This may be a silly question.. but I bought a bag of frozen, unbreaded chicken tenders yesterday and I'm trying to count the calories. The bag says one serving (4oz) is 100 calories. Unfortunately I can't quite figure out how much 4oz is. It says there are 10 servings in the bag and I counted about 20 pieces. So.. 2 tenders = 4oz??
I baked 3 tenders without sauce or anything, so is that 150 calories?
Since portion is a major part of my healthy lifestyle, should I just get a scale and start weighing my food?
I don't have a scale but have seriously considered it for just that reason. I usually use the same method you described (i.e. count the number of pieces and compare to how many servings it says there are). I guess it depends on how much of a stickler you are. With lean meats I figure there isn't a huge # of calories in 1/2oz so I don't worry too much about over or under estimating. I know some people live by their food scales though.
Yes, buy a scale. WW sells food scales, as do lots of other places. I have one from Pampered Chef which weighs in both oz and grams. Plus you can reset it to zero after to account for the weight of whatever you have the food in. Very handy. I can now weigh my dry pasta so I know I'm getting just the number of oz I want.
I use mine for everything. It really helps when you make a full recipe of something to use it to divide things into equal portions instead of guessing. I use it for meat,grains (because I was WAY off on thinking what 2 ounces of pasta really was) and vegetables too.
I got mine at Bed bath and beyond for 23.00 (less a coupon for 20% off). Mine weighs in ounces and grams and goes up to I think 5 pounds. My next one I am getting will be a 10 pound one for dividing up large recipes.
Buy one! When I first started losing weight, paying attention to portion was one of my biggest lessons to learn. I got a scale that has both grams and oz., and I used it a lot at first. I don't use it as often, now, as I have gotten a good feel for how much portions will weigh. I always use it for things like pasta. It really made making portions a lot easier!
I think I paid around $10 for my food scale. It's just a cheapie (the kind that they used to sell at WW in the 1970's) but heck, it works and the price was right!
I would buy a scale, I use mine ALL the time and it just makes everything so much easier. I have a question though, when it says serving size 4 oz., is that frozen, thawed, or cooked? I imagine that would make a marked difference in weight, which would in turn, make a difference in the calories, right? I usually go by what it weighs frozen, but I'm just not sure if that's right. Any opinions anyone??
From everything I've read, the 4 ounce size suggestion is before cooking. As far as frozen vs raw and thawed, I dunno. I would suggest maybe weighing the same piece of chicken frozen and then letting it defrost and seeing how much of a difference there was. If it wasn't a big difference, i wouldn't worry too much. I cannot imagine the ice crystals would weigh more than a few grams anyway, but I've been wrong before.
Glad you got a scale. It was a real eye opener for me. no more fudging on portions!
Chicken question.. should I just buy a scale?
I use a scale too
