Recipe Builder Question and weighing food

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jec228
jec228 Posts: 67 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Question regarding the recipe builder for larger meals like casseroles and crock pot cooking. I use the recipe builder to input all of my ingredients and weigh and measure everything appropriately. *chili for example... If something in the crock pot is, say, 6 servings worth, how do i weigh out one serving in grams or ounces to ensure it is accurate? Typically I would just estimate 1/6th of the crockpot but now that I am using a food scale I want to be as accurate as I can. I don't see that feature on the recipe builder and it's probably a silly question but hoping for some guidance here.

Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • ZoneFive
    ZoneFive Posts: 570 Member
    edited September 2017
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    There's probably an easier way, but I put the container I'll store the majority of the recipe in on the scale, tare out the weight of the container, and pour the whole contents of the crockpot (or dutch oven, or whatever) into that container. That way I have the total weight and can divide by the number of servings to get a weight-per-serving.

    The problem with the recipe builder is it assumes the exact same weight of each ingredient each time, and doesn't allow for, say, humidity (an issue with flours in baked goods), or the size of the vegetables. Maybe save it as a meal? I dunno. Still working on this one.
  • jec228
    jec228 Posts: 67 Member
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    Good thought! Do you do this before cooking? I would imagine I could actually use the crockpot insert itself, tare that out and then add in all of the ingredients, weigh again, and divide it by # of servings to get the correct weight per serving. Or, do you weigh after cooking? Does it make a difference?
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
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    Weigh everything before cooking, and use those measurements to determine calories.

    To determine portion weight, you can either weigh it once it's cooked and divide by the number of portions youve set, or enter the number of grams as the number of serves - when you weigh out a portion, the grams is the number of serves....
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
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    I add all my ingredients uncooked into the recipe builder. After cooking I empty the cooked food into a tupperware as that's where it'll end up anyway, weigh the total and work out how many grams a serving is (divide by four or six or however many you put into the recipe builder). Take a serving, save the rest for later :)
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
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    I do something similar to what was mentioned. I weight the container holding the food contents, tare out to zero (or remember the weight if needing the container to cook the meal in) then put the food in and weigh. I then enter that number as the number of servings. When I go to eat that food, say chili, I'll weigh the bowl I put it in to eat, tare, then add chili. If it is 300g then I enter 300g of chili.
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
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    & yes it makes a difference as varying amounts of water will evaporate with cooking.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    I try to remember to weigh the pot or whatever I'm cooking in BEFORE I start, that way at the end I can put it on the scale and then subtract out the weight of the pot. I hate it when I forget to do that :( then I have to transfer it to another container and it's a pain in the butt. However many oz the entire meal weighs is how many servings I set the recipe up for, and then I just weigh out each portion in oz and log it as that many servings.
  • ZoneFive
    ZoneFive Posts: 570 Member
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    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    Weigh everything before cooking, and use those measurements to determine calories.

    To determine portion weight, you can either weigh it once it's cooked and divide by the number of portions youve set, or enter the number of grams as the number of serves - when you weigh out a portion, the grams is the number of serves....

    What @livingleanlivingclean said. I'd like to get it right down to the last gram, but every recipe in the world and every item listed in the database is an estimation. This is probably as good as it gets.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    Remember to also weigh the water you add to the pot.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
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    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Remember to also weigh the water you add to the pot.

    Why does that matter if you're weighing the meal after cooking?
  • jec228
    jec228 Posts: 67 Member
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    All very helpful! I need to get a huge tupperware that can fit my double batch of chili. Thanks all :smile:
  • ZoneFive
    ZoneFive Posts: 570 Member
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    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    I weigh the pot I will use for cooking beforehand so I know how much to subtract when I weigh the finished food in the same pot later.

    Pro-tip: Take a picture of the empty pot on the scale with the weight clearly visible. If you're like me and tend to use the same pots over and over again, you'll always have a reference for how much those pots weigh and won't have to bother weighing them again.

    I was thinking of weighing empty the pots and skillets I use most often, and listing their weights on a post-it stuck on the inside of a cabinet door. But I never do remember that until after the cooking's begun . . . :p
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    ZoneFive wrote: »
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    I weigh the pot I will use for cooking beforehand so I know how much to subtract when I weigh the finished food in the same pot later.

    Pro-tip: Take a picture of the empty pot on the scale with the weight clearly visible. If you're like me and tend to use the same pots over and over again, you'll always have a reference for how much those pots weigh and won't have to bother weighing them again.

    I was thinking of weighing empty the pots and skillets I use most often, and listing their weights on a post-it stuck on the inside of a cabinet door. But I never do remember that until after the cooking's begun . . . :p

    Same! Lol. Every time I'm cooking I'm like "I should totally weigh ALL my pots and pans and write them down!" Never happens.
  • ktekc
    ktekc Posts: 879 Member
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    I have all my crock pot inserts, pans, pyrex dishes and what have you weighed and have the list on my fridge door..particularly nice to have the pressure cooker insert on there. I never remember to take it out before i put stuff in it.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Remember to also weigh the water you add to the pot.

    Why does that matter if you're weighing the meal after cooking?

    Oh. It matters if before cooking one is weighing the ingredients which go into a dish with such as rice and pasta which will absorb the water. I wasn't verbose enough. That's rare.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,988 Member
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    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Remember to also weigh the water you add to the pot.

    Why does that matter if you're weighing the meal after cooking?

    Oh. It matters if before cooking one is weighing the ingredients which go into a dish with such as rice and pasta which will absorb the water. I wasn't verbose enough. That's rare.

    I still don't see what difference it makes. Some of that water will evaporate during cooking (or drained when you're finished cooking, in the case of pasta as most people prepare it.) You want to weigh the finished product. The weight of the water you add before cooking is immaterial
  • DamianaKitten
    DamianaKitten Posts: 479 Member
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    I guess I'm lazy on this, since the portions won't be perfectly balanced anyways.

    Once I'm done with a meal, I use little deli containers to portion it out. So, last night I made chili mac. Weigh and measure everything, cook. I ate a bowl to see if it was a big enough serving (I used a scoop to portion). Once I knew I was satisfied, I used the same scoop to fill each container. That gave me 12 servings. I then input everything into the recipe builder so that I can have it divide out approximate calories per portion. I'm sure there's variance between containers, but I will eat it all so it averages out.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Remember to also weigh the water you add to the pot.

    Why does that matter if you're weighing the meal after cooking?

    Oh. It matters if before cooking one is weighing the ingredients which go into a dish with such as rice and pasta which will absorb the water. I wasn't verbose enough. That's rare.

    I still don't see what difference it makes. Some of that water will evaporate during cooking (or drained when you're finished cooking, in the case of pasta as most people prepare it.) You want to weigh the finished product. The weight of the water you add before cooking is immaterial

    Even if you cook something via an absorption method, some of the water is likely lost, so it's still irrelevant how much water you add... I agree that weighing the final product is what matters

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