Struggle with serving sizes

[Hankunamatata]

So there so much info about portion sizes but I'm sure what size to actually put on the plate to eat

Get yourself 9 inch plates. Fill half with veggies, quarter with protein and quarter with complex carbs. That would be a good start. Don't overcomplicate it.

You could try basing it on your hand. There is a guide on this NHS website.

It’s s just a coincidence that it’s their diabetes info btw, I’m not inferring anything!

Are you wanting to lose weight?

A lot of serving sizes are based on the generic guideline of 2,000 calories a day for women. You’d be better off working out your personal calorie allowance and then working from there.

Get a set of kitchen scales and weigh everything out.

I base it on "what would my mum serve herself?" - which I realise is no help to you!
My mum has always eaten whatever she likes, but has always had what I would think of as a medium portion. For example, she'd have 10 chips, whereas I'd naturally serve myself 15. She'd have one fried egg, whereas I'd have two.

Thank you all. Yes I'm trying to lose weight but also very conscious my portion servings are too large for dh and kids too. Wonder if using measuring cups might be the answer and smaller bowls and plates

Following as I've had the same thoughts. Really confused as to how much should be on a plate of food. I have 3 growing boys so don't want to put out not enough food.

This^
its time consuming but more effective. I don’t do this every time but work out some guidance and it’s definitely helps.

Go with a lower amount and tell them there's more if they want it.

Often 'hungry' kids can't be arsed to get themselves a second portion but if it was on their plate in the first place, they'd eat it just because it's there.

Same for a lot of adults really.

For things like pasta and rice I go for 75g per person as the basic amount for me although I cook a little more for DH and adult DS

I found weighing food useful to learn portion sizes. I started by weighing my 'normal for me' portion and then comparing it to the recommended portion size. I was effectively eating double portions. So now I have about half what I used to, but I do weigh new foods and I do still check that my portions are on track.

Serve everything in serving dishes and people help themselves to what they want. This is really good to reduce waste and you can fry the lot as fritters the next day if it's meat/veg/potatoes.

Agree with 9 inch plates, there's such a tendency to 'fill the plate'

The portion sizes are indicated on the side of food packaging. For example 80 g of frozen peas is one portion, 2 Wheatabix, 30 g of cornflakes, 2 sausages. It's going to come as a shock!

I think you need to be a bit careful trying to portion your DH and kids. To do it you need to have a really good handle on their activity level and in the case of the kids their growth spurts.

You should also not be controlling what another adult eats.

My advice, concentrate on your own portions to start. Weigh your food for awhile to start recalibrating what a portion size is, focus on lots of veg and be careful about sauces. Meat should be about the size of a deck of cards.

buy some smaller plates, get some small ‘dipping bowls’ for snacks, use smaller glasses for drinks and you’ll be fine.

Dh thinks I put too much on the plates as teens usually end of leaving half. I might go with smaller portions then bowls on table to help themselves to more

Why not let them serve themselves? It sounds like they have a healthy relationship with food if they are stopping when they are full.