Do I have PASTA Logged Right?

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Leka1000
Leka1000 Posts: 160 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Okay so pasta is listed on the box as per "dry" stats right? With that said, I should be weighing it dry and cooking it separate so I can log accurately, right?
If I weight this preweighed dry pasta, it should roughly double in weight. 85grams when dry and about 170grams when cooked.
Is this the best way to go about logging pasta?
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Replies

  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    I weigh it cooked and divide that by the number of servings in the package. It's a lot easier than cooking it separately IMO.
  • RunRachelleRun
    RunRachelleRun Posts: 1,854 Member
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    I do the same (just double the weight cooked), but I found this chart online for the different pastas (see link below). I need to remember to start buying capellini orzo and spaghettini so I can eat more! They must absorb more water or something. It would have been nice if they had done it in 100g instead of 300g so we didn't have to do math.

    http://www.kraftcanada.com/~/media/Kraft Canada/pdf/guides/PastaMeasuringChart.pdf
  • Leka1000
    Leka1000 Posts: 160 Member
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    ^^I don't think this is accurate folks...When I weighed dry on 2 occasions with the same product, I got different cooked weights....there for if weighed and logged cooked, inaccurate...
  • Leka1000
    Leka1000 Posts: 160 Member
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    I used to weigh it cooked and go by the 85g on the box. I take insulin and was always getting low! No wonder! 85grams is NOT for the cooked weight, it's for the dry weight! I was over logging and therefore was taking insulin for carbs i wasn't even consuming.
  • sheermomentum
    sheermomentum Posts: 827 Member
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    In the database, you will find cooked pasta listed as "macaroni." For whatever reason, this is the way it is listed in the USDA nutrition database (my guess is cuz that was started a long time ago before Americans started calling it "pasta"). Search for "macaroni cooked"
  • Leka1000
    Leka1000 Posts: 160 Member
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    Is MFP mainly USA entries?
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    All of my pasta is 56g (dry). Just cook that (or the amount you want) and eat it. No need to weigh it again!
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    Queenmunchy wrote: »
    All of my pasta is 56g (dry). Just cook that (or the amount you want) and eat it. No need to weigh it again!
    Do you ever cook pasta for more than one person at a time? If so, do you cook yours separately?

  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    I don't eat pasta, but yes, years ago I used to cook mine separatately. It was just easier to track.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    Queenmunchy wrote: »
    I don't eat pasta, but yes, years ago I used to cook mine separatately. It was just easier to track.
    Easier than cooking the package, weighing it all cooked, and taking 1/8 (or whatever) of that weight to get a cooked serving weight? Seems like more of a PITA, but whatever works, works.

  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
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    If I'm cooking for more than one person I weigh before and after, just like doing a recipe. Unless I make the whole box-then I would use deguello'a strategy and just weigh cooked since I know the servings for the whole box.
  • flaminica
    flaminica Posts: 304 Member
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    I measure dry. Pasta is fiddly to judge and calorie-dense so I would never not weight it. It's one of the things for which a scale is invaluable. If cooking for two I allow 33% for me and 66% for him. I don't weight it back out again cooked so there's an error margin, but my eye for proportions is good. Otherwise weighing again would work.
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
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    slaite1 wrote: »
    If I'm cooking for more than one person I weigh before and after, just like doing a recipe. Unless I make the whole box-then I would use deguello'a strategy and just weigh cooked since I know the servings for the whole box.

    This is what I started doing recently. It's rare that I'm cooking a whole box of pasta. Actually, never. So the other night I weighed what I planned on cooking, cooked it, and weighed it all again so I would know how much to portion out.

    However, I did recently read that with rice you can triple the grams when cooked.
  • dawnna76
    dawnna76 Posts: 987 Member
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    I have a family so I always cook for everyone together. 2oz dry pasta is roughly 4oz cooked i found in my trials.
  • RunRachelleRun
    RunRachelleRun Posts: 1,854 Member
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    Leka1000 wrote: »
    ^^I don't think this is accurate folks...When I weighed dry on 2 occasions with the same product, I got different cooked weights....there for if weighed and logged cooked, inaccurate...

    And do you remember if a portion was ever less than double the dry weight? My hubby usually does the cooking and I can't figure out a polite way to measure the entire pot and make everyone wait while I do this. I guess I was going with double should be close enough.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    slaite1 wrote: »
    If I'm cooking for more than one person I weigh before and after, just like doing a recipe. Unless I make the whole box-then I would use deguello'a strategy and just weigh cooked since I know the servings for the whole box.
    Yeah, it doesn't have to be the whole box, just the whole batch to be cooked. As long as you know how many servings you're cooking, you can just divide the cooked weight by that number to know how much cooked pasta there is per serving, without having to cook any separately.

  • Leka1000
    Leka1000 Posts: 160 Member
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    Hmmm well i guess the best way is too weigh out say 4 dry portions (4X85g) and then cook it, then weigh the cooked amount and divide by 4. The answer will be your cooked weight serving and go by what's on the nutrition info on the box for the 85grams.
  • Leka1000
    Leka1000 Posts: 160 Member
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    RunRachelleRun wrote: »
    Leka1000 wrote: »
    ^^I don't think this is accurate folks...When I weighed dry on 2 occasions with the same product, I got different cooked weights....there for if weighed and logged cooked, inaccurate...

    And do you remember if a portion was ever less than double the dry weight? My hubby usually does the cooking and I can't figure out a polite way to measure the entire pot and make everyone wait while I do this. I guess I was going with double should be close enough.

    NEVER less than double. Doublish or over!

  • RunRachelleRun
    RunRachelleRun Posts: 1,854 Member
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    Leka1000 wrote: »
    RunRachelleRun wrote: »
    Leka1000 wrote: »
    ^^I don't think this is accurate folks...When I weighed dry on 2 occasions with the same product, I got different cooked weights....there for if weighed and logged cooked, inaccurate...

    And do you remember if a portion was ever less than double the dry weight? My hubby usually does the cooking and I can't figure out a polite way to measure the entire pot and make everyone wait while I do this. I guess I was going with double should be close enough.

    NEVER less than double. Doublish or over!

    Thanks! That's perfect. That's what I thought, so that means I'm underestimating the calories by just weighing a cooked serving to double the dry weight, which I'm good with.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    I weigh it cooked and divide that by the number of servings in the package. It's a lot easier than cooking it separately IMO.

    But the box is never exactly what they say.. so it's not accurate either.

    Weigh it dry to see how many servings you have. Let's say it's 620g (I know, boxes are not that big, but whatever), so that's 620/56 = 11.07 servings. Then weigh it cooked... if you have 1300g, divide by 11.07, and a serving cooked is 117g give or take. So if you end up having 150g of cooked pasta, you can log it as 150/117 = 1.29 of a serving.

    Honestly I just do it every time I cook rice or pasta, it just takes 30 seconds, otherwise yeah I don't always get the same numbers (although for rice it's always been fairly close with the 'boil in a bag' stuff).

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