Tools of the trade

Hello

What types of things have you found useful in managing portions?  Are you measuring by scale or using any other nifty lil' gadgets?

 

I use measuring cups and my hand. I need to get a scale, though.

I got a sleeve of 30 ml (1 oz) medicine cups and use two of them to measure out my meals. They are easy, inexpensive, reusable if at home and disposable if on the road. Perfect for me.

That's a good idea!  I like the disposable part.  Where did you get them?  Have to ask.....you only eat 2 ounces per meal?  Does that include things like yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.?

Kathy

I'm on regular food so no yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. but yes, I eat a max of 2 fluid ounces per meal (approx. the size of two golf balls) and will for the first 6 months. I was "gifted" the medicine cups, but you can find them fairly cheaply on Amazon.

I use a scale and the medicine cups. For instance, this morning I took some chicken thigh and pureed it with some pasta sauce and ricotta cheese. I put it in 1 1/2  medicine cups. Then I decided to weigh it just for accuracy. After I tared 2 empty cups, I placed them on the scale and they weighed 1.8 ounces. At this stage, my surgeons plan calls for me to be eating between 1.5-2oz.

I thought we're supposed to measure by volume, not weight.

That's what I need to do, but you need to weigh if you're really picky about measuring protein as that is by weight.

No, it is not.  All foods should be measured by volume (space).  Your stomach only holds a certain amount of food - that is determined by space, not weight.  Now, if you want to accurately determine the caloric breakdown of what you ate, then you might need to weigh your food (because most sources of nutritional data use weights).  But if you are purely talking about the amount of food you are supposed to have at each meal, then you need to measure the volume, not the weight.

Well, as a retired Chef I am pretty picky about those things. Certain things would not be a problem doing by volume. Your medicine cups is a great example. However, when considering measurements in our business 2 Tbsp equal an ounce. So, if I were to need to eat 1.5 - 2 oz and I was to eat between 3-4 Tbsp of food, this could be potentionaly be more food than I should be eating based on the density of the food. Those 3-4 Tbsp could certainly be more that 1.5-2oz when weighed.

I guess I am just really anal about these kind of things. LOL