Weighing foods

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stej5639
stej5639 Posts: 57 Member
Hi,
I've been using MFP for nearly a week now and I love it. I've found it helpful and also surprising, when looking at what I eat.
One thing I'm not sure about is when I' m weighing my food. Things like pasta and rice. Should I be weighing them dry or when they're cooked?
Thanks,
Ste

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Dry is best, but always use correct entries.
  • stej5639
    stej5639 Posts: 57 Member
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    Thanks. I've been going by dry amounts but thought id best check so I get it right.
  • indiacaitlin
    indiacaitlin Posts: 691 Member
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    I usually weigh everything dry :)
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
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    When possible, weigh dry & raw as moisture content isn't consistent after cooking, whether it's pasta, rice, meat or a potato.
  • cparsons_60
    cparsons_60 Posts: 95 Member
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    I cook a cup of dry quinoa at a time; makes multiple servings, obviously more than I'm going to eat in one day. I found an entry for cooked quinoa where one of the units is a single gram. I verified the entry's accuracy on the USDA web site.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,998 Member
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    Yes I have generally weighed pasta cooked - as I cook enough for several serves and I can't tell how much of the dry pasta I will end up eating in each serve.

    If you do that too, make sure you use an entry for cooked pasta though.
  • HappyKat5
    HappyKat5 Posts: 369 Member
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    I measure dry. Also, here’s a tip that I learned a couple of months ago (and this is going to sound like I should have known this already, but I didn’t think about it...I’ll admit it :D ) I used to measure frozen things from the freezer mostly shrimp and fish until the sweet lady at the seafood counter told me to rinse off the ice before you weigh. She said people don’t realize that when you get come to the counter, the price is determined by the weight (which I knew) but a lot of the weight is ice on the “previously” frozen items. Hmm. Damn it. I have probably wasted a lot of money in past years...but now I know. I try to buy fresh as much as possible but sometimes, you gotta have frozen. :)
  • stej5639
    stej5639 Posts: 57 Member
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    HappyKat5 wrote: »
    I measure dry. Also, here’s a tip that I learned a couple of months ago (and this is going to sound like I should have known this already, but I didn’t think about it...I’ll admit it :D ) I used to measure frozen things from the freezer mostly shrimp and fish until the sweet lady at the seafood counter told me to rinse off the ice before you weigh. She said people don’t realize that when you get come to the counter, the price is determined by the weight (which I knew) but a lot of the weight is ice on the “previously” frozen items. Hmm. Damn it. I have probably wasted a lot of money in past years...but now I know. I try to buy fresh as much as possible but sometimes, you gotta have frozen. :)

    Haha, never thought of this. Makes sense though. I try to eat fresh aswel, but sometimes frozen is more convenient.
    Thanks