? about figuring out serving size

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bosanka
bosanka Posts: 336 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi there

I like to cook a lot and make my own food but that is a tricky part when you want to know how much is a serving and how many kcls is in the home made food.

For exmpl. Last night i made a 3 beans salad.

How do you figure out the servings here.

One can of kidney beans is 3.5 servings
One can of black beans 3.5 serv
one can of garbanzo beans 3 serv
can of corn 3 serv
bell pepper
1 onion chopped

do you have to just add all the servings together ? and than if it is let's say 15 serv. is that than " serv. 15 people ? or how does it work ?

thank you all - love this site - always so helpful - people here are very nice and friendly - good to be here :)

Replies

  • bjberry
    bjberry Posts: 665 Member
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    Actually, 15 servings for that dish sound pretty good! But, what size are the servings?
    I drain (as needed) and dump all ingredients into a glass container and measure how many cups or ml there are.
    Most healthy things (especially veggies) are served as 1 cup (about 240ml)--in my humble opinion.
    If you have 15 cups in the container, Servings are 15, and they are cup-sized.
    Will that work for you?
    Have fun in your low-fat, hi-fiber kitchen! :drinker: (water)
  • fitterpam
    fitterpam Posts: 3,086 Member
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    Typically, I'd say about half a cup for legumes is a serving - so too in this case. Just add up all the calories for everything you're putting in, figure out the total amount in cups and divide the calories for 1/2 cup servings.
  • 1horsetown
    1horsetown Posts: 247 Member
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    I measure the finished food. I dumped my spaghetti sauce into a big measure..........7 cups. I checked to see how many calories in a cup. Went with it. I'm the only one in my house that needs to measure, so I just make sure that my portion is right. If it had come in at a horrific amount of calories, I'd have added more servings: changed it to 3/4 cup servings.

    I recommend a gram scale if you don't have one. I got mine from Amazon for less than $25. It switches between grams, pounds, kg, and oz. and has a tare function. You put your bowl on a scale, hit tare, add the ingredients and see what your total weight is. That and the recipe function here would give you a good idea of what's in there.

    Most foods have the dietary info given by grams, so I weigh my servings instead of measuring. Makes fewer dishes to wash.

    It's amazing how big servings usually *aren't*.:tongue: 1horsetown
  • bosanka
    bosanka Posts: 336 Member
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    Yes- that's the scary part - I do have a digital kitchen scale- biggest loser kind. But whenever i started "sliding off ' the program i would hide it from me :) it scared me every time like " whaaaat , this is a portion ? " grrrr..

    I do drain all of the cans and rinse them all the time- even if it is says " low or reduced sodium " i always rinse them.

    So just add all ingridients. Add up all the kcls for it. Count by cup or 1/2 cup depending on what it is. And than devide. the kcls by the amount of servings.

    How is it done with soups ? Or cooked stuff. If you are adding lots of veggies and let's say chicken or beef- ok i can figure out the kcls- on that stuff , but - once you add water to it it makes lots more serving than just the veggies/ meat allone.
    Do you count how many cups you have in a pot of soup/ or sauce ? I know i could count the cups of water i add , but they to " evaporate " partially - so.. ?

    I don't know.. see this is where i get stuck every time - if i decide to go " on " a program - i have to go on to the food where i'm 100% sure of the kcl content- where it is says on the label clearly- but that never worked out for me and now i know why
    because that is not my life style- if i want to do this for a life style and not a " diet " i have to learn how to work arround my own home made food and not be too much off with the kcls and fat..

    I hopw that with the time i will get a hand of it .. i will keep reading here hopefully i will find good tips - there's so much stuff to learn

    Thanks to everyone :)
  • bosanka
    bosanka Posts: 336 Member
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    oh yeah, here comes the second part of question.

    I'm not " big " without a reason. So - if a serving of beans is 1/2 cup - uhm.. does that mean i should eat only 1/2 a cup ?
    If that is the " main " part of my lunch/dinner- should i be able to have more than that - or does it go how many serv. you can " fit " into your kcl allowance ?
    Because the ' serving " stuff scares me , if it is says a mini- mini thing is a serving and i can't possible be satisfied with that- and if i go for more than that " serving thing" i feel like i'm not following a plan - or i feel i'm pigging out , - what is right ? I want to do it right this time- and i know it is mostly " mentally " so i want to change the way i think - . . please explain , and of course i'm talking about the healthy stuff - not chips and chocolate, i know the obvious stuff is supp. to be in " small " servings - but what about the whole food you want to be a staple in your diet- like beans, veggies, etc.

    Sorry for so many questions- like i said i just really want to do it right this time and want to change once and for all :)
  • Red13
    Red13 Posts: 287 Member
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    I don't know if this helps but I made turkey chili yesterday. I entered my new recipe and then instead of taking out cup by cup of chili and measuring it, which could get messy, I took the same size stock pot (I guess it helped I had two of the same sized soup pots!) and added cups of water to my empty one until I filled it to the same level as my chili in the other bowl. I could fit 12 cups of water so my servings were 12 and I just have to remember that 1 serving equals a cup. As far as this 1/2 cup bean things you are talking about, I'm confused, are you trying to keep track of how many veggies, meat, and everything else are in a recipes so you can be sure you're getting the recommended amounts of food groups? That could be a bit challenging if you are trying to figure it out that way.
  • glyndam
    glyndam Posts: 18
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    I feel your pain. I also love to cook and sometimes find it hard to fiigure out the serving size. When I was doing Weight Watchers, I would count all the serving sizes of the ingrediets, figure calories, fat and fibers to get my points. It is much easier to just track the calories. I think by using the recipe tool and deciding on how many servings you are trying to arrive at, we should be able to get a good count. And if it is high, you can adjust your serving size. Good luck and let you know if you discover an easier way. :smile:
  • kelsully
    kelsully Posts: 1,008 Member
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    Use the recipes tab in your food dary. I put all my homemade food in there and it calculates the recipes calories for you...also you decide how many servings...so I made a lasagna last night...knew I was going to have 1/6 of the recipe as That looked like a good appropriate size and put that the dish served 6....told me everything I needed...the recipe is now logged in MFP for others to look at if they like and to remind me of my goodies etc...
    I would get a general idea f how much yield you have and measure out what you consider a portion...so say your salad was 6 cups total and you wanted 3/4 cups etc...makes 8 servings etc.
    recipes is a great resource
  • abyt42
    abyt42 Posts: 1,358 Member
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    I measured the soup I made this morning into 1 C portions, then entered the ingredients into the recipe calculator. The water just went along for the ride: I didn't try to measure before the water went in, then figure out portions from there.

    I sometimes eat less than a serving, sometimes more, but just try to stay within my calorie count. Or I exercise more to earn the extra calories...

    I weigh portions of meat, cheese, pasta and some grains. I measure others, depending on how the package "serving size" is determined. It's become less overwhelming over time.
  • fitterpam
    fitterpam Posts: 3,086 Member
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    As for how many servings you should eat I try and stick to the food guide over the course of the day, not always, but try....LOL It's really about trying to find what works best for you and trying to eat a variety of colours and foods so that you are getting a balanced variety of nutrients.

    2-3 servings of proteins - 3oz of meat, 1/2 cup of legumes, etc. Protein makes you feel full but make sure you're choosing lean choices
    1-2 servings of dairy. 1 yogurt cup, 1 cup of milk, Dairy typically has some protein in it too
    3-5 servings of grains. This one has some contention around it. I like using whole grains like quinoa, barley, brown rice (serving is 1/2 in my book)
    5-8 servings of vegetables. 1 cup = 1 serving generally. I am on cruciforous veggie cravings right now
    1-2 servings of fruit. 1 cup/small fruit = 1 serving. I prefer low GI fruit over higher GI fruit

    A lot of this has been vetted for me by my dietician friends because I'm insulin resistant and so have to watch my refined carb/sugar intakes. This is what I plant to have daily but often circumstances intervene. I figure this is the healthiest way to eat. I try and stay away from processed food and stick to the whole foods.

    It's everything in moderation so I try and keep all portions to one serving or less at a sitting. While bean salad may be great for you, having more than 1 serving may cause an imbalance in your diet. Keep the colours going - foods are different colours because of the nutrients they contain, by eating the rainbow, you'll ensure that you're getting a full complement of nutrients.
  • Heliconia
    Heliconia Posts: 166 Member
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    I know where you are coming from. I also have faced the same dilema. Even harder to judge portion sizes if eating out. I'd say go over serving sizes as much as you want when it concerns veggies, but don't when its protein or starches like bread and potatoes. Even fruit you should be careful about as the sugars in fruit can put you over your daily calor allowance fairly quickly. It is conforting for me to know if I am still hungry I can always eat some more veggies.
  • kennedar
    kennedar Posts: 306 Member
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    I use the recipe function on here a ton! I put all the ingredients in (including water) and then play around with the number of servings. If I know I want my dinner to stay below 400 calories and I am using ground turkey and veggies, how much do I get? It usually works well for me even for things like soup and salads.
  • bosanka
    bosanka Posts: 336 Member
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    Thank to all of you - great tips .. i will try to play arround with the tools and stuff.. i think it gets bit easier with the time - it's just so overwhelming at the beginning you want to to everything right- but it seems just so much extra work arround food. Like i want to stop thinking about the food all the time- and than the " serving sizes, food prep, food cook, food.. calculating, food writing, .. etc- seems like all i'm doing all day is thinking how much/ what type/ when etc.. of food - you know what i mean..

    but hopefully it will get easier with the practice
  • rockinright
    rockinright Posts: 241
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    Here's what I've had to do:

    1. Look at the food.

    2. See how much you WANT to eat.

    3. Eat half that.

    4. Drink lots of water.

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