Help calculating meal prep calories please

no1wf

Hello!

So I get a bit confused when working out calories sometimes, especially when it comes to dried/cooked things. This is what I've worked out for my meal preps for work, I have rice, green beans and chicken

Beans say half tin is 31cal, I use a full tin so 62cal
Rice says 100g is 131cal, I use 150g so lets say 197cal
Once the rice I cooked I chop up the beans and mix together, then scoop out into 5 trays. Is that really 52cal in each tray or am I dumb?

Lietchi

Uncooked rice is not 131 calories per 100 grams, more like 360!
131 calories per 100gr sounds like cooked rice to me.

no1wf

Lietchi wrote: »

Uncooked rice is not 131 calories per 100 grams, more like 360!
131 calories per 100gr sounds like cooked rice to me.

Okay, I had a feeling I was doing it wrong.
The label says 131cal per 100g/per 100ml
But it also says 'a serving contains 295cal' and that 1kg pack contains 13 servings, would this be 13 cooked servings? So 1000g by 13 is 76g of cooked rice is 295cal?

EDIT: The bubbles on the front also say 295cal per 225g

Lietchi

no1wf wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

Uncooked rice is not 131 calories per 100 grams, more like 360!
131 calories per 100gr sounds like cooked rice to me.

Okay, I had a feeling I was doing it wrong.
The label says 131cal per 100g/per 100ml
But it also says 'a serving contains 295cal' and that 1kg pack contains 13 servings, would this be 13 cooked servings? So 1000g by 13 is 76g of cooked rice is 295cal?

EDIT: The bubbles on the front also say 295cal per 225g

There's not a trace of the word 'cooked' or 'prepared' anywhere on the package? I don't know what particular product you are eating, but my experience would say 76 grams of uncooked rice is 295 calories (which will be a higher volume and weight after it's prepared, since it absorbs water).

If you post a picture of the product packaging or the name and brand, it might help. Is it preboiled rice perhaps? I'm puzzled by the 'bubbles' on the front that you mention 🙂

no1wf

Lietchi wrote: »

There's not a trace of the word 'cooked' or 'prepared' anywhere on the package? I don't know what particular product you are eating, but my experience would say 76 grams of uncooked rice is 295 calories (which will be a higher volume and weight after it's prepared, since it absorbs water).

If you post a picture of the product packaging or the name and brand, it might help. Is it preboiled rice perhaps? I'm puzzled by the 'bubbles' on the front that you mention 🙂

By bubbles I mean the bits on the front that are green/amber/red depending how much is in there, sorry I don't know the proper name

It's this rice from Tesco https://tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/258183865
But I'll go downstairs and check the packet maybe it says something different

Lietchi

That link confirms what I thought:
- 131 calories for 100gr prepared rice
- 295 calories for 75gr uncooked rice, which weighs approximately 225gr when cooked

Horribly confusing nutritional info by the way, I'm glad I don't need to deal with UK (or US) labels myself!

Lietchi

So for 150gr raw rice it's 590 calories, which is 118 calories per tray (plus the calories for the other ingredients).

yirara

no1wf wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

There's not a trace of the word 'cooked' or 'prepared' anywhere on the package? I don't know what particular product you are eating, but my experience would say 76 grams of uncooked rice is 295 calories (which will be a higher volume and weight after it's prepared, since it absorbs water).

If you post a picture of the product packaging or the name and brand, it might help. Is it preboiled rice perhaps? I'm puzzled by the 'bubbles' on the front that you mention 🙂

By bubbles I mean the bits on the front that are green/amber/red depending how much is in there, sorry I don't know the proper name

It's this rice from Tesco https://tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/258183865
But I'll go downstairs and check the packet maybe it says something different

Oh gosh, for some reason I thought this might be a uk label. There are some seriously confusing food labels over there. Yes, this is cooked. It's maybe easier to remember that all grain products uncooked come in at around 350-370 calories per 100gr. This includes rice, pasta, couscous, pure oats without fruits etc, and lots of other similar products. The reason is that they are largely carbohydrates with some protein and moisture. And carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram. 4 calories per 100 grams = 400 calories theoretically. But there's some fiber in there and some moisture. Thus you get a count of around 350-370 calories.

no1wf

Thank you guys for your help!

I try to avoid pasta and stuff because I find it difficult to work out, but I was already having this meal for work anyway because it's quick and easy to make on a Sunday night and freeze for the week.

It's still under 400cal for the meal so I'm happy, thanks again!