Perfect portions

One of the main reasons food is thrown away is because we prepare or cook too much. Obvious items are things like pasta and rice but there are lots of other foods where quantities are easy to over estimate. It’s best to remove the guesswork and get into the habit of weighing and measuring food.

What’s a portion?

Fruit & vegetables

Ideally we should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Typical portions are:

Three tablespoons of cooked veg or a small bowl of salad
One piece of fruit about the size of a tennis ball
Two pieces of fruit, each about the size of an egg
Handful of grapes

Starchy foods

Starchy foods should form the basis of each meal, a portion could be:
75g dried pasta (about a mug full)
125g fresh pasta
75g dried rice (about one third of a mug)
One large potato
One third of a soup bowl of cereal

Milk and dairy

The Dairy Council recommends three portions a day to provide you with the calcium your body requires (children need smaller portions). Typical portions include:
30g cheese (the size of a small matchbox)
200ml milk (a small glass)
Small pot of yogurt (150g)

Other foods

Pies and quiches: a slice no wider than your hand
Chilled desserts: one serving spoon
Loaf cakes: make the slices the width of a postage stamp
Round cakes: a slice no wider than the length of your thumb
Crisps: one small bag
Pizza: no more than one third of a plate, (or one to two slices)

Lovely leftovers

And don’t forget if you do make too much, use leftovers for lunch the next day or freeze to eat it later.

Measure up

There are all sorts of utensils you can use to measure out foods and ingredients.

Read more to find out what handy storage tools are out there.

Give us your Support

Why not save yourself some money and help the environment by giving us your support and making a pledge to reduce the amount of food you waste?

Celebrity Cookbook

Why not give your leftovers a celebrity makeover?
Making the most of leftovers is a great way to reduce food waste, so to help with ideas we asked some of Surrey's famous faces for their favourite recipes, and placed them in a cookbook, just for you.

Love Food, Hate Waste

Love Food Surrey supports the national Love Food Hate Waste campaign.

Read more food waste facts on the Love Food, Hate Waste campaign website.