • SadKitty27
    SadKitty27 Posts: 416 Member
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    Well, my dietary needs greatly differ from my husband and son's needs. So, sometimes when I cook things we can all eat (such as chicken, or other various veggies) I just make it as per usual, and then weigh out / set aside the stuff I'll be eating before I season up, or do whatever it is I plan on doing to their food recipe wise ( I might make them breaded chicken, add butter to their veggies, etc..)
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
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    Use the recipe tool.
    I use that, I suppose its always an eastimate then.

    No It's not an estimate if you put the right amount in to start with

    How are going to know just how much mushroom or onion you actually had etc how can you know for sure that you get say 1/2 of everythinvg exactly?

    Though going by a recipe you just divide by how many servings it says.
  • sussexbythesea
    sussexbythesea Posts: 1,335 Member
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    Well you can't exactly but Fortunately there are not many cals in the veggies, it is the meat and carbs that need careful portioning.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    How are going to know just how much mushroom or onion you actually had etc how can you know for sure that you get say 1/2 of everything exactly?

    Well, no, it's not "scientifically exact" but it's a lot closer than TOTALLY eyeballing it.

    Last night, for instance, I made a curry to go over rice noodles. I did measure or weigh all the ingredients as I put them in. Here's where the eyeballing came in: there were three of us. I dished out three somewhat equal plates, us all being adults. There was about another equal serving left in the pot. So, I figure I had 25% of the whole recipe since I didn't go back for seconds.

    Did I weigh every plate? No. But it's close enough.

    None of our calorie measurements will be exact. To get exact calories, we'd need scientific instrumentation and need to burn each ingredient to measure the heat generated. A calorie is a measurement of the heat (energy) necessary to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree centigrade (Celsius).

    This will vary even with equal amounts, by weight, of the same food ingredient. Consider, for instance, mushrooms. Like most if not all vegetables, they are chiefly water, which does not burn. The day they come from the grocery store, they are plump, full of water. After a few days in the fridge, they have shriveled a bit and have proportionally less water in them. Plump, fresh mushrooms have slightly fewer calories by weight than week-old, shriveled mushrooms because a larger proportion of their weight can be attributed to water, which cannot be burned for energy and has no calories.

    Is it worth worrying about these minor variations in our daily food calculations? No. Aiming for ballpark figures using the food database, a kitchen scale, and measuring cups gives us a close enough approximation to help us control our weight.

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