issues accurately tracking certain foods

[Tybittz3]

my understanding is that you're supposed to weigh and measure food portions before you cook them. however, let's say I'm cooking something like pasta in bulk. if I weigh the portions individually before I cook it, how will I accurately know how to separate it after its cooked? same question for rice, sauce etc.

[ForumNature]

Know how many servings you are looking to prepare and use a food scale to weigh it out.

If you have a package of elbow pasta with a serving size of 2oz(raw) and you want to make 4 servings(8oz), you should measure out the entire amount of raw pasta with a scale.

After cooking and draining the pasta, weight it again and divide by the number of servings you prepared. For sauce, you will need to again look at the serving size and calories per, measure out your desired number of servings and calculate that.

[faithbrah]

assuming you're eating it once a day for a week, simply divide the total calories by 7. it doesn't matter if you eat 200 calories of pasta today and 800 tomorrow, or 600 today and 400 tomorrow - it's about the weekly calories

[Tybittz3]

Know how many servings you are looking to prepare and use a food scale to weigh it out.

If you have a package of elbow pasta with a serving size of 2oz(raw) and you want to make 4 servings(8oz), you should measure out the entire amount of raw pasta with a scale.

After cooking and draining the pasta, weight it again and divide by the number of servings you prepared. For sauce, you will need to again look at the serving size and calories per, measure out your desired number of servings and calculate that.

am I weighing the raw pasta in a bowl on the scale?

[paulinkansas]

All food labels tell you the serving size and the number of servings per container.

It's simple calculus to divide the container contents by the number of servings to determine the serving size.

[ForumNature]

am I weighing the raw pasta in a bowl on the scale?

A bowl works just fine.

[Tybittz3]

is all of this also important if youre bulking?

[Tybittz3]

All food labels tell you the serving size and the number of servings per container.

It's simple calculus to divide the container contents by the number of servings to determine the serving size.

this would be the easiest to do. I just learned recently that factors changed once things are cooked and that people are weighing things before and after cooked. but I assume not everyone is doing that

[Tybittz3]

Know how many servings you are looking to prepare and use a food scale to weigh it out.

If you have a package of elbow pasta with a serving size of 2oz(raw) and you want to make 4 servings(8oz), you should measure out the entire amount of raw pasta with a scale.

After cooking and draining the pasta, weight it again and divide by the number of servings you prepared. For sauce, you will need to again look at the serving size and calories per, measure out your desired number of servings and calculate that.

could I also use a measuring cup as an alternative?

[NinGood]

When cooking foods like pasta, rice, or using sauces in bulk, it can indeed be tricky to track portions accurately after cooking. A helpful approach is to weigh the entire batch of cooked food and then divide it by the number of servings you originally measured out before cooking. For instance, if you cooked 200g of dry pasta meant to serve 4, after cooking, weigh the whole cooked batch. If it weighs 600g, then you know each serving is approximately 150g cooked pasta. This method isn't perfect due to water absorption and cooking loss, but it gives you a more accurate estimate than not measuring at all. Over time, you'll get better at estimating and can adjust portions based on your dietary needs.

[MillerJessica09]

It's tricky as different foods weigh differently when they're raw or cooked, and in some cases, like pasta and rice, the weight changes after cooking. I used to do the same previously to only weigh raw food, but I now do both, weighing in before cooked food and weighing in after cooked food on the NextLevelfit Smart Kitchen Scale, as it gives you a perfect food estimate of calories and nutrition as well as a proportional size.