Batch cooking • clear portions
Meal Prep Portion Calculator
Work out how many grams to put in each container. Add your batch nutrition totals if you also want estimated calories and protein per serving.
How to use the portion calculator
- Choose grams, kilograms, weight ounces or pounds. Enter the loaded pot weight and the empty pot weight in that same unit, or enter food-only weight with zero for the pot.
- Choose the number of equal portions you want.
- Optionally add calories and protein for the whole batch, then select Calculate portions. Results show grams and ounces per portion.
How to weigh your batch
Weigh the finished edible food and subtract the empty pot. If you have already tared your scale, enter the food-only weight in the first field and leave the empty-pot field at zero. Container weights should not be counted as food.
Formula and example
Food weight = loaded pot − empty pot. Grams per portion = food weight ÷ number of portions. A 2,500 g loaded pot with a 500 g empty weight contains 2,000 g of food. Four equal portions are 500 g each, or about 17.64 weight ounces. Select Try an example to check these weights in the tool. If the full batch is estimated at 2,400 kcal and 160 g protein, each portion is estimated at 600 kcal and 40 g protein.
A quick check before dividing
If you tared the empty pot on your scale, its weight has already been deducted: enter zero for the empty-pot field. Subtracting it again makes every portion too small. Weight ounces (oz) measure food weight; fluid ounces (fl oz) measure volume and cannot be entered as pot weights.
When equal weight is not equal nutrition
The nutrition split assumes the ingredients are evenly mixed. A container with more chicken or dressing can have a different nutrient total from another container with the same weight. For separate bowl components, weigh and calculate each ingredient for each bowl.
Portion questions
Does this choose a serving size for me?
No. You choose how many portions the batch should make; this calculator works out the weight of each one. It does not decide how much you should eat. For separate meal components, divide the chicken, rice and sauce individually so each container gets the intended share.
Can I use raw ingredient weights?
Use the finished edible food weight for dividing the cooked batch. Rice can absorb water and other foods can lose moisture during cooking, so the starting ingredient weight may not match what you serve.
Does the calculator find calories from the food name?
No food lookup happens here. Enter whole-batch nutrition totals from your own calculation, not a per-serving value. Leave these fields blank if you only need portion weights.
Can I calculate portions of different sizes?
This tool divides the batch equally. For an evenly mixed batch, a custom portion’s estimated calories are batch calories × portion weight ÷ total finished food weight. Calculate separate meal components individually when their proportions differ between containers.
Method reference: FAO recipe composition and finished-yield calculation.
Portion arithmetic only. Optional nutrition totals are as reliable as the values you enter. This tool does not prescribe portion sizes or food-storage times. Entries are processed in your browser. Privacy Policy.