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Dry pasta calories

greenjem
greenjem Posts: 1 Member
edited February 19 in Getting Started
I plan to get a food scale next week, but until then I don't want to be eating more than I should...

How many calories does half a cup of dry pasta shells contain, just generally? I know it differs depending on the shape, but on average? I feel as if I'm underestimating calories.

Replies

  • lisaabenjamin
    lisaabenjamin Posts: 665 Member
    Use your food scale religiously when you get it, but until then just look up something similar in the MFP database.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    A half cup dry turns into about a cup cooked, and that's roughly 200 calories of pasta.
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
    Can you try to separate a fresh box into portions? For example if a box of pasta comes with six servings, bag it into individual sixths that are the same size? And that will give you a volumetric measurement to work with in the future.
  • raholden88
    raholden88 Posts: 34
    Pasta labels are confusing compared to meats etc because precooked weight is used for meats where as post cooked is used for pasta.

    1 cup of dry pasta before cooking will be like 300 calories. Cooked, if it makes nearly 2.5 cups or 3 cups of pasta when it expands, will be only 100 calories a cup. Go by the prepared values, not the dry values.
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