How to measure serving of pasta

[cjohnson728]

Originally Posted by wolfbane20

Pasta is not evil. And whole wheat pasta is awful. Barilla makes a Plus pasta that combines Several types of grains to make a high fiber, high protein pasta that tastes like regular pasta. (Cook it a minute or two longer than regular)

compare
Barilla 210 calories 38g carb 4g fiber 10g protein

Regular 210 42 2 7

I'm the opposite. I love the whole wheat pasta, but the Barilla Plus stuff is horrible to me!

Just goes to show...you gotta find what works for you.

And, for accuracy's sake, dry weigh your pasta for serving size. A cup cooked isn't necessarily 2 oz. dry...it varies depending on the shape of the pasta...

[quinnesec]

I eat whole wheat pasta fairly often (living in an Italian region, as well). My trick, is that I never serve meat (any kind) with my pasta. Just pasta and a good, homemade marinara sauce served with a veggie loaded salad. By eliminating the meat in the sauce and/or on the side, you have already made up the extra calories in the pasta.

Another good alternative is a pasta toss with a little olive oil, fresh veggies (red onion, grape tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, mushrooms, yellow squash), a little freshly grated asiago and you're good to go... quick and easy.

[GameGal]

The best way to measure those things like pasta, cereal, etc is by getting a small kitchen scale ( less than $5 at walmart) and measure in ounces . Pasta is meant to be measured dry and 2 oz equals one serving.

[boolz]

Originally Posted by quinnesec

I eat whole wheat pasta fairly often (living in an Italian region, as well). My trick, is that I never serve meat (any kind) with my pasta. Just pasta and a good, homemade marinara sauce served with a veggie loaded salad. By eliminating the meat in the sauce and/or on the side, you have already made up the extra calories in the pasta.

I go the opposite route. Since I'm going to want plenty of protein in any meal,
I make a sauce that's got lots of lean meat and veggies - I pack it so it has about 3oz beef per serving and lots of spinach and mushrooms in with the tomatoes, onion, etc. And then I eat it with just 1 oz of spaghetti - enough to feel like a pasta dish without tipping the whole meal too much towards highly processed carbs. And I always shop for whatever pasta has the lowest carbs/calorie total. I make a huge batch of the sauce and freeze most of it, but boil the pasta each time as needed.

[clay7160]

I had the same question about measuring, each normal size box of pasta like barilla contains 7 servings, what i did was take 7 zip lock bags, cooked the box then divided it up into the 7 bags, what i found that 1 serving would make a normal cereal bowl overflow with cooked pasta, now i divide the pasta into 8 servings from one box, this gives me a full cereal bowl of pasta, (i normally grab two small handfuls of cooked pasta per serving)...i know not very scientific but some of my methods must work...i've lost 100lbs in 5 months. . hope this helps......yeah also because i am too cheap to buy a 5 dollar scale...lol

[Kathy13118]

I bought a little pasta cooker that allows you to cook small servings of pasta in the microwave. It's easy to find one of these online - or in a housewares store, I guess. It's a long rectangular box. I like being able to make just one serving of pasta, fresh, at a time, fairly quickly. That's my method of limiting how much pasta I have at a meal. Plus, I do like the whole wheat pasta (any brand) because I think it's more filling - because it has more fiber.

[Jfp3]

Can anyone tell me (before I try it myself), how many cooked cups of pasta expand from 1 cup dried? I'm thinking it's over 2:1, but would like to know if anyone knows for sure.

1 month into using FitDay (for PC), and already down 13 lbs without hardly trying (and no exercise whatsoever yet). Tracking measurements is a key for me :-)

[VitoVino]

Originally Posted by Jfp3

Can anyone tell me (before I try it myself), how many cooked cups of pasta expand from 1 cup dried? I'm thinking it's over 2:1, but would like to know if anyone knows for sure.

1 month into using FitDay (for PC), and already down 13 lbs without hardly trying (and no exercise whatsoever yet). Tracking measurements is a key for me :-)

Do you have a digital food scale? Because if you do it's really easy since someone already answered "2 oz dry = 1 cup cooked pasta".

If you don't have a scale, believe me it's a necessity for the serious calorie counter and you won't regret buying one.

[Jfp3]

Yes sure, I have a nifty kitchen scale :-). It is indeed a "must have" if you are serious about your diet. I found it really helped to see just how big my "portions" were when compared to what I used to think was "enough".