Serving Size

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samanthahix12
samanthahix12 Posts: 179
in Food and Nutrition
I use a lot of recipes that I get off of pinterest or personal blogs and sometimes they don't list how many people this amount of food is supposed to feed.

How do you determine what a serving size is? Do you just go by the amount of calories you want to take in?

And sometimes, a recipe will say it serves 4-6 people. Well, which one is it?
Also, someone else's idea of a serving may be HUGE.

I just need some clarity on how this should be done.

Replies

  • DaveHuby
    DaveHuby Posts: 175 Member
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    As you prepare the recipe at home weigh everything. Enter it as a recipe on MFP then you know the total calorie count and you can work out the portion count by entering the number of servings you divide it into.

    Any other way would be guesswork.

    Cheers
  • samanthahix12
    samanthahix12 Posts: 179
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    I put the recipes in MFP and that does help but trying to figure out how to divvy out the perfect amount is more difficult.
  • jellybeanhed313
    jellybeanhed313 Posts: 344 Member
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    Try dividing it up all at once-either on plates or right into tupperware containers. Or use a measuring cup as your serving utensil.
  • DaveHuby
    DaveHuby Posts: 175 Member
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    Or decide what calorie count you would be happy to take and then do simple maths.

    TOTAL RECIPE CALORIES ÷ TARGET PORTION CALORIES = NUMBER OF PORTIONS

    I then pack portions into freezer containers and write contents, date and calories on the label.

    Guesswork gone.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I agree...I have to large men in my home and when I make certian dishes I have no idea of serving sizes. Esp since they are "made up" food by me.

    I usually take the "main" ingrediant...ie spagetti and use that as my serving size.

    For example I make something called chili burger supper which requires spagetti. A whole box so that's about 6 servings I think...so this has six servings per pot...that being said..it's hard to know sometimes cause cooked spagetti vs uncooked is different. I take a "serving" and eat 2/3 or 3/4 of it but still leave the calories the same..

    I would rather be overestimating my calories.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    I scoop it from one bowl to another with a cup measurer. then make each serving a cup


    or log the whole recipe under my recipe builder and then cut it into square or pieces with each piece being a serving.

    I don't weight.. although I'm currently looking into scales so that might change.
  • mforsis
    mforsis Posts: 41
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    this is a useful website for visualizing portion sizes

    http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-portion-size-plate

    Meat portion size is 4 oz. That's why it is one of the options for choices on MFP.

    Pasta portions - Italians and purists say 150 g is a portion but in our house it's 50g.

    When I come home from the grocery store, first thing I do is measure meat into portion sizes and freeze it. The family has just gotten used to seeing that portion size on the plate at dinner. No questions. There's always bread and peanut butter for them if they are still hungry after.
  • dizzow
    dizzow Posts: 65
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    I agree...I have to large men in my home and when I make certian dishes I have no idea of serving sizes. Esp since they are "made up" food by me.

    This is me too. There is no way that my hubby is going to take just one serving if he likes it. I'm glad someone brought up this topic because it's something I'm having a hard time with as well. I've considered only using recipes that come with serving sizes and nutrition. I made up my own recipe for something the other night, wrote down measurements for everything, then it probably took me an hour on here to get it all entered - of course I didn't measure things the way I could find them on the list! If I measured grams, it's only listed by ounces... If I measured by cups, I could only find it by oz. LOL
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
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    Do you have a specific recipe you're having a problem with here? You cut as evenly as you can, and each piece becomes a serving. If it's meat, each piece (if it's like 6 cutlets) is its serving. For beverages, measure it in a measuring cup and choose what serving you want (a cup, a 1/2 cup, etc.).

    This is what that HS Algebra was for!
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
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    Do you have a specific recipe you're having a problem with here? You cut as evenly as you can, and each piece becomes a serving. If it's meat, each piece (if it's like 6 cutlets) is its serving. For beverages, measure it in a measuring cup and choose what serving you want (a cup, a 1/2 cup, etc.).

    This is what that grade 4 math was for!

    FIFY
  • Cadori
    Cadori Posts: 4,810 Member
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    Crud. I've been doing this wrong...I always thought it was saying 46 servings! I think my calorie counts are all screwed up now. :/
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    Do you have a specific recipe you're having a problem with here? You cut as evenly as you can, and each piece becomes a serving. If it's meat, each piece (if it's like 6 cutlets) is its serving. For beverages, measure it in a measuring cup and choose what serving you want (a cup, a 1/2 cup, etc.).

    This is what that grade 4 math was for!

    FIFY

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    Also you could measure everything once done (minus weight of pot/pan) and divide by 4, 6,10....however small or large you want the portions.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    A portion is how much I intend to eat based on my calorie allowance for that meal. Of course it will be different for everyone.

    I weigh and measure everything and log based on how much I've eaten, not how much a packet says I should or shouldn't eat.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Use a measuring cup...for soups or stews for example, I just use 1 cup as a "serving"...so something my have 10, 1 cup servings...then you can just add how many servings you actually had. For stews I typically have 1.5 servings...for soups, it's often 2. That's kinda what the 4-6 servings means also...it's going to depend on if it's a 1 cup serving of 1.5 cup serving...

    Also, it's a lot of estimation and if you're trying to hit something on the button, you're going to drive yourself bat **** crazy. Just estimate the best you can, it's never going to be perfect.
  • aakaakaak
    aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
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    Here you go.
    http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

    Dump the recipe directly into the website. It will give you a nutrition label for the whole amount. Split it up into whatever portion sizes you'd like that fit your calorie needs.
  • samanthahix12
    samanthahix12 Posts: 179
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    Thanks for the responses. Mostly pasta dishes are what trip me up.

    I guess I'll have to start putting everything in containers. I already enter my recipes here but I guess I'll wait until the food has been prepared to enter how many servings it makes.

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