Sainsbury’s Calories Accurate?
thunderthighsandlightning
Posts: 27 Member
Hello! I recently moved to the UK from the US and have finally figured out the somewhat confusing calorie labels here. I do love that the calories are more accurate (127kcal versus 120kcal or 130kcal, for example), but in particular, I’m very confused by Sainsbury’s calories on their shelf products.
In particular, I picked up some of their shells pasta the other day (I’m a student, it’s cheap and easy!). The bag is 500g, and it says each 100g of dry pasta is 160kcal. How is that right? That’s super low.
It then says that 100g “as prepared” via the package instructions is 319kcal. So which is the actual calorie count?
If I portioned out 250g of the bag, would I end up with 400kcal for the dinner or 798kcal? Who would be portioning out the grams AFTER cooking?
Can anyone help?? I’m so confused
In particular, I picked up some of their shells pasta the other day (I’m a student, it’s cheap and easy!). The bag is 500g, and it says each 100g of dry pasta is 160kcal. How is that right? That’s super low.
It then says that 100g “as prepared” via the package instructions is 319kcal. So which is the actual calorie count?
If I portioned out 250g of the bag, would I end up with 400kcal for the dinner or 798kcal? Who would be portioning out the grams AFTER cooking?
Can anyone help?? I’m so confused
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Replies
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I imagine that they have provided a kcal count for 100g of dried and 100g of cooked. That way you can measure it before or after cooking. I have run out of my sainsburys pasta but I know this is the case for tesco.1
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That must be the case. I’m going to estimate on the higher side just to be sure, but it’s still strange how they phrased it on the packaging.0
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thunderthighsandlightning wrote: »Hello! I recently moved to the UK from the US and have finally figured out the somewhat confusing calorie labels here. I do love that the calories are more accurate (127kcal versus 120kcal or 130kcal, for example), but in particular, I’m very confused by Sainsbury’s calories on their shelf products.
In particular, I picked up some of their shells pasta the other day (I’m a student, it’s cheap and easy!). The bag is 500g, and it says each 100g of dry pasta is 160kcal. How is that right? That’s super low.
It then says that 100g “as prepared” via the package instructions is 319kcal. So which is the actual calorie count?
If I portioned out 250g of the bag, would I end up with 400kcal for the dinner or 798kcal? Who would be portioning out the grams AFTER cooking?
Can anyone help?? I’m so confused
They are both right. 100g dry is a lot heavier than cooked, hence the difference in calories.
If you ate half the bag it would be 400 cals.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »thunderthighsandlightning wrote: »Hello! I recently moved to the UK from the US and have finally figured out the somewhat confusing calorie labels here. I do love that the calories are more accurate (127kcal versus 120kcal or 130kcal, for example), but in particular, I’m very confused by Sainsbury’s calories on their shelf products.
In particular, I picked up some of their shells pasta the other day (I’m a student, it’s cheap and easy!). The bag is 500g, and it says each 100g of dry pasta is 160kcal. How is that right? That’s super low.
It then says that 100g “as prepared” via the package instructions is 319kcal. So which is the actual calorie count?
If I portioned out 250g of the bag, would I end up with 400kcal for the dinner or 798kcal? Who would be portioning out the grams AFTER cooking?
Can anyone help?? I’m so confused
They are both right. 100g dry is a lot heavier than cooked, hence the difference in calories.
If you ate half the bag it would be 400 cals.
But the OP is saying that the label says that 100 g dry has fewer calories than 100 g as prepared (= cooked), which clearly is wrong.5 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »thunderthighsandlightning wrote: »Hello! I recently moved to the UK from the US and have finally figured out the somewhat confusing calorie labels here. I do love that the calories are more accurate (127kcal versus 120kcal or 130kcal, for example), but in particular, I’m very confused by Sainsbury’s calories on their shelf products.
In particular, I picked up some of their shells pasta the other day (I’m a student, it’s cheap and easy!). The bag is 500g, and it says each 100g of dry pasta is 160kcal. How is that right? That’s super low.
It then says that 100g “as prepared” via the package instructions is 319kcal. So which is the actual calorie count?
If I portioned out 250g of the bag, would I end up with 400kcal for the dinner or 798kcal? Who would be portioning out the grams AFTER cooking?
Can anyone help?? I’m so confused
They are both right. 100g dry is a lot heavier than cooked, hence the difference in calories.
If you ate half the bag it would be 400 cals.
But the OP is saying that the label says that 100 g dry has fewer calories than 100 g as prepared (= cooked), which clearly is wrong.
No, the OP says 100g dry is 160 cals. 100g cooked, 319 cals.0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »thunderthighsandlightning wrote: »Hello! I recently moved to the UK from the US and have finally figured out the somewhat confusing calorie labels here. I do love that the calories are more accurate (127kcal versus 120kcal or 130kcal, for example), but in particular, I’m very confused by Sainsbury’s calories on their shelf products.
In particular, I picked up some of their shells pasta the other day (I’m a student, it’s cheap and easy!). The bag is 500g, and it says each 100g of dry pasta is 160kcal. How is that right? That’s super low.
It then says that 100g “as prepared” via the package instructions is 319kcal. So which is the actual calorie count?
If I portioned out 250g of the bag, would I end up with 400kcal for the dinner or 798kcal? Who would be portioning out the grams AFTER cooking?
Can anyone help?? I’m so confused
They are both right. 100g dry is a lot heavier than cooked, hence the difference in calories.
If you ate half the bag it would be 400 cals.
But the OP is saying that the label says that 100 g dry has fewer calories than 100 g as prepared (= cooked), which clearly is wrong.
No, the OP says 100g dry is 160 cals. 100g cooked, 319 cals.
Yes. And 160 is a smaller number than 319.
100 g dry will weigh more than 100 g when cooked, so 100 g cooked started out as less than 100 g dry. So how can 100 g cooked, which would be less than 100 g dry, be 319 cals (more calories than you would get from 100 g dry.3 -
It sounds like the numbers are the wrong way around on the packaging. 100g cooked is composed of quite a bit of water so should be much fewer calories.
Edit: I just looked in their website and it seems like both figures are labelled as cooked counts. So 100g in cooked weight is 160 calories. Or if you cook the 90g dry as suggested, when cooked it will be approx 200g, ie. 320 calories.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »No, the OP says 100g dry is 160 cals. 100g cooked, 319 cals.
Cooked pasta would weigh more than dry though, so you'd have less pasta in the 100 gram serving cooked than the 100 gram dry amount prepared would create. So the cooked amount of the same weight should be fewer calories.
I looked on Sainsbury's website and their nutritional infomation is for 100 grams prepared and per serving prepared, with calorie counts that match the 'dry' vs 'prepared' amounts in the OP. I didn't see a listing for dry at all.
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Do the instructions say to add any other ingredients?
If we're simply talking about dry pasta, and the resultant cooked pasta, boiled in water, I would expect the 100g of pasta might now weigh (for example) 250g (but 150 of that is water weight) and contain the same number of calories. Weighing out 100g of that should result in a portion that is lower in calories than 100g of dry pasta. But since it's tougher to tell how much water the pasta has absorbed, it is more precise to measure the pasta in it's dry state.
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »thunderthighsandlightning wrote: »Hello! I recently moved to the UK from the US and have finally figured out the somewhat confusing calorie labels here. I do love that the calories are more accurate (127kcal versus 120kcal or 130kcal, for example), but in particular, I’m very confused by Sainsbury’s calories on their shelf products.
In particular, I picked up some of their shells pasta the other day (I’m a student, it’s cheap and easy!). The bag is 500g, and it says each 100g of dry pasta is 160kcal. How is that right? That’s super low.
It then says that 100g “as prepared” via the package instructions is 319kcal. So which is the actual calorie count?
If I portioned out 250g of the bag, would I end up with 400kcal for the dinner or 798kcal? Who would be portioning out the grams AFTER cooking?
Can anyone help?? I’m so confused
They are both right. 100g dry is a lot heavier than cooked, hence the difference in calories.
If you ate half the bag it would be 400 cals.
But the OP is saying that the label says that 100 g dry has fewer calories than 100 g as prepared (= cooked), which clearly is wrong.
No, the OP says 100g dry is 160 cals. 100g cooked, 319 cals.
Yes. And 160 is a smaller number than 319.
100 g dry will weigh more than 100 g when cooked, so 100 g cooked started out as less than 100 g dry. So how can 100 g cooked, which would be less than 100 g dry, be 319 cals (more calories than you would get from 100 g dry.
I see what you mean now! Probably got the 2 the wrong way round on the packaging by the sounds of it.0 -
Sample of their nutrition label. Too hard to look at on my phone atm.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/sainsburys-spaghetti-500g
Edited because I know the difference between to and too. I hate typing on my phone.
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Sample of their nutrition label. To hard to look at on my phone atm.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/sainsburys-spaghetti-500g
Ok. So, from this information on the internet (which seems similar enough to what is described by OP) we see that Sainsbury's doesn't come right out with a portion size in grams. It says the 500g package contains "about 5 servings." Apparently, we're expecting our pasta to absorb roughly it's own weight in water when cooked. I would interpret this information to mean that 100g of cooked pasta is 160 calories, and the whole package is 1600 calories total. But I'm not rock solid on that, with the lack of a concrete portion size, in grams.
Edited to add: I also don't see anything referencing how many calories per 100g of dry pasta - which would clarify matters.1 -
I go and write a whole lot on it only to see the previous poster said the same thing!!
Yes, if you cook the whole bag the yield will be 1595 kcal. The 100g of dry pasta is the same as the Per Serving values - cooked only in water. The per 100g values are a bit of a red herring, but I guess it's for those who may want the cooked measurement values or to make it look low calorie.
Who on earth can figure that out in the shop? Pity they don't have the GI Index, would be useful for some.
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TavistockToad wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »thunderthighsandlightning wrote: »Hello! I recently moved to the UK from the US and have finally figured out the somewhat confusing calorie labels here. I do love that the calories are more accurate (127kcal versus 120kcal or 130kcal, for example), but in particular, I’m very confused by Sainsbury’s calories on their shelf products.
In particular, I picked up some of their shells pasta the other day (I’m a student, it’s cheap and easy!). The bag is 500g, and it says each 100g of dry pasta is 160kcal. How is that right? That’s super low.
It then says that 100g “as prepared” via the package instructions is 319kcal. So which is the actual calorie count?
If I portioned out 250g of the bag, would I end up with 400kcal for the dinner or 798kcal? Who would be portioning out the grams AFTER cooking?
Can anyone help?? I’m so confused
They are both right. 100g dry is a lot heavier than cooked, hence the difference in calories.
If you ate half the bag it would be 400 cals.
But the OP is saying that the label says that 100 g dry has fewer calories than 100 g as prepared (= cooked), which clearly is wrong.
No, the OP says 100g dry is 160 cals. 100g cooked, 319 cals.
Yes. And 160 is a smaller number than 319.
100 g dry will weigh more than 100 g when cooked, so 100 g cooked started out as less than 100 g dry. So how can 100 g cooked, which would be less than 100 g dry, be 319 cals (more calories than you would get from 100 g dry.
I see what you mean now! Probably got the 2 the wrong way round on the packaging by the sounds of it.
You had me double and triple checking my logic, because I was sure you understood how it worked!0 -
I'm in the UK and also found this confusing when I first started logging but assumed that cooked rice is lighter than uncooked, hence the difference. Now I'm confused all over again.
The rice and pasta I use (Tesco) gives uncooked and cooked calories. It also tells you approx how much uncooked rice = one serving and how many calories it has (which by the way is always a tiny portion, even for me and I'm not a volume eater)0 -
I normally find that most packaging for things like this will tell you that xg dry makes up xg, I noticed this for example with my Quinoa from Aldi it states 30g Dry makes approx 80g cooked. I always go by the dry weight. So I would weight out 30g dry and log 0.3 of 100g of the Dry weight nutritional info in my diary.2
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Hi, I have this problem with Salisbury's food also. The 100g measurement will be of cooked pasta (it will say weather it is cooked or uncooked. Generally, if the "portion" one is cooked, assume the other one is also as cooked unless otherwise stated)
It takes a minute to get your head around this one, but you can work it out fairly easily using our good friend maths!
I'm going to use Sainsbury's Basmati rice as an example because this is what I use often and I just know the numbers. It takes a little maths, but you get used to it:
- Search all over the packet for the portion suggestion (it will say something like "One portion is 57g of dry rice") This can be anywhere, although it's normally on the back near the nutrition box, but sometimes it's in a completely different place. If struggling, take a look at the cooking instructions. They also normally list it there. For our example we can see from the cooking instructions its says: "Before cooking: Allow 57g of rice per person."
- Correlate that with the "one portion contains". So for this case 57g of dried rice = 180g cooked rice (on the website it doesn't list the gram-age of the cooked rice, but I've logged it enough to know that it says 180g on the package)
- Now for the maths. Packet portion size of cooked rice divided by Dried rice. Then multiply that number by the weight you have on your food scale of dried rice. (For the maths form: where "x" is the dried portion size (57g) and "y" is the weight of cooked food (180g) and "z" is the amount of dried rice you weighed out for your portion:
(y/x)*z
- So for our example. Say I have weighed out a portion of 65g of dried rice. So I take 180g and divide it by 57g. This equals 3.157... then I multiply this number by my 65g. This gives me 205g. So that is how many grams of rice I input into the database log.
- This method will allow you to log these dried goods with no problem. Personally I always do (for rice) the suggested portion so that I know I just add 180g every time. However for pasta, I find the suggested portion size too much and normally use this method to log it correctly.
Also note that the database entry if you scan for this basmati rice isn't correct and will need adjusting (I've inputted my own, correct, version, I dunno if that's on the database or not) You should always check the 100g entry first against whats on the packet.
From memory, Sainsbury's Pasta is normally 90g per portion (from experience) and that cooks into "200g" of cooked pasta (from the packet).0 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »I normally find that most packaging for things like this will tell you that xg dry makes up xg, I noticed this for example with my Quinoa from Aldi it states 30g Dry makes approx 80g cooked. I always go by the dry weight. So I would weight out 30g dry and log 0.3 of 100g of the Dry weight nutritional info in my diary.
I mean this is a much simpler way of explaining what I just did at length.
However just to add for everyone else: if you only had cooked nutrient values, you would log it as 0.8 of 100g of cooked nutrient values
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Wow!
The labels, as shown, do not contain the dry weight of the package. The only info we have is that the package contains APPROXIMATELY 5 servings @ 319 Cal each = 1595 Calories for the whole thing.
All caloric values in the back reference COOKED food.
One value is for 100g of cooked food and is equal to 160 Cal. The other value is for presumably almost 200g of cooked food and is for 319 Cal.
Thus we can infer that the whole package cooks out to about 1kg of pasta!
I sometimes use Sainsbury/Tesco values in my logging because they include per 100g information in the database for items that are labeled 0 Cal by local brands that have manipulated portions sizes to achieve a sub 5 Cal per portion value.
Seeing this label confusion and exclusive use of "cooked" values does not make me happy!
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On my spaghetti pasta label, it says 80g of dry pasta = 170g when cooked.
So if you wanted 100g of COOKED pasta, i would portion out about 45-50g of DRY pasta, to equal 100g of of cooked pasta, for 319 calories.2 -
LaurenMT96 wrote: »On my spaghetti pasta label, it says 80g of dry pasta = 170g when cooked.
So if you wanted 100g of COOKED pasta, i would portion out about 45-50g of DRY pasta, to equal 100g of of cooked pasta, for 319 calories.
In this case, 100g of cooked pasta is 160kcals1 -
I'm guessing the label is wrong.2
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Because I also have the packaging at home and I know that this is how Sainsbury's do their packaging because I use their products.
I also know that it states on the packaging (and as it also happens on the website) that both the 100g and the "serving size" is both done as cooked weight.
I also know that this is the way that they have done their packaging for years, and that if the label was wrong, then it would've been corrected by now.2 -
thunderthighsandlightning wrote: »Hello! I recently moved to the UK from the US and have finally figured out the somewhat confusing calorie labels here. I do love that the calories are more accurate (127kcal versus 120kcal or 130kcal, for example), but in particular, I’m very confused by Sainsbury’s calories on their shelf products.
In particular, I picked up some of their shells pasta the other day (I’m a student, it’s cheap and easy!). The bag is 500g, and it says each 100g of dry pasta is 160kcal. How is that right? That’s super low.
It then says that 100g “as prepared” via the package instructions is 319kcal. So which is the actual calorie count?
If I portioned out 250g of the bag, would I end up with 400kcal for the dinner or 798kcal? Who would be portioning out the grams AFTER cooking?
Can anyone help?? I’m so confused
I just put up a thread 'Uncooked Pasta' on this message board. It deals with this dry vs cooked weight bit. I was looking at Tescos but will be same.Basically 170g cooked weight = 286 cals - Can't remember exact but it's in the thread, while 75g dry past is 270 cals0 -
Thank you all for the responses!! I’m still so used to the US nutrition labels clearly explaining what the calories are (even if they’re in weird serving sizes) so this’ll take a bit of an adjustment. I’ll just have to triple-check the nutrition facts from here on out, haha.
Glad to see I’m not the only one confused by this, though! Maybe I should just stick to avoiding pasta, lol 1 -
You have brought up a very interesting issue with the labelling, to be honest I never noticed probably 'cause I've never logged pasta, cous cous or quinoa - yip it's not only pasta.
I have seen a pattern which might help you. Sainsbury's own brand seems to be consistent on this. Check the traffic light panel above the coloured blocks (on the front of the pack) and look for 'cooked per instructions', if you don't see it then it would say Per serving or As Sold and you can take it as uncooked quantities.
When I first came across this thread I pulled out a packet of Tesco tagliatelle which I bought a few weeks ago, it was the same as your packaging. They have been changing all their packaging and I see it now shows the cooked weight on the front, but the instructions tells you how many grams of dry pasta to use to achieve the displayed values. So it looks like at least one supermarket has fixed the confusion.
Just when you thought it was safe to navigate the various labels, they go and change it!
Welcome to the UK and I hope our idiosyncrasies don't drive you too crazy. You have enough to contend with remembering the light switch goes the opposite way and a good few other things
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