Meat / pasta / potato portion sizes

dragonlily

Hi,
Does anybody have any good guides for the amount of meat you should provide per person in a main meal. I am a terrible judge and tend to make it up as I go along but want to try and be more sensible for both the cost and my waist line as I have a horrible feeling that a lot of the meals I eat are more than one serving!

Thanks

NewShadow

Hi DL

On average 80g of diced meat or mince, and a palm sized piece of meat for steaks or breasts.

This will depend on the size of the individual and the amount of activity they do.

Someone very overweight or very active needs more calories, and if these calories come from complex carbs or protein the person is likely to feel 'fuller' for longer.

dragonlily

Thanks!

Do you go for 80g regardless of the meat or would you adapt dependent on the meal?

Ie if I make a stew I often add loads of veg / lentils / barley etc so I guess the amount of meat goes down because of all the veg. Whereas if it was chicken breast wrapped in bacon would it be more?

NewShadow

Depends on how flush I was feeling and how much I thought would be noticeable

I've make 'beef lasagna' before now that was entirely grated carrot and lentils :rotfl:

Ilona

If you are still hungry when you have finished the meal you haven't made enough. If you can't manage to eat it all and have some left over, you have made too much. Everybody is different according to the size of their stomach. Put too much in and it will stretch and eventually you eat more to fill it. Best to stop eating before it gets to that stage.

Ilona

VfM4meplse

NewShadow wrote: »

Hi DL

On average 80g of diced meat or mince, and a palm sized piece of meat for steaks or breasts.

The original size of a stomach is that of the persons fist, hence the total amount on the plate should theoretically be no more than that. As Ilona alludes to, many of us have stretched our stomachs beyond that capacity. You'd probably be thought of as a [STRIKE]rude[/STRIKE] fastidious host if that were the portion size you were to offer.

However, the more food variety you supply the more actual food you'll end up providing (people will naturally take more than they would usually eat), and more leftovers.

Wysiwyg49

I agree 100% that a meal like chicken breast in a sauce / wrapped in bacon/ham or whatever needs more meat than a casserole or pie you can bulk out... I get 2 meals for 4 (2 adults + teenage kids) from 750g of mince but 500g of chicken breast only does 1 meal and leftovers for soup or sandwiches.

I always find the pasta portions quoted on the packets are too much, i use about 50-70g of pasta each. But my kids are not big eaters.

Potatoes - 2-3 medium size ones each.

HTH

HOWMUCH

Portion size is very individual if you google you can find out the recommended portion size but some people far exceed this.

PasturesNew

You know when you open a ready meal for one and think "blimey, where's the rest of it?" that's a portion size. Keep a few of those in the cupboards and use them to measure out your dinner.

You don't get a lot in a portion, it's so depressing it makes you reach for a 2nd dinner

What I try to do now is not to eat from a plate, but to use one of a couple of small bowls. One small cereal bowl's a good portion for a curry/rice ... and a wider cereal bowl I use for a roast dinner.

It looks more in a bowl and you're limited as to what you can fit in. Given a curry/rice and a plate I could easily "justify" filling the plate and scoffing the lot.

I sometimes weigh my food too, just to see how much is enough, "for next time". It doesn't always work .... sometimes I'm just a piggy wiggy and load up. I find slow cooker food's bad for that - there you are, a whole pot of it .... you've waited 6-8 hours to get to this point .... well, I'll often have 2 portions straight away... where often=usually.

HappyMJ

dragonlily wrote: »

Hi,
Does anybody have any good guides for the amount of meat you should provide per person in a main meal. I am a terrible judge and tend to make it up as I go along but want to try and be more sensible for both the cost and my waist line as I have a horrible feeling that a lot of the meals I eat are more than one serving!

Thanks

75 grams - 2.5 ounces of meat per person is about the smallest amount I would put into a meal for myself and my partner. I tend to allocate closer to 100 grams per person and if I'm catering for a meal for friends/family I would allocate no less than 150 grams per person. They probably will feel they've had too much but I don't want them leaving thinking the portion size I gave them was too small.

JIL

The love food hate waste site has some suggestions.
http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/portions/everyday