Portion Control Without Counting: Plates, Hands and Containers

Many people want to eat sensible amounts without weighing every meal or counting every calorie. This guide sets out what UK public-health sources say about judging portions by eye: the Eatwell Guide plate, the portion sizes the NHS gives for fruit and vegetables, hand estimates from the British Heart Foundation (BHF), and how plates and containers help. It is general information for healthy adults, not medical advice. For the containers themselves, see our meal-prep buying guide.

Start with the Eatwell Guide

The NHS describes the Eatwell Guide as showing how much of what you eat should come from each food group. Fruit and vegetables and starchy foods should each make up just over a third of the food we eat, and the NHS says to choose higher-fibre or wholegrain starchy foods where you can. Protein foods and dairy and alternatives are drawn as smaller segments, and oils and spreads are eaten in small amounts. GOV.UK's guidance for reproducing the graphic gives the segment sizes as 40% fruit and vegetables, 38% potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy foods, 12% beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein, 8% dairy and alternatives and 1% oils and spreads, which adds up to 99% because of rounding.

Two cautions come with those numbers. First, the NHS says you do not need to achieve this balance with every meal, but to try to get it right over a day or even a week, and GOV.UK says the guide is not meant to represent the balance required in any one specific meal. A plate that is not exactly in proportion is not a failure. Second, the guide shows proportions, not portion sizes. The only portion sizes it gives are at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, at least 2 portions of fish a week with 1 of them oily, and a limit on red and processed meat for people who eat more than 90 g a day.

What an 80 g portion looks like

The NHS defines an adult portion of fruit or vegetables as 80 g. Its examples include:

• One medium piece of fruit, such as an apple, banana, pear or orange.
• Two or more small fruit, such as two plums.
• Three celery sticks, a 5 cm piece of cucumber, one medium tomato or seven cherry tomatoes.
• Three heaped tablespoons of pulses or beans, which count as no more than one portion a day however much you eat.
• About 30 g of dried fruit, which the NHS says can be high in sugar and bad for teeth, so it is best enjoyed as part of a meal rather than as a snack between meals.

Fruit juice, vegetable juice and smoothies together count as at most one portion, and the NHS says to drink no more than 150 ml of them a day. Potatoes do not count towards 5 A Day because they are starchy foods. Cooked, canned and frozen vegetables count in the same amounts as fresh.

Using your hand

The BHF gives hand-based estimates: a portion of carbohydrate is roughly the size of the palm of your hand, a portion of protein is slightly smaller than the palm, and a portion of fruit and vegetables is roughly the size of the palm. The BHF describes hand measuring as simple, and the NHS gives a similar idea for children, saying that a child's portion of fruit or vegetables is roughly what fits in the palm of their hand.

These are rough guides. A palm is not a unit and hands differ in size, so use your hand as a way to notice a drift upwards, not as a measurement. The BHF itself says portion control does not mean you need to eat tiny amounts or measure out precisely.

Plates, bowls and spoons

The BHF suggests a smaller plate to prevent overloading, noting that a standard portion looks small on a large plate and can leave you dissatisfied. It also says that cups, bowls, jugs and spoons are useful for staying consistent, and that any teacup, mug or container that works for you will do; special measuring cups are not required. A practical way to use this: measure a portion of your usual rice or pasta once into the bowl you use, note where it comes to, and use that mark by eye afterwards. If you want to measure, a set of measuring cups and spoons on Amazon (opens in a new tab) is enough.

Containers as a built-in plate

When you prepare several meals at once, a divided container turns the Eatwell proportions into a shape: roughly a third for vegetables, a third for a starchy food and the rest for protein and a small amount of dairy or oil. Because the guide's proportions apply across a day or week, treat the dividers as a starting point and not a rule. Filling every container the same way also fixes the portion at the moment you cook, which is easier than deciding at each meal. Here is a search for meal prep containers with compartments on Amazon (opens in a new tab).

When a scale is worth using

You do not need scales to eat well, but they help in two situations. One is calibrating your eye: weigh a portion a few times and remember what it looks like. The other is calorie-dense foods such as oil, nuts and dry pasta or rice, where a small difference in amount is a larger difference in energy. The NHS gives average daily energy needs of about 2,000 calories for women and 2,500 for men, and says individual needs vary with factors such as activity level, so a number from a scale is context, not a target for everyone. For scales, see digital kitchen scales on Amazon (opens in a new tab). Our portion calculator scales food values to the amount you actually eat.

Labels and portions

The NHS says nutrition information is given per 100 g or 100 ml and sometimes per portion, and warns that the manufacturer's idea of a portion may be different from yours. The BHF likewise advises checking which portion the nutrition information refers to. If you eat double the stated portion, double the figures on the label. Our guide to reading a UK nutrition label explains the table line by line.

Starchy foods and portions in practice

Starchy foods are an easy place for portions to drift, since a small scoop of dry rice or pasta becomes a much larger pile once cooked. The NHS says to leave the skins on potatoes where possible to keep more fibre and vitamins, to cook them with only a small amount of fat or oil and to avoid added salt. Portioning a cooked batch straight into containers fixes the amount before you sit down to eat, and for rice the FSA's cooling limits apply; see our guide to batch cooking and food safety.

Who should check with a professional first

• Anyone with a medical diet. If a doctor or dietitian has given you portion, carbohydrate or calorie targets, follow those instead of a general guide.
• Children. Needs vary with age, body size and activity level, as the NHS notes in its 5 A Day advice. Ask a health visitor, GP or school nurse if you are unsure.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding. Ask a midwife or GP before changing how much you eat.
• If thinking about food or weight causes you distress, speak to your GP rather than adding more measuring.

Where the links go

Links marked "on Amazon" open an Amazon search for the words in the link. Amazon decides what appears, so check each listing against its description.

The label on the food in front of you is the authority on what it contains, ahead of any article, this one included. If you have a health condition, ask your GP or pharmacist before you change what you eat.