Logging foods canned in liquid: volumetric or weight measurements?

zugunruhey
zugunruhey Posts: 31 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've had a kitchen scale for maybe 5 or 6 months now and I've been using it a lot, it's really improved my baking and I feel in general my calorie logging has been much more accurate. However I noticed that whenever I weighed canned beans there seemed to be much more than what they said should be half a cup of beans. I thought maybe they were including the weight of the liquid the beans are in (which I drain off) but wasn't sure. Only so many beans can fit in half a cup, so I went back to that.

Today as I was opening a new can of beans I noticed there's a weight for the entire can listed, so I poured it into a container on my scale. Yep, the weight of the beans with the juice was exactly what it said on the can. How am I supposed to figure out the exact bean-to-juice weight ratio it expects you to have to meet the serving information listed on the can if I'm trying to weigh it out? I could drain the can, weigh it, and divide it by the number of servings it says the can has to find the 'true' weight of the beans per serving, but this seems like a huge hassle.

Is this an instance where volumetric measurements are good enough for calorie logging?

Replies

  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    The nutrition info on the can doesn't state whether it's drained weight?
  • zugunruhey
    zugunruhey Posts: 31 Member
    Nope, it just gives a weight in grams and a volumetric measurement (1/2 cup). The weight in grams it gives is equal to the weight of the beans and juice if you multiply it by the number of servings.
  • koslowkj
    koslowkj Posts: 188 Member
    I've noticed this too. Since the liquid is just water, I've been weighing the drained veggies and entering it into MFP in grams. If anyone has a way to measure that they think would be more accurate I'm all ears! :)
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    edited June 2016
    koslowkj wrote: »
    I've noticed this too. Since the liquid is just water, I've been weighing the drained veggies and entering it into MFP in grams. If anyone has a way to measure that they think would be more accurate I'm all ears! :)

    But you're subtracting weight that doesn't subtract calories, so you're getting more calories per gram, not that veggie calories are a huge deal.

    How many servings are there in a can? I'd say, drain the water off, weigh the beans, divide by the number of servings, then make your own entry labeled "green beans, drained" (Edit: I just realized you didn't say green beans) or whatever with the same amount of calories, nutrients, etc for the smaller number of grams per serving.

    Or switch to fresh or frozen. So much simpler if you aren't married to canned. I couldn't stand canned as a kid, and now I don't touch them.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    Another international quirk and difference. Everything I use has drained weight. Just used some sardines in a recipe and it had the drained values, use kidney beans/butter beans etc and it always says drained weight. Way to make it complicated other countries food manufacturers!
  • afatpersonwholikesfood
    afatpersonwholikesfood Posts: 577 Member
    Cans here in the US are labeled with liquid weight. I divide the stated total grams by the serving size to find the exact number of servings. "About 2" or "3 1/2" is often more like 2.25 or 3.4. Then, I drain liquids and weigh just the solids. I divide that number by my servings calculation, and that tells me how many grams of solids are in a serving.

    Alternatively, you can drain and weigh using USDA info from their nutrient database. They have many canned entries with a drained version.

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