Logging Rolled Oats?

e_caladan_x
e_caladan_x Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi friends!

One thing I love to eat is plain boiled rolled oats. I'd like to log it precisely!

When I go into the database, it's hard to determine if people's caloric values are based on the weight of dry oats prior to cooking, or the weight of the cooked oats - two different things obvs.

I feel like this is something obvious that everyone knows and I don't. Ugh! Sorry guys - can anyone shed some light?

Thanks <3 Cal

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,258 Member
    Dry weight. I weigh mine: I put the container on the scale, dip out until I reach the amount I want, read the negative on the scale.

    Then I use the database entry "Grams (Cereals, Oats, Regular and Quick and Instant, Not Fortified, Dry, Uncooked (oatmeal, old-fashioned oats, rolled oats)".

    The entries with bureaucratic crazy-long names like that tend to match the USDA database, though it's always worth checking calorie/nutrition details on first use, so that accurate entries get into your recent/frequent foods.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,744 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »

    Then I use the database entry "Grams (Cereals, Oats, Regular and Quick and Instant, Not Fortified, Dry, Uncooked (oatmeal, old-fashioned oats, rolled oats)".

    I want to know who actually typed that into the database cuz....Market Pantry - Old Fashioned Oatmeal does it for me. Even when I use Great Value! 😀

    But I'm only looking at calories, protein, and fiber.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,258 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »

    Then I use the database entry "Grams (Cereals, Oats, Regular and Quick and Instant, Not Fortified, Dry, Uncooked (oatmeal, old-fashioned oats, rolled oats)".

    I want to know who actually typed that into the database cuz....Market Pantry - Old Fashioned Oatmeal does it for me. Even when I use Great Value! 😀

    But I'm only looking at calories, protein, and fiber.

    It doesn't look exactly like what's in USDA Legacy now, and it doesn't look in other ways like an initial-MFP-load entry from USDA, I admit (those usually have the bureaucratic names, though, too).

    If I can find an entry that looks like an initial-USDA-load one, I'll use it (even recognizing that some of those have one or two quantity settings that return an obviously-wrong result - I just use one of the other quantities).

    The bureaucratic names usually are one way to quickly recognize an entry that was loaded from USDA at MFP start-up. Another indicator is that the quantities drop-down will often have both weight and volume measures, sometimes counts or dimensions (inches) too. Often, the default quantity is cups, even for stuff that's dumb to estimate in cups (like watermelon, hard-boiled eggs, etc.). Click the drop-down, sane ones are in there, too.

    If I don't see a USDA entry, what I've found experientially is that - with no guarantees - the people who carefully type in or cut'n'paste some very precise long name on a food database entry are also likely to be the kind of people who are equally meticulous about carefully inputting the nutritional info.

    Therefore, when it's down to checking what are obvious user entries, I tend to start checking with ones that are meticulously named, with proper spelling and capitalization, because I think they have slightly higher odds of being accurate. Human nature, and all that. 🤷‍♀️
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    Unless one get their rolled oats from a farm or a health food store, why wouldn't one simply look at the package nutrition panel?
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Unless one get their rolled oats from a farm or a health food store, why wouldn't one simply look at the package nutrition panel?

    Whilst I agree with you in general it’s really common for people to store dried goods in airtight containers once opened. Kilner jars, Tupperware style boxes etc. Beautifying your Pantry and organisation is a big thing! 😊
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Unless one get their rolled oats from a farm or a health food store, why wouldn't one simply look at the package nutrition panel?

    Whilst I agree with you in general it’s really common for people to store dried goods in airtight containers once opened. Kilner jars, Tupperware style boxes etc. Beautifying your Pantry and organisation is a big thing! 😊

    And to put the label in or on the storage container.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Unless one get their rolled oats from a farm or a health food store, why wouldn't one simply look at the package nutrition panel?

    Whilst I agree with you in general it’s really common for people to store dried goods in airtight containers once opened. Kilner jars, Tupperware style boxes etc. Beautifying your Pantry and organisation is a big thing! 😊

    And to put the label in or on the storage container.

    Well, obviously, if you’re months into logging calories you may well do that. But the point I’m making is that if you’ve recently started logging etc then you may well have oats in a jar in the cupboard already…

    It’s also good to remember that not everyone lives in the same way so glib ‘check the nutrition label’ answers are somewhat less than helpful, sometimes! 😉
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,258 Member
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Unless one get their rolled oats from a farm or a health food store, why wouldn't one simply look at the package nutrition panel?

    Whilst I agree with you in general it’s really common for people to store dried goods in airtight containers once opened. Kilner jars, Tupperware style boxes etc. Beautifying your Pantry and organisation is a big thing! 😊

    And to put the label in or on the storage container.

    When buying bulk, no label.

    Also, for those doing the cute containers for a pretty pantry (not me!), the labels aren't cute.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Unless one get their rolled oats from a farm or a health food store, why wouldn't one simply look at the package nutrition panel?

    Whilst I agree with you in general it’s really common for people to store dried goods in airtight containers once opened. Kilner jars, Tupperware style boxes etc. Beautifying your Pantry and organisation is a big thing! 😊

    And to put the label in or on the storage container.

    When buying bulk, no label.

    Also, for those doing the cute containers for a pretty pantry (not me!), the labels aren't cute.

    Why would one buy rolled oats in bulk to go into little containers? Rolled oats costs about $1 per pound in large Quaker box or 50lb bags. And, even the 50 lb bags come with a label. Are you suggesting someone would buy rolled oats from a barrel or a truck bed?

    Any thoughts on how many of out MFP folks here might do that?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,258 Member
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Unless one get their rolled oats from a farm or a health food store, why wouldn't one simply look at the package nutrition panel?

    Whilst I agree with you in general it’s really common for people to store dried goods in airtight containers once opened. Kilner jars, Tupperware style boxes etc. Beautifying your Pantry and organisation is a big thing! 😊

    And to put the label in or on the storage container.

    When buying bulk, no label.

    Also, for those doing the cute containers for a pretty pantry (not me!), the labels aren't cute.

    Why would one buy rolled oats in bulk to go into little containers? Rolled oats costs about $1 per pound in large Quaker box or 50lb bags. And, even the 50 lb bags come with a label. Are you suggesting someone would buy rolled oats from a barrel or a truck bed?

    Any thoughts on how many of out MFP folks here might do that?

    I buy multiple pounds at a time of several things, from the bulk section of my regular retail grocery store. Those things include rolled oats, walnuts, etc. At home, they're stored in extra-big rectangular Tupperware (cannister size) or 2-gallon glass jars, or something similar. There are nutritional labels permanently adhered to the bulk bins, but no labels on what I bring home.

    I have no idea who else does that, but clearly the number who do what's described above is non-zero. (I know at least one friend who does similar things, and I'll bet a lot of people who buy out of the retail store's bulk section do.)

    I could use my phone to take a photo of the nutritional label on the bin, but I don't see the point, for commodity things like oats or walnuts. There are perfectly good entries for those things in the MFP database that match the USDA database values. I do take the photo occasionally if I happen to buy something unusual from the bulk section, that I think might not have a reliable database entry.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    Look up the brand you use and use dry weight. Compare the nutrition label to the database entry you decided to use as a double check. Easy Peasey.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    Unless one get their rolled oats from a farm or a health food store, why wouldn't one simply look at the package nutrition panel?

    Whilst I agree with you in general it’s really common for people to store dried goods in airtight containers once opened. Kilner jars, Tupperware style boxes etc. Beautifying your Pantry and organisation is a big thing! 😊

    And to put the label in or on the storage container.

    When buying bulk, no label.

    Also, for those doing the cute containers for a pretty pantry (not me!), the labels aren't cute.

    Why would one buy rolled oats in bulk to go into little containers? Rolled oats costs about $1 per pound in large Quaker box or 50lb bags. And, even the 50 lb bags come with a label. Are you suggesting someone would buy rolled oats from a barrel or a truck bed?

    Any thoughts on how many of out MFP folks here might do that?

    This may be a terminology difference. In my part of the U.S., you needn't buy large quantities from the "bulk" section of the grocery store -- it just means the food is on display in large bins, from which you scoop out the desired amount (sometimes I use them precisely because I want less than even the smaller packages sold on the regular shelves).

Categories