Food Weight After Cooking Calculator

The fat and moisture content of each meat determines how much it shrinks. Fatty cuts like streaky bacon (about 50% shrinkage) lose more than lean cuts like chicken breast (about 22% shrinkage). Cooking method also matters — grilling causes less shrinkage than roasting for the same cut. Food safety always comes first: cook poultry, pork, sausages and burgers until the core reaches 75°C (or 70°C held for 2 minutes), and check with a meat thermometer rather than relying on weight loss alone.

Dried pasta and rice absorb water during cooking. Pasta typically absorbs about 1.5 times its weight in water, making the cooked weight about 2.5 times the dry weight. White and basmati rice weigh roughly 2.6 to 3 times their dry weight once boiled, so this calculator uses about 2.8 times as a representative average — your result will vary with rice variety and how much water is absorbed versus boiled off.

Yes. If you need 150g of cooked chicken per person, you need to buy about 200g raw (150 / 0.75). For beef, buy about 230g raw for 150g cooked (150 / 0.65). This calculator helps you work backwards from desired cooked weight.

The factors assume boneless or predominantly meat portions. Bone-in joints will have additional weight loss from the bone. As a rough guide, bone accounts for 15-20% of a bone-in joint's weight.

No, they are averages. Actual weight loss depends on cooking temperature, time, the specific cut, and how well done you cook it. Well-done meat loses more weight than rare. Use these as planning estimates and adjust based on experience.