Weight Vegtebles Frozen or Cooked

diefchefnewbie

To save money there are certain veg I buy frozen. When I weigh them to add them to myfitnesspal I always weigh them frozen. Often they go inside other food so it is impossible to weigh them cooked.
The packet doesn't say if the calories per 100g are frozen or cooked weight.

Anyone know?

RodaRose

My guess is that you are doing them the right way -- they come in the package frozen so that is how you would weigh them.

Merkavar

I doubt it matters a great deal.

Unless there is something I am missing here. If the frozen veggies were frozen inside a lot of ice then maybe it would throw off the weights.

isulo_kura

Pu_239 wrote: »

Merkavar wrote: »

I doubt it matters a great deal.

Unless there is something I am missing here. If the frozen veggies were frozen inside a lot of ice then maybe it would throw off the weights.

Frozen vegetables weigh more, they have frozen water on them.

Actually no. They are flash frozen water is not added to freeze them any water will be what was already in the veggies. Frozen water weighs the same as thawed water

Merkavar

isulo_kura wrote: »

Pu_239 wrote: »

Merkavar wrote: »

I doubt it matters a great deal.

Unless there is something I am missing here. If the frozen veggies were frozen inside a lot of ice then maybe it would throw off the weights.

Frozen vegetables weigh more, they have frozen water on them.

Actually no. They are flash frozen water is not added to freeze them any water will be what was already in the veggies. Frozen water weighs the same as thawed water

That's pretty much what i thought. that the veggies i get aren't covered in ice to any large degree. That's why i thought it wouldn't matter much. a few grams more or less of veggies isn't going to hurt.

TimothyFish

If you leave vegetables in the freezer for long enough, the moisture in the vegetable will turn to ice crystals. To get the most accurate calorie count, you would need to include the ice in the weight. Weighing without the ice will cause you to underestimate calories in the vegetable. Which is just one more reason why I don't bother weighing most food.

ChaseAlder

A few grams difference in the weight of vegetables would be like... a calorie. And if anything, you will log a little more than you're eating, so you'll keep a slight deficit. Better than logging less than you eat! But really, it's veggies... it'll be okay.

PeachyCarol

I use frozen spinach and weigh it frozen. I also use frozen fruit quite a lot and weigh that frozen. I've found entries in the data base for those foods based on their frozen weights.

mrsf15h

I've actually done this. Weighed it frozen, cooked them, then weighed again. There is little (-5g) or no difference at all. So I just weigh frozen now.

TimothyFish

Cornmuffin wrote: »

A few grams difference in the weight of vegetables would be like... a calorie. And if anything, you will log a little more than you're eating, so you'll keep a slight deficit. Better than logging less than you eat! But really, it's veggies... it'll be okay.

It would be more than that. Prunes have five times the calories that plums do, by weight.

bpetrosky

TimothyFish wrote: »

Cornmuffin wrote: »

A few grams difference in the weight of vegetables would be like... a calorie. And if anything, you will log a little more than you're eating, so you'll keep a slight deficit. Better than logging less than you eat! But really, it's veggies... it'll be okay.

It would be more than that. Prunes have five times the calories that plums do, by weight.

Dried fruit is a far different scenario because a huge amount of the original fruit's weight is water. Something on the order of 70-90% of the weight is removed in some cases. Labeling for prunes is done according to the dry state, so that's what you would use.

Frozen vegetables have little added water (unless it's gotten crusted from being in the freezer too long). The packaging for frozen veggies is normally labeled for the raw state, so weighing pre-cooking makes sense. Any ice clinging to the product would tend add to the measured weight.

But, let's suppose some frozen broccoli has 30 cal / 85 g. You weigh out 85 g, but 5 g is ice. That 80g of broccoli will have about 28 cal. Is it worth overthinking it?

Math, it's what's for dinner!