Portion Sizes !!!

apple_mint

Portion control has always been my big problem. We cut it down dramatically by doing OS. I don't mind cooking extra but it is always with a view to using the foodstuff for other meals.

I saw somewhere that portion of meat should be the size of the palm of your hand - so I try and achieve this and have a good balance of vegatables but not too many potatoes.

We are really controlling our portion sizes at the moment because I am pointing our meals - Weight Watchers style. I have some WW recipe books and I'm weighing all the ingredients. It is saving us a fortune on our food bills - less meat but more fruit and veg. OH insists that it is our portion control that has led to our weight gain ... and he is probably right as we ate very healthily ... but just too much of it!

[Deleted User]

It takes quite a while to get used to buying and cooking a smaller amount of food. It is the same with us empty nesters and I found myself buying big and far too much for several months. You are aware of what you are doing so that is half the battle. Next step is to make a shopping list and to stick to it. Dare I say that it would be very helpful if you could meal plan for at least a few days at a time.

Underfeed rather than overfeed. Have a few yoghurts in the fridge and some bread and jam handy. If the family are still hungry then increase your quantities a bit each time until you reach a balance.

Prudent

I would agree with it Kittie, its takes a while to adjust to coking less. When my ex left I still made enough for him for a long time. I was really struggling financially at the time and found out the hard way that I couldn't afford to keep throwing it out. I had to get my food bill (not including cleaning products) down to £20 a week for myself and teenage dd. I started to freeze the excess portions rather than put them in the fridge. When they went in the fridge too much was binned, but with the freezer there was no waste. It was also good towards the end of the month when I was struggling as we could eat from the freezer.

I still have some way to go becuase I do end up throwing out unused food -and feel gulity. But I am getting better. The ideas on the os boards for using things up have really helped me.

thriftlady_2

kittie wrote:

Underfeed rather than overfeed. Have a few yoghurts in the fridge and some bread and jam handy. If the family are still hungry then increase your quantities a bit each time until you reach a balance.

I'm trying to do this too.Always have bread and fruit handy if they're still ravenous.Or you can cook extra rice/potatoes but go easy on the meat part of the meal.If they don't eat the extra carbs you can use them in other meals-egg-fried rice,fishcakes etc.

squeaky

A couple of earlier threads that will help:-



http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=175149

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=169909

pollys

I'd try to avoid the packet stuff and make your own, yorshire puddings are really cheap to make. I sometimes make more than we'll need on purpose, when doing a Sunday Lunch, my lot love the leftover potatoes and veg mashed up then fried in a little oil, bubble and squeak or fry-up as it's called around here. Feels like a "free meal" then and easy.

Sometimes children need to try something new a few times before they "like" it. My son hated the new weetabix type cereal I bought last week, so much so he's just eaten 3. If it's the only thing on offer they'll eat it, eventually.

Good luck, I'm sure things will get easier, and the folks on this board are fantastic, I've picked up loads of tips from them.

calleyw

I think as well as problem with portion control you are also are not planning ahead.

So you have all this food left in the fridge. If that was me then all the left over veg would be made in to a soup. Or freeze it to make a soup later. I often cook extra veg.

What about cooking up some rice in stock mix up the veg and pop it in the oven for about 25 mins.

On a sunday I over ever cook roasties or boiled potatoes never both and have 3 medium to large potatoes cut in half between the two of us. Have two or three yorkies each. And a couple of slices of meat each.

Why 4 chicken breasts there where only 3 of you so one each.

As has been said cook a little less and then let them have a dessert or bread and jam as that is quick and filling.

This may sound silly but maybe you need to weigh or measure out what you are going to cook for each meal.

A serving of veggies is two to three tablespoons. So as you chop measure it out. Or take a plate and put everything on the plate raw (except the meat) to see how much room it takes up on the plate. Once you have done that a few times you will start to see how much you should be cooking.

You might need smaller bowls and plates as the bigger the plates the more in encourages you to serve and eat.


Yours


Calley

fannyadams

Why not 'plate up' the extras as a 'meal' and freeze for later?
I now save ALL leftovers and fridge for lunch next day or freeze for meal when I am having a bad day and don't want to do 'ingredients cooking'.

LearningToSave.

i've found we've managed to keep our portions more 'normal' by menu planning too.....by doing this we instantly freeze and plan the leftovers,whereas before we would do as you said and put into fridge then throw out or just eat gigantic piles of food.
i was soooooo shocked at what we were either throwing out or eating for the sake of it.

seraphina

Try serving up on smaller plates as well - I tend to find that I'd cook a recipe that serves 4 for my H and I intending to save half and freeze it. Of course, we'd nearly polish it off between us but I found that if I serve it up on smaller plates, we get the "correct" portion size, we don't go hungry (just not eating until we're so full we can't move) and I can save the extra half.