Sizu Riatto
Vegan Meal Prep Math · Chapter 5

Shrink and Swell

What comes out of the pot is what went in, less the steam. Weigh it, and the portion is one division.

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Opens on the book's Freezer Month. Change any number to your own and press Calculate.

What goes into the pot (beans and rice cooked separately go in by their cooked weight)

What left as steam: weigh the pot, or use the book's figure

Enter what went into the pot, then press Calculate.

The formula

  • In the pot = the sum of everything that went in (beans and rice cooked separately: their cooked weight)
  • Cooked = in − steam; or weigh it: pot and food − the empty pot, and steam = in − cooked
  • Yield factor = cooked ÷ in; steam % = steam ÷ in × 100
  • Portion = cooked ÷ portions
The book's worked example, Chapter 5. The chili: 4,454 g goes in (the black beans already cooked, 1,299 g), 400 g leaves as steam, and 4,054 g is left: 507 g a portion. The soup: 4,606 g after 400 g of steam, 576 g a portion. The steam figures are the book's worked examples: weigh your own pot.
Check it. Weigh the pot full and subtract its empty weight: that is the cooked weight, whatever the steam did.

Honest limits. How much leaves as steam depends on the lid, the burner, the pot's width and the time: the book's losses are planning figures, marked to be measured. Browning and roasting lose water too. A thick dal takes water back on reheating: add a little and stir. Prices are illustrative US prices from November 2026, shown without a currency sign; put in your own. Everything stays in your browser: no sign-up, nothing stored.

These calculators go with Vegan Meal Prep Math (Craft & Studio, Book 4), where every number on this page is worked by hand.