Accounting for canned beans & tomatoes

thriftyjenn

I’m so confused 😐
The scan comes up in ml’s, I weigh the entire can (after draining), and note the grams. If I enter that number I end up with about half the calories that the container is supposed to be. Tomatoes mess me up also, when drained they’re so low, but nutritional label always seems so high in calories. Why?

So my can of kidney beans weighed 305 grams, container says 540 ml, and was about 2 cups. What do I log?

My diced tomato can is 796 mls, weighed in at 447 grams drained. Do I just log raw tomatoes?

Thank you. I tried researching but never found a clear answer.

MelanieCN77

I must say I've never drained canned tomatoes but beans I just go with what gets scanned. Life's too short, and all that.

Or, try searching for an entry that doesn't pop up mls.

kshama2001

Use this entry from the USDA database: "Beans, kidney, red, mature seeds, canned, drained solids".

I've never gotten the amount of servings from canned beans that the label says I should.

Susieq_1994

thriftyjenn wrote: »

I’m so confused 😐
The scan comes up in ml’s, I weigh the entire can (after draining), and note the grams. If I enter that number I end up with about half the calories that the container is supposed to be. Tomatoes mess me up also, when drained they’re so low, but nutritional label always seems so high in calories. Why?

So my can of kidney beans weighed 305 grams, container says 540 ml, and was about 2 cups. What do I log?

My diced tomato can is 796 mls, weighed in at 447 grams drained. Do I just log raw tomatoes?

Thank you. I tried researching but never found a clear answer.

My experience, at least with canned beans in my country, is that the nutrition information on beans includes the liquid, so 100 grams is actually logging 50g beans, 50g bean water. That's why it's so low. I either log the undrained weight (because bean water isn't exactly high calorie) while eating the drained beans, or I use a USDA "canned and drained" entry for that particular bean.

Cahgetsfit

Ive never drained tomatoes either, but beans I weigh drained and log that.

lynn_glenmont

thriftyjenn wrote: »

I’m so confused 😐
The scan comes up in ml’s, I weigh the entire can (after draining), and note the grams. If I enter that number I end up with about half the calories that the container is supposed to be. Tomatoes mess me up also, when drained they’re so low, but nutritional label always seems so high in calories. Why?

So my can of kidney beans weighed 305 grams, container says 540 ml, and was about 2 cups. What do I log?

My diced tomato can is 796 mls, weighed in at 447 grams drained. Do I just log raw tomatoes?

Thank you. I tried researching but never found a clear answer.

grams are a measure of weight, and mls are a measure of volume. Other than water and liquids with density close to water, you can't go back and forth between them on a one to one basis.

Also, unless they say so, weights listed on the cans are not drained weights, so it's no surprise you're getting different totals when you drain before weighing.

As @kshama2001 suggests, I use USDA-based entries in the form of "Beans, [specific variety], mature seeds, canned, drained solids".

jesspen91

Does it not include the drained weight on the can? Most of the cans I buy include both for beans at least. I never drain tomatoes the juice is the best part!

thriftyjenn

I didn’t see a canned and drained weight for beans, I’ll look again.

I sometimes drain tomatoes when I think there’s already too much liquid in my chilli etc... or if out of fresh and using them in a pasta salad or something similar.

Thanks