Serving sizes on frozen veggies- steamer bags

enzosmama

Daily I have a full steamer bag of veggies with my lunch. Today it was the Bird's Eye Steam Fresh Broccoli, Carrot, Sugar Snap Peas, and Water Chestnuts blend. The whole bag.

The bag states 1 serving = 1 cup, servings per container= 3.5, calories per serving= 35.

There are NOWHERE NEAR 3.5 cups of vegetables in this bag. I have noticed this regardless of the brand- I typically purchase either Bird's Eye or Great Value. I have actually measured out one bag that stated it had 3 cups and after measuring I came up with 2.25 cups. I'm not talking jam packed overflowing cups either.

So my question is... according to the bag I'm getting 3.5 servings of veggies, adding up to 122.5 calories. According to my measurements I'm getting about 2.25 servings of veggies, about 79 calories. That's a decent discrepancy to me. Should I count my calories and servings (I'm tracking # fruit/veggie servings) according to MY measurements, or what the bag states?

PS: I do realize that when veggies are cooked/steamed they lose volume. I haven't yet measured these frozen because quite frankly it would defeat the purpose of the steamer bag, but I'm going to measure before and after tomorrow. I will say when I handle the bag frozen, it really seems as though there are less than 3.5 cups for sure.

JenHuedy

Weigh it before you cook it. That's the only way to be accurate. Cups can hold different amounts depending on the size and shape a type of veggies. But the weight is always the weight no matter how the veggies are cut or shaped.

Ready2Rock206

I'd log the 122.5 calories. They surely weigh less and appear to be less when cooked - so if you're not willing to open the bag and weigh the frozen weight then log the entire package as stated.

TeaBea

JenHuedy wrote: »

Weigh it before you cook it. That's the only way to be accurate. Cups can hold different amounts depending on the size and shape a type of veggies. But the weight is always the weight no matter how the veggies are cut or shaped.

This^

Perhaps they measured the veggies before cooking (who knows). But anyway, with all the different shapes there's no way a measuring cup isn't flawed.

fr33sia12

You could weigh the bag of frozen veggies, make a note, then once you've emptied the bag, weigh the bag and minus that from the original weight.

DaintyWhisper

If you're eating the entire bag, just count all of the calories for the entire bag. The whole bag is measured in ounces/grams and that's what the calories cover. The cups thing is just an approximation, probably because that's the most common way we measure food here in the USA.

For me, I find it much easier to weigh my food (in grams) as opposed to using cups to measure everything. It's a hassle and the amounts can be off more than you'd think they'd be. I'd recommend purchasing a small food scale! I use mine every day and it really helps~

seska422

I eat the whole bag too when I have steam-in-bag veggies. The nutritional info is based on the before-cooking weight, at least for the brand I use which is Bird's Eye. I just went and weighed one out of the freezer to double-check.

The bag itself can't weigh more than 5 grams or so. If you want the bag weight, you can weigh it empty after you remove your cooked veggies so that you'll know how many grams to subtract.

If something says that the whole bag contains 3.5 servings and you eat the whole bag, that makes the math easy.

mph323

I have a related question. When measuring something like 3 oz. chicken or beef, is the weight intended to be before or after cooking?

seska422

mph323 wrote: »

I have a related question. When measuring something like 3 oz. chicken or beef, is the weight intended to be before or after cooking?

Before.

However, you can find entries in the MFP database for before or after cooking. Just use an entry that matches.

LeslieB042812

If you don't want to weigh it before cooking it, you can use the weights stated on the packaging and it will be MUCH closer to accurate than the measurements listed as "about". Look at the total weight stated on the bag (usually on the front of the bag) and the serving size weight (usually in parentheses next to the cup measurement); they don't add up to the same number of servings. Companies are often quite tricky and may state them in different units of measurement (e.g. one may be in grams and one may be in ounces); if that's the case, you can very easily convert them. If the math is hard then, there are converters online that you can use. Simply divide the total package weight by the serving size weight and then that's your number of servings.

I googled the package you mentioned and here's what I get:
https://www.birdseye.com/vegetable-products/steamfresh-pure-simple-blends/broccoli-carrots-sugar-snap-peas-water-chestnuts
12 ounce bag with each serving listed as 83 grams
12 ounces = 340.194 (https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=12 ounces to grams)
340.194/83=4.0987
So, you have approximately 4.1 servings in your whole bag, which is approximately 167.6 calories per bag.

A couple of caveats:

1. The nutritional that I found on the website seem to be different than the ones on the bag. Use your bag ones.
2. It will ALWAYS be more accurate to actually weigh what's in the package, since packaging is not an exact science and there are often discrepancies between the stated weight and the actual weight. However, if you're eating the whole package and you're not too worried about being exact in your calculations, I've found that using a whole package weight is typically close enough. If you find that you're inexplicably not losing, you might want to start weighing everything to tighten up on the error.

Good luck!

mph323

@seska422 Thanks!

Francl27

I always log the entire bag... I do the steam in the bag kind so it's impossible to weigh it before cooking anyway.

I do agree though that serving numbers seem WAY off in frozen veggies.