Raw or cooked weight of food? (particularly potatoes)

miratps

So I am trying to calculate the calories of the potato's I am about to use for cooking. I know potatoes and a lot of other foods 'lose weight' due to the water going whilst cooking so wondering should I weigh them before and use those calories or use the cooked weight?

kikicooks

Raw

rileysowner

Raw is preferable as weight changes in food that is cooked is primarily due to water weight which does not change the total calories, only their density in the food. The amount that the weight changes will not be consistent, so if possible use raw numbers.

miratps

Thanks. The other reason I ask is because a supermarket near me sells these glorius wedges but nutrition is confusing. The pack is 400g and it says for 100g it's 100 calories, while half a pack with the dip is 130 calories. I called them to ask which one I trust and after a week they called me back after getting it checked and said to use the 130 calorie bit because it is considering the wedges cooked. So I take it I should use the raw calories for that too?

serindipte

You should choose the appropriate entry for your item. If you bought the wedges cooked, then you would have to use the cooked entry (if fried, then find a fried entry). There are times that you can only guess and hope you're close.

serindipte

miratps wrote: »

Thanks. The other reason I ask is because a supermarket near me sells these glorius wedges but nutrition is confusing. The pack is 400g and it says for 100g it's 100 calories, while half a pack with the dip is 130 calories. I called them to ask which one I trust and after a week they called me back after getting it checked and said to use the 130 calorie bit because it is considering the wedges cooked. So I take it I should use the raw calories for that too?

If it says 100g is 100c, then I would be more inclined to guess the half pack with dip is 230c. I'd rather be over than under.

miratps

serindipte wrote: »

miratps wrote: »

Thanks. The other reason I ask is because a supermarket near me sells these glorius wedges but nutrition is confusing. The pack is 400g and it says for 100g it's 100 calories, while half a pack with the dip is 130 calories. I called them to ask which one I trust and after a week they called me back after getting it checked and said to use the 130 calorie bit because it is considering the wedges cooked. So I take it I should use the raw calories for that too?

If it says 100g is 100c, then I would be more inclined to guess the half pack with dip is 230c. I'd rather be over than under.

These ones:

http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=373399

They told me to go with the 130 as its then cooked and lost water weight but water shouldn't have any calories in it right?

EricaCraigie

I do cooked since I cook a couple pounds at a time to have for a couple days.

serindipte

Water doesn't have calories which means a more dry potato would have 100c for even less weight, plus the sunflower oil they used in the preparation. (edited to specify the oil per package ingredients)

rileysowner

miratps wrote: »

serindipte wrote: »

miratps wrote: »

Thanks. The other reason I ask is because a supermarket near me sells these glorius wedges but nutrition is confusing. The pack is 400g and it says for 100g it's 100 calories, while half a pack with the dip is 130 calories. I called them to ask which one I trust and after a week they called me back after getting it checked and said to use the 130 calorie bit because it is considering the wedges cooked. So I take it I should use the raw calories for that too?

If it says 100g is 100c, then I would be more inclined to guess the half pack with dip is 230c. I'd rather be over than under.

These ones:

http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=373399

They told me to go with the 130 as its then cooked and lost water weight but water shouldn't have any calories in it right?

No, but the change in weight changes how many calories per gram.

It is at 100 calories per 100 grams uncooked, even though the weight may go down to 80 grams when cooked, it is still 100 calories. That means you need to use the raw number when measuring raw, and the cooked number when measuring cooked. Where the difficulty comes is that how much the weight changes when cooked will vary. So one day it may go down to 80, another down only to 90, and still another down to 70. Sometimes those variations are not that big, but I prefer to weigh uncooked to try to be as accurate as I can. There are times that cooked is the only way I can do it, so I use that since it is still more accurate than guessing.

cwolfman13

miratps wrote: »

Thanks. The other reason I ask is because a supermarket near me sells these glorius wedges but nutrition is confusing. The pack is 400g and it says for 100g it's 100 calories, while half a pack with the dip is 130 calories. I called them to ask which one I trust and after a week they called me back after getting it checked and said to use the 130 calorie bit because it is considering the wedges cooked. So I take it I should use the raw calories for that too?

Those calories are for the raw weight.