Family Meal or cook for one?
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lisawilkes20
Posts: 138 Member
Just wonderd how people manage to cook for a family or do you cook your own food separately?
For instance, I have made a big pot of veg soup, all ingrediants were weighed & I divide that figure which I then write in my diary. But, I'm just wondering once its all cooked & dished out, I dont actually know if, for example, I have had 100 grm of potato or not.
Not that worried I just wonderd how people work it out who cook for a family?
For instance, I have made a big pot of veg soup, all ingrediants were weighed & I divide that figure which I then write in my diary. But, I'm just wondering once its all cooked & dished out, I dont actually know if, for example, I have had 100 grm of potato or not.
Not that worried I just wonderd how people work it out who cook for a family?
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Replies
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Cook one meal for everyone. My plate will gave more veggies and fewer fats. Hubby’s helpings will be about twice mine.
As for measuring out the soup, don’t sweat the small stuff. Assume you received an average portion.
One neat trick if you are adding a recipe, put the number of servings as the total grams for the meal. Weigh your portion and that’s how many “servings” you are having.8 -
The total weight of my recent batch of pea soup was 2112 grams. So I put that in the recipe builder for servings, instead of 8 servings. Then when I had some, I used that weight for # of servings, for example, 200 grams.6
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I use the recipe builder through the app. It does all the work for you. I have five kids and a spouse. No way I'm cooking something separate just for myself. You can't get too precise about making sure you have an equal portion of everything in the pot obviously, but it should be close enough. I've lost 50lbs. and counting so it hasn't failed me yet.9
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Much of the time I cook my own food seperately. I'm not a picky eater and I can cook a batch of lean protein or make some tuna salad for dinner and eat it for several days running. My wife and son don't want to do that and I can't blame them. On the days we do eat together, I weigh and measure my portions. That soup would be a challenge if everyone's eating out of the same pot. If you don't cook soups or casseroles or whatnot very often, do your best estimation when you do have them. In the big picture, a rare instance of being a little off in your calculations isn't going to mean anything. When you've weighed and measured long enough, your ability to estimate will be quite accurate.1
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I flat out refuse to cook separate meals as does my husband. We feel that our meals together are quality time and about sharing each others lives. That means give and take on both sides.
We take each others preferences and make them work for us. We will swap meals around my workout schedule so that the somewhat higher calorie ones that he likes are on workout days when I have a little more room in my diary. He has taken on board that I like vegetarian food, he sees it as an opportunity to learn new cooking skills.
When he knows I will cook a low cal meal he makes sure he has a bigger lunch.
We decided a long time ago we wanted to share our lives together, that marriage is about give and take and supporting each other to be the best we can be and that extends to the food that we share10 -
dutchandkiwi wrote: »I flat out refuse to cook separate meals as does my husband. We feel that our meals together are quality time and about sharing each others lives. That means give and take on both sides.
We take each others preferences and make them work for us. We will swap meals around my workout schedule so that the somewhat higher calorie ones that he likes are on workout days when I have a little more room in my diary. He has taken on board that I like vegetarian food, he sees it as an opportunity to learn new cooking skills.
When he knows I will cook a low cal meal he makes sure he has a bigger lunch.
We decided a long time ago we wanted to share our lives together, that marriage is about give and take and supporting each other to be the best we can be and that extends to the food that we share
That's beautiful. Throw a 20y.o. college student and a wife who's calorie requirements are polar opposites to yours and see how that works out. The wife and I eat dinner at the same time most days and we're not missing out on some Dr. Phil relationship magic by not eating the same foods.13 -
so you are saying your vastly differing calorie requirements means you can't eat the same thing and just adjust the portion size? ditto for the college student
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deannalfisher wrote: »so you are saying your vastly differing calorie requirements means you can't eat the same thing and just adjust the portion size? ditto for the college student
We're all quite happy with the current arrangement. I've been married for 28yrs and have a good family life...I don't feel like I'm missing out on something vital to our relationships as the other poster implied.7 -
but your argument was that the differing caloric goals for you and your wife are why you couldn't indeed do that? (in fact you challenged the person above)6
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Thankyou everyone!
I do most of the cooking & we all have the same, at the same time, I think its nice to sit & eat together while we can, one day it will change when our sons are working & all get in at different times, but for now it works.
Our meals are sometimes meat & veg so thats easy to calorie count, as I weigh mine out as I'm putting in on my plate. I use a slow cooker some days & it just got me thinking thats all.
Thanks for the comments0 -
Theres 2 options for dinner in my house. Its called eat it or go hungry.
Im not running a resturant. I cook once and adjust portion sizes according to peoples needs12 -
ruqayyahsmum wrote: »Theres 2 options for dinner in my house. Its called eat it or go hungry.
Im not running a resturant. I cook once and adjust portion sizes according to peoples needs
Same here, they rarely go hungry, might not eat all of what is put in front off them, but then we have fruit & snacks if anyone wants them1 -
I was just wondering what the best food scale to use for measuring out the portion size of your food I'm new at this so I'm trying to get the hang of it to make sure I get the right amount of calories so I don't go over. Want a good scale but when I can afford
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I do the cooking, so I family cook. I use the recipe builder a lot and weigh the sum of everything after cooking so that 1g=1 serving and weigh the number of grams that fit my calories.2
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freespirit6315 wrote: »I was just wondering what the best food scale to use for measuring out the portion size of your food I'm new at this so I'm trying to get the hang of it to make sure I get the right amount of calories so I don't go over. Want a good scale but when I can afford
I got a simple OXO brand scale from Wal-Mart. No need to get top of the line. Right now they seem to be priced between $30 and $90.0 -
Actually the detachable faceplate OXO *is* the top of the line, and substantially more expensive than some of the (not as handy but still functional more often than not) stuff on Amazon.0
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It sounds like your question is less about trying to balance different food preferences and calorie requirements for different family members and more about how to accurately log things that have multiple ingredients and multiple servings in the same pot - is that correct?;
As others have said - use the recipe builder and a food scale - there are stickied posts in the top of the forum sections about how to log accurately.
Good luck!3 -
We mostly eat the same things but I'll have more salad or veggies than my husband and kids.
I use the recipe builder a lot, as described above and weigh the finished product to work out my portion before I start serving up.1 -
freespirit6315 wrote: »I was just wondering what the best food scale to use for measuring out the portion size of your food I'm new at this so I'm trying to get the hang of it to make sure I get the right amount of calories so I don't go over. Want a good scale but when I can afford
I use this one. AmazonBasics Stainless Steel Digital Kitchen Scale with LCD Display (Batteries Included) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X9NQ8GX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_dRSRAbJFZ1PFV0 -
Thanks everyone, what is this recipe builder some of you mention? It sounds handy.
Do I find it in the app or website?1
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