Frozen vegetable calories

xKJAMS

Hi... so I was just wondering if anybody else notices the inconsistencies with frozen vegetables and their nutritional value... ? I have a bag of Birdseye frozen cauliflower and broccoli. It says on the package one cup or 79 grams is a serving of 60 Calories...so I cooked them, and I put them on a scale and one large piece of cooked cauliflower was already at 65 grams... I put a piece of broccoli on, and it went up to over 79 already... but it was barley even a third of a cup.... I am so confused... which measurement should I use for accuracy???

I always have this problem with any frozen veggies... sometimes it’s the opposite though, like the box will say there are three servings ... but there’s actually only two if you go by the cups or whatever... ugh

Shortgirlrunning

I think your supposed to weigh them before cooking.

Always use the weight for accuracy.

LyndaBSS

Once they’re cooked, they’re going to swell with water weight.

NovusDies

snyderkjna639 wrote: »

Hi... so I was just wondering if anybody else notices the inconsistencies with frozen vegetables and their nutritional value... ? I have a bag of Birdseye frozen cauliflower and broccoli. It says on the package one cup or 79 grams is a serving of 60 Calories...so I cooked them, and I put them on a scale and one large piece of cooked cauliflower was already at 65 grams... I put a piece of broccoli on, and it went up to over 79 already... but it was barley even a third of a cup.... I am so confused... which measurement should I use for accuracy???

I always have this problem with any frozen veggies... sometimes it’s the opposite though, like the box will say there are three servings ... but there’s actually only two if you go by the cups or whatever... ugh

I weigh them frozen then divide by the serving size grams to determine the number of servings for the bag because I always eat all of it. I want the number of servings even if it is a decimal because it is easier to log.

Typically though there is not much of a variance between the number of servings on the bag and the actual. If a bag has 3.5 it is usually 3.4 to 3.65. Since vegetables are lower calorie after I have checked a brand a few times I just use what is on the bag.

kshama2001

The weight on the package is for frozen.

xKJAMS

Wait... really?! Frozen?? Because I never weigh anything frozen.... won’t they weigh more that way?? I understand the water, but they shrink ... like take meat... if you weigh a one lb roll of hamburger meat while it frozen, that thing is like a brick.. I thought the same for vegetables.... interesting.... the label isn’t very clear with veggies the way it is with other foods that day “Dry” or “cooked” etc. so I don’t know. I will try that next time and see if it makes a difference

NovusDies

snyderkjna639 wrote: »

Wait... really?! Frozen?? Because I never weigh anything frozen.... won’t they weigh more that way?? I understand the water, but they shrink ... like take meat... if you weigh a one lb roll of hamburger meat while it frozen, that thing is like a brick.. I thought the same for vegetables.... interesting.... the label isn’t very clear with veggies the way it is with other foods that day “Dry” or “cooked” etc. so I don’t know. I will try that next time and see if it makes a difference

This is how I understand it:

Freezing does not add mass/weight.

A thawed product can undergo a slight reduction because cells are injured during freezing and fluid is released as it thaws. If that fluid is allowed to escape you will see a variance.

Fflpnari

you're supposed to weigh meat raw for calories purpose. I weigh all frozen things frozen.

PAV8888

Frozen foodz are frozen and so is their nutritional label unless it specifically says thawed, or cooked.

Manufacturers should be testing their nutritional information based on gram weight; cups are usually listed for convenience.

Meat raw and cooked has different nutritional values and so does frozen.

You can find multiple sources for the nutritional info in regards to raw and cooked meat. But since so much frozen stuff (usually NOT vegetables) is prepared for freezing by immersing in solutions that affect the composition and weight and nutritional content of the final product, pretty much we have to take the manufacturers at their word in terms of the nutritional composition of their frozen foods.

So frozen stuff, I tend to stick with what the label says!

whitpauly

I just eyeball it (I know I know) but most veg is super low in calories anyways

freda666

How can you measure something like cauliflower in cups? Use a scale! And yes, the calorie count is for the frozen weight, which makes sense as when you measure what you are going to cook it will be frozen.

Lillymoo01

Put the container you are going to cook in on some scales, tar it to 0 then add how much you want to cook while frozen. Presto. Not only do you have the correct weight as to the nutritional label, but you have also saved dishes as you don't have a cup to wash.

ElizabethKalmbach

Frozen things don't conform to cups very well, so you'll get less in a cup frozen than you will thawed. Smaller frozen things like peas will have less variability than chunked frozen things like broccoli or cauliflower - though, I've found that a lot of non-starchy veggies have such low calorie counts that the measurable difference starts becoming negligible on my scale, which rounds everything to the nearest 5g.