The Penny Hack For Getting Perfect Spaghetti Portion Sizes

It is so easy to make way too many noodles with the intention of only cooking a single serving, especially when your eyes are bigger than your stomach. That's why the perfect amount of spaghetti is actually much smaller than most expect: the size of a penny. The uncooked noodles should be the same size as the surface area of the penny when bundled together (the diameter of a penny being 3/4 inches), which is about two ounces of pasta — the same as the average amount of pasta for one person in Italy. 

For those who may be hungrier than a penny's worth of pasta, opt for a larger coin like a quarter to measure out the uncooked noodles, which should give you just a little more than two ounces (some also argue that a quarter is a standard measurement for one serving of pasta, so it may all depend on the lifestyle of the consumer).

For children, one serving of pasta also averages around two ounces or less. However, some parents opt to break pasta for younger children (which an Italian chef would never dare do!), which may mess with a penny-based serving size.

For frequent pasta makers who yearn for a more consistent way to measure their pasta portions, a smarter investment may be to purchase a tool specifically for this purpose. Axe Sickle's Stainless Steel Spaghetti Measurer provides measurements for pasta meals ranging from one to four people, while Orblue's Spaghetti Pasta Measure also offers four different holes for varying sizes of families. The coin measuring system may be convenient for those on a budget, but keeping coins on hand may be a bit of a hassle for those interested in a portion-specific tool for their spaghetti dinner.

While the penny trick is very convenient, it does get a bit confusing when multiple people (or children) want noodles at the same time. Regardless of this, a coin-sized dinner can never go wrong for those flying solo. And for those enjoying a traditional spaghetti dinner in Arkansas, who cares about portion sizes anyway?