Calorie Info Confusing!!!

chilliefeet
chilliefeet Posts: 1 Member
edited January 2022 in Food and Nutrition
Hello!

So I’ve been eating these couscous sachets from Twistd for lunch a lot but the nutrition info on the packet doesn’t make sense to me and thought somebody might be able to help!

So each packet is 100g dry and it asks for you to add 160ml boiling water. It says that each serving is 130g and that the packet contains 2 servings.
It gives the nutrition for 100g as 136cal and the nutrition for a serving as 177cal.
However if I use half the sachet and add 160ml of water that’s still not a 130g serving. But the numbers don’t add up? Is the 100g info for the whole packet dry? If so how does adding water increase the calories if water is calorie free??
If I eat the whole sachet how much am I actually consuming?!
Maybe I’m just being really silly but I just don’t get it!
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Edit* I might have just figured it out but input would still be helpful so I know if I’m right 🙈

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Well, 747 is 130% of 575, so their math is for a dry serving. Most labels in Europe are standardized to 100g servings. 100g just isn't a lot of coucous so they're saying a normal serving size is 130g dry and that the bag holds two complete servings of 130g dry each.

    Always assume the label means "Dry" unless it specifies otherwise.
  • lesdarts180
    lesdarts180 Posts: 3,172 Member
    You appear to have added the wrong amount of water. I you only use half a sachet of couscous (50g) you should be adding 80 ml of water and the result should = 130 g (80 ml of water weighs 80 g)
    The label clearly states that the calories are "as consumed" ie made up with the suggested amount of water.

    ps if you prefer your couscous with more water just remember that the extra water has nil calories.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Oh - I guess you're right lesdarts180.

    I thought the kj was the calories. I'm not used to EU labels - we don't list kj values here in the US.
  • nsk1951
    nsk1951 Posts: 1,304 Member
    edited January 2022
    100 grams of product plus 160 grams of water is a total of 260 grams ... and that makes 2 servings ... thus each serving is half of the total or ... 130 grams. ... PS ... as for why the nutritional values change once the product is hydrated is beyond my knowledge but I would suspect that the dehydrated product for some chemical reason has less energy than the hydrated version. ... Like someone else mentioned ... if you are eating only half of the product, then it doesn't matter how much extra water you add, you take your energy from the fact that you are eating 1/2 of the product in it's dry form.

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,969 Member
    The whole packet contains 354 calories (2 servings of 177 calories) which is a pretty standard value for originally 100gr dry couscous. The nutritional values are for the prepared product, which makes it a bit more confusing.
    If you're consuming half of the dry product, you're consuming 177 calories, whether you add the recommended 80ml water (50gr dry +80 water =130gr serving) or even with another quantity of water.

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