{"id":219,"date":"2016-06-21T17:55:05","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T17:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/?post_type=cooking-eating&#038;p=219"},"modified":"2016-08-19T18:51:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T18:51:00","slug":"portion-size-guide","status":"publish","type":"cooking-eating","link":"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/cooking-eating\/portion-size-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Portion Size Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you cook enough for an army when you only have three mouths to feed? You\u2019re not alone. About <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wrap.org.uk\/sites\/files\/wrap\/New%20estimates%20for%20household%20food%20and%20drink%20waste%20in%20the%20UK%20FINAL%20v2%20%28updated%207thAugust2012%29.pdf\">one-third<\/a> of household waste is caused by people preparing too much, then not eating it. Your intentions to provide enough for everyone are good, but preparing too much can inadvertently lead to overeating, wasted food and wasted money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help you get a handle on portion distortion, we created a printable list of portion sizes for common foods. Use these as a guide when planning, cooking and serving meals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Portion_Size_Cheat_Sheet-big.png\" alt=\"Portion_Size_Cheat_Sheet-big\" width=\"550\" height=\"689\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Portion_Size_Cheat_Sheet-big.png 550w, https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Portion_Size_Cheat_Sheet-big-239x300.png 239w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>More Portion Planning Tools<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 To avoid overcooking, Love Food Hate Waste, the U.K.&#8217;s food waste campaign, has a great <a href=\"http:\/\/england.lovefoodhatewaste.com\/node\/240\">portion planner tool<\/a>, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute offers a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhlbi.nih.gov\/health\/educational\/wecan\/downloads\/servingcard7.pdf\">pocket-size cheat sheet<\/a> for serving sizes of popular items in each of the food groups. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 A variety of <a href=\"http:\/\/lifehacker.com\/five-best-meal-planning-apps-1533809184\">meal planning apps<\/a> like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cooksmarts.com\/\">CookSmarts<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plantoeat.com\/\">Plan to Eat<\/a> are also available to choose recipes and generate the appropriate weekly shopping lists so you don\u2019t overbuy and overcook. Supermarket-chain Publix does something similar with its <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publix.com\/recipes-planning\/aprons-simple-meals\">Aprons program<\/a>, which offers customers simple recipes with complete shopping lists. Online meal-planning service <a href=\"http:\/\/emeals.com\">eMeals<\/a> has a budget-friendly meal plan designed for efficient ingredient use throughout the week to limit spoilage and waste. <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"challenge-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/challenge\/\"><span>Take the Challenge:<\/span> Learn easy ways to waste less food and save money.<\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 Several new meal-delivery companies, such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueapron.com\/\">BlueApron.com<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.plated.com\/\">Plated.com<\/a>, will actually deliver to your door the right amount of ingredients you need to make perfectly portioned meals. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 You could try using a special \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Precise-Portions-Leak-Proof-Dishwasher-Metabolism\/dp\/B00NW4PLPK\/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1465925762&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=portion+plate\">portion plate<\/a>&#8221; that illustrates the correct serving size right on your dish to get more familiar with how much food should really be in a meal. There are tons of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hellawella.com\/10-must-have-portion-control-gadgets\/17868\">portion control gadgets<\/a> designed for weight maintenance or loss that will also help eliminate leftover food waste.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 If you do cook too much at the occasional meal, don\u2019t despair. You can safely store leftovers by refrigerating them promptly and covering or sealing them in airtight containers. Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for three to four days or three to four months in the freezer. Blue Apron offers helpful tips on <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.blueapron.com\/the-blue-apron-guide-to-reheating-your-leftovers\/\">how to reheat everything from steak to risotto<\/a> and reinvigorate a meal\u2019s fresh-cooked glory to make leftover night more appealing. Also, consider <a href=\"http:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/cooking-eating\/creative-ways-to-use-leftovers\/\">using leftovers creatively<\/a>, such as turning leftover cooked veggies into ingredients for soup or create burritos with leftover meat and rice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Portion_Size_Cheat_Sheet.pdf\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/portion-size-dl.png\"><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Portion_Size_Cheat_Sheet.pdf\">Download Portion Size Cheat Sheet<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-219","cooking-eating","type-cooking-eating","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cooking-eating\/219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cooking-eating"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cooking-eating"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}