Food portion calculator: your guide to perfect portion sizes
Unsure about the right portion size for each food that you cook? From pasta to potatoes, take away the guesswork and cook just what you need with our portion calculator. We’ll calculate a recommended average portion size for the type of food you’re making - all you need to do is jot down the right portion size for each ingredient and head to the supermarket or to the kitchen!
Portion calculator
Food portion calculator
Select your food, number of people and their ages, and the number of meals. Then, click on 'calculate portion'.
More on food portions and serving sizes
Simple hacks for serving perfect food portions
Getting the serving size right for children using 'me-sized' meals.
Look after yourself and those you care about by getting the healthy serving size right.
How do I measure the right amount of pasta or rice?
We’ve all had that moment: chucking the rice or pasta for our meal in a pan and either ending up with too little, or too much - and the risk then is that it may be thrown away instead of enjoyed. Help those staple ingredients last longer with our simple measuring hack. (Of course, if you like to be precise with your recipes and measure things out on the scales, you can still use the portion calculator, too!)
If you’re cooking rice or pasta as part of your main meal, you’ll need about two handfuls (or 75g) of dried rice/pasta per person for a sufficient portion. If you’re cooking them as a side dish, one handful (or 37g) per person is probably enough.
It’s important to remember that dry rice measurements are different from cooked rice, so don’t expect your rice to weigh the same once it’s absorbed the water!
As it absorbs the water, pasta will expand and be much heavier than the dry pasta you started with, so make sure to account for this if you’re tracking your food intake.
What to do with leftovers
If you end up cooking too much, or having some leftovers: never fear, there’s still something you can do! Store your leftovers in the fridge for up to 2 days for an easy lunch the next day. Your freezer is your saviour here, too: press pause on your leftovers and use them up another time.
Our food guides and recipes have a ton of useful tips on what foods can be frozen and how to use up leftover ingredients in some pretty tasty recipes.