Food Serving/Measurement Question

[Frenchie]

Okay, so the simplest things confuse me sometimes. I made some chili tonight and am calculating the calories and I have a question. The ground turkey says it's 120 cal per 4 oz serving. The package says net weight is 1.36 lbs. Now, are the servings measured as net weight or what? So is that saying it's 4.something servings? I dunno why, but things that aren't liquid or such puzzle me. Same goes w/things like veggies. Like 1 c of broccoli. Do they mean measure out a measuring cup full or put it on a scale and weigh out 8 oz. Okay, rambling now. but, y'all should get the point.

[Katie.]

For the ground turkey, you take 1.36 lbs, convert it into oz., and then divide by 4 to get the number of servings.

For broccoli, 1 cup means you put it in a measuring cup...if they give you a weight in oz., then you can put it on a scale.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Depends on how anal you want to be.
I suggest not being anal. Hard to get things done otherwise.

[Frenchie]

For the ground turkey, you take 1.36 lbs, convert it into oz., and then divide by 4 to get the number of servings.

For broccoli, 1 cup means you put it in a measuring cup...if they give you a weight in oz., then you can put it on a scale.

K, that's what I thought. And, that's what I've been doing, but I was confused this evening...great, thanks!

[annabel lee]

When I buy cereal, if the serving is 1 cup (e.g. for Kashi Go Lean), I use a dry-measure cup and scoop out 1-cup servings, put them in baggies, and grab one each morning on my way to work. I don't own a kitchen scale. If it's a 4 oz. serving and the package has 1.36 pounds = approx 22 ozs = approx 5.5 servings, I would just split the package into five or six roughly equal sections. With something like meat, I'm much less worried (personally) since I buy only the leanest ground beef I can find, or boneless skinless chicken breasts. And I'm not so tempted by meat, so portion control is easier there. And with veggies, I don't measure out portions if I'm only steaming or boiling them and adding a drizzle of lemon juice or a bit of melted trans-fat-free margerine...I figure the benefits from the veggies outweigh the over-indulgence on portion size. (Fruit is different, though, since it has so much sugar...) But if I'm making vegetables with some sort of sauce that's got calories and/or fat, I am (or rather, try to be) much more careful about portion sizes.

[Frenchie]

When I buy cereal, if the serving is 1 cup (e.g. for Kashi Go Lean), I use a dry-measure cup and scoop out 1-cup servings, put them in baggies, and grab one each morning on my way to work. I don't own a kitchen scale. If it's a 4 oz. serving and the package has 1.36 pounds = approx 22 ozs = approx 5.5 servings, I would just split the package into five or six roughly equal sections. With something like meat, I'm much less worried (personally) since I buy only the leanest ground beef I can find, or boneless skinless chicken breasts. And I'm not so tempted by meat, so portion control is easier there. And with veggies, I don't measure out portions if I'm only steaming or boiling them and adding a drizzle of lemon juice or a bit of melted trans-fat-free margerine...I figure the benefits from the veggies outweigh the over-indulgence on portion size. (Fruit is different, though, since it has so much sugar...) But if I'm making vegetables with some sort of sauce that's got calories and/or fat, I am (or rather, try to be) much more careful about portion sizes.


It's not a portion thing -- as in I'm trying to measure out just for me. It's more a recipe thing. I like to calculate the caloric content of recipes (if it's not given) and I needed to figure out how much was in the chili I made! :D

[Maxprime]

Definitely just guestimate and err on the side of caution - worrying about it too much will get old and screw up your diet.

[Maine-iac]

And the "net weight" on the meat, just means net of the weight of the packaging. Weight per serving should be divided into net weight to get the number of servings in the package.

I read somewhere once that "calories per serving" is pretty inaccurate, especially for packaged foods with multiple ingredients and that by law the calories on the package just have to be within +/- 20% of what a given package tests out to be when the gov't assesses compliance.

Anybody know if this is true?