Speghetti portion help?

tigerlily8045
tigerlily8045 Posts: 402 Member
edited December 18 in Food and Nutrition
Ok has anyone tried to figure out how much 2 oz dry is when it is cooked??? I have looked all sorts of places but no website can seem to tell me. I make a pot for the whole family so I am trying to figure out how much to portion myself. I guess tonight I just might have to make 2 seperate pots so I can finally have an answer. I didn't think this was going to be that difficult. LOL

Replies

  • deadstarsunburn
    deadstarsunburn Posts: 1,337 Member
    About a cup
  • angeldaae
    angeldaae Posts: 348 Member
    For me, 2 oz dry is 1 cup cooked.
  • Sherbog
    Sherbog Posts: 1,072 Member
    1 cup
  • katemme
    katemme Posts: 191
    I bought a spaghetti portion thing at Bed Bath and Beyond. Its pretty helpful. About 1 serving is about the diameter of a keyring or quarter.
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
    It doubles when it's cooked. So if you already cooked the whole package, you can weigh out 4 ounces worth of cooked pasta and that's roughly 2 ounces of dry.


    I was similarly frustrated and basically gave up pasta until I got a food scale. Then I cooked up a single portion, and compared its cooked weight to the dry weight.
  • deninevi
    deninevi Posts: 934 Member
    About a cup, but you should get a scale to be sure.
  • 75Juniper
    75Juniper Posts: 376
    Agree with other posters - it's one cup. I don't know why they just can't say that on the label! :smile:
  • mail704m
    mail704m Posts: 41 Member
    If you measure it dry and then divide it by the number of portions cooked (ie: cook 2 x 2 oz portions and divide in half for serving) it'll work out...
  • xraylady33
    xraylady33 Posts: 222 Member
    A hand full, always a hand.
    Keeps it simple.
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
    LOL I just posted something like this last night!! I used my digital scale and weighed a spiral pasta dry and then spiral pasta cooked. It blew up about 3 times the size. I took the box calorie count and said I ate just over 1/3 of the amount I served myself. In other words, it was measured per cup and I said I ate 1/3 of a cup, tho I served myself a cup.

    That being said, it also depends on the pasta. I think spaghetti noodles don't blow up quite as much. And Egg noodles are another mess entirely since they don't swell, and in fact appear to shrink because they lose their twirl!

    Try cooking them separately tonight and then you'll know for next time. :D


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  • stanvoodoo
    stanvoodoo Posts: 1,023 Member
    A serving of Spagetti is very small. Cooked on a plate, lying flat it is about the size of a baseball.

    A other advised, a scale is your best bet until you get an eye for the portions!!!

    Best of luck!!
  • peaceinside
    peaceinside Posts: 272
    1 cup
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
    Ok has anyone tried to figure out how much 2 oz dry is when it is cooked??? I have looked all sorts of places but no website can seem to tell me. I make a pot for the whole family so I am trying to figure out how much to portion myself. I guess tonight I just might have to make 2 seperate pots so I can finally have an answer. I didn't think this was going to be that difficult. LOL
    4 oz
  • PhillyTD
    PhillyTD Posts: 375 Member
    I dunno since I've never eaten less than a bucketfull! ;)
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
    1 cup! Or, just do it this way... get a food scale, put a bowl on the scale, reset the scale to 0, then slowly put in your spaghetti until it reaches 2 oz. I do this when I'm really concentrated, but lately I just eye it, then scoop out 1 cup for my serving, and put the rest in the fridge. Leftover spaghetti today, in fact!
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
    if it has already been cooked, that 2 ounce portion will weigh four ounces. Because of the water absorbed.
  • bsalvato
    bsalvato Posts: 63 Member
    How does water affect the calorie count though? I don't think it does, or at least not much... calorie wise, a serving dry should be the same as a serving cooked. Also, as others mentioned, a kitchen scale helps immensely. The average box of pasta contains about 6 servings yet the avg family is only 4 members (sometimes less census data tells me it's just under 3). I always weigh mine out dry first and then cook just enough to portion out appropriately.
  • bunnzye2
    bunnzye2 Posts: 56
    I HATE - no, I DETEST, measurements that give you dry portions. My popcorn measurements were in dry tablespoons. I do not eat dry pasta & popcorn, nobody does.
  • JaimeBrown5
    JaimeBrown5 Posts: 324
    How does water affect the calorie count though? I don't think it does, or at least not much... calorie wise, a serving dry should be the same as a serving cooked. Also, as others mentioned, a kitchen scale helps immensely. The average box of pasta contains about 6 servings yet the avg family is only 4 members (sometimes less census data tells me it's just under 3). I always weigh mine out dry first and then cook just enough to portion out appropriately.

    It doesn't affect the calorie count, it changes the serving size - what it measures dry isn't the same as what it measures cooked, and if you're cooking more than a single serving, you need to know what it weighs cooked to be able to portion out your serving.
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
    I HATE - no, I DETEST, measurements that give you dry portions. My popcorn measurements were in dry tablespoons. I do not eat dry pasta & popcorn, nobody does.

    OMG I agree! I also don't eat raw meat, but the packages give me calorie count for raw chicken. Some things are updated in MFP as cooked or baked or whatever. The calorie count is usually the same, so I domn't sweat it, I just don't GET IT!

    14839892.png
  • tigerlily8045
    tigerlily8045 Posts: 402 Member
    LOL I just posted something like this last night!! I used my digital scale and weighed a spiral pasta dry and then spiral pasta cooked. It blew up about 3 times the size. I took the box calorie count and said I ate just over 1/3 of the amount I served myself. In other words, it was measured per cup and I said I ate 1/3 of a cup, tho I served myself a cup.

    That being said, it also depends on the pasta. I think spaghetti noodles don't blow up quite as much. And Egg noodles are another mess entirely since they don't swell, and in fact appear to shrink because they lose their twirl!

    Try cooking them separately tonight and then you'll know for next time. :D


    14839892.png



    I know I saw it when I did a search to see if this answer was out there somewhere! Now why didn't you cook speghetti and I wouldn't have had to ask! LOL Thanks everyone! I am not sure why this is so hard for it to be out in Internet land.
  • bsalvato
    bsalvato Posts: 63 Member
    How does water affect the calorie count though? I don't think it does, or at least not much... calorie wise, a serving dry should be the same as a serving cooked. Also, as others mentioned, a kitchen scale helps immensely. The average box of pasta contains about 6 servings yet the avg family is only 4 members (sometimes less census data tells me it's just under 3). I always weigh mine out dry first and then cook just enough to portion out appropriately.

    It doesn't affect the calorie count, it changes the serving size - what it measures dry isn't the same as what it measures cooked, and if you're cooking more than a single serving, you need to know what it weighs cooked to be able to portion out your serving.

    Right. Which is exactly why I always weigh before and after. Thankfully my husband is using MFP as well so that helps.
  • ms_walker
    ms_walker Posts: 30 Member
    As water doesn't affect the calorie count, only the swelling, its best to measure the dry weight as you will probably cook it slightly differently every time. Which will also be different to the "cooked" portion in the database as we all like our pasta a certain way.
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