Waste Not Want Not: Portion Control
- By Dee Power
- Published 01/26/2012
- Food and Drink
- Unrated
Do you think you're being virtuous by wrapping up all your leftovers and organizing them neatly in the refrigerator, only to find them turning into alien life forms at the end of a few weeks? If that sounds like you, don't waste that money you saved by couponing. Prevent leftovers in the first place.
Learn What a Serving Is
Restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, have led us to expect that a hamburger must weight 1/2 pound; a plate of pasta holds two cups and drowns in sauce, or a rack of ribs should overflow the plate. Portion control cuts down on leftovers and grocery expenses for that matter. A serving of protein -- that hamburger -- is about the size of a deck of cards, a regular 52-card deck not the 82-card pinochle deck. If you can't picture a deck of cards, use your palm, not including your thumb, as a guide. Figure on 4 to 5 oz. of meat per serving. Pasta and starches serving are one cup or 8 oz. Vegetables are full cup and fruit servings are a half cup.
Plate in the Kitchen Not Family Style
I know it's less work to let everyone serve themselves from common dishes in the center of the table. The problem is that our eyes are bigger than our tummies. While your teenage son may eat that mountain of mashed potatoes he put on his plate, your grade schooler won't. It'
s not sanitary to save the food that's half eaten. So prevent over-serving in the first place. Put the food on each person's plate in the kitchen based on normal serving sizes. If someone wants more, they can serve themselves from the kitchen.
Cook Just What You Need
When transitioning a family from big portions to normal portions, cook just what you need. I know that it's tempting to cook two chickens so you have dinner for later in the week, but how often has that second chicken been half eaten during the first meal? Cooking just what you need means there aren't any leftovers to deal with. If your family fusses, saying their still hungry when dinner is over, cook normal portions of meat and starch and add an extra vegetable. Or start dinner with a salad or cup of soup.
Fill Up on Veggies and Fruits
Meat is expensive, well except for when chicken is on sale, but even then. Stretch the meat to seem like more by adding additional vegetables.If you've snagged a bargain on, say, frozen teriyaki chicken dinners, round out the meal with extra vegetables. Start the meal with a fresh green salad. Serve the entree with 1/2 cup more vegetables and mix in with the sauce of the entree. For example, that teriyaki dinner may come with stir fried vegetables. Cook up a package of frozen stir fried vegetables. When you add it to the plate mix it in with the vegetables already there to stretch the sauce.
Learn What a Serving Is
Restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, have led us to expect that a hamburger must weight 1/2 pound; a plate of pasta holds two cups and drowns in sauce, or a rack of ribs should overflow the plate. Portion control cuts down on leftovers and grocery expenses for that matter. A serving of protein -- that hamburger -- is about the size of a deck of cards, a regular 52-card deck not the 82-card pinochle deck. If you can't picture a deck of cards, use your palm, not including your thumb, as a guide. Figure on 4 to 5 oz. of meat per serving. Pasta and starches serving are one cup or 8 oz. Vegetables are full cup and fruit servings are a half cup.
Plate in the Kitchen Not Family Style
I know it's less work to let everyone serve themselves from common dishes in the center of the table. The problem is that our eyes are bigger than our tummies. While your teenage son may eat that mountain of mashed potatoes he put on his plate, your grade schooler won't. It'
Cook Just What You Need
When transitioning a family from big portions to normal portions, cook just what you need. I know that it's tempting to cook two chickens so you have dinner for later in the week, but how often has that second chicken been half eaten during the first meal? Cooking just what you need means there aren't any leftovers to deal with. If your family fusses, saying their still hungry when dinner is over, cook normal portions of meat and starch and add an extra vegetable. Or start dinner with a salad or cup of soup.
Fill Up on Veggies and Fruits
Meat is expensive, well except for when chicken is on sale, but even then. Stretch the meat to seem like more by adding additional vegetables.If you've snagged a bargain on, say, frozen teriyaki chicken dinners, round out the meal with extra vegetables. Start the meal with a fresh green salad. Serve the entree with 1/2 cup more vegetables and mix in with the sauce of the entree. For example, that teriyaki dinner may come with stir fried vegetables. Cook up a package of frozen stir fried vegetables. When you add it to the plate mix it in with the vegetables already there to stretch the sauce.
Dee Power
Dee Power loves to cook, loves to eat and loves to write about cooking. She is the author of several business books and lets her creative side go wild with food. Find more healthy dinner recipes and tips on how to lose weight fast
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