Why do they make calories so confusing? Help!

happyfeetrebel1

I tried to do the math and i got 420 calories for a bag. Is that right? So far nobody has actually answered lol

I always figure based on the popped calories. So 1 bag contains about 3 cups popped popcorn and that equals 105 calories.

Just.no

Microwave popcorn is super high calorie..do the MATH

kjarvo

Changed my mind, if the bag weighs 99g before popping 3x33g I am going to go with the 420 cals. I've just looked at loads of different values on http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/grocery-categories/Popcorn_in_Tesco.html and most of them are around 420-440cals for 100g of popped popcorn. It should weigh the same popped as unpopped minus the grease and unpopped.

http://i.imgur.com/jc4kASR.png?1 for label

You can't cheat and go find a different company's label, that doesn't apply here! Your info also seems to lie about the salt..*trace*...no way unless you got unsalted.

From experience, about 400 cals/bag sounds right though, its what I try to go with, when I dont log it as labeled and it gets all screwed up.

I think that particular one was butter. Salted says Salt 1.8g per 100g, sweet trace and sweet/salted 1.1g per 100g.

successgal1

Omg. Buy a $20 air Popper, which does a half a cup of unpopped corn at a time, and chow down. The problem with popcorn is more what you put on it. I can put a light sprinkle of salt, no butter or just a light spritz of a spray to hold the salt there, and be perfectly fine fitting it into your count.

kommodevaran

OP, the "information" on the box is not just misleading - it's plain wrong and totaly useless.

It says: Servings per bag: "about 3". Servings per box: "about 17". Are there "about 5 2/3" bags in the box??

Serving size is 2 tbsp unpopped, equals 4 cups popped. OK.
2 tbsp unpopped equals 180 calories. OK.
1 cup popped equals 35 calories. OK...
but... 4 cups of 35 calories equals 140 calories! It should have been 180?
Can be due to unpoppable kernels, but with all that "noise", it doesn't really matter... either buy it and eat it and never mind the calories, or buy something else that is more reliable. Hopefully this isn't going to be the norm.

I can't believe you're supposed to rip open the microwave bag to weigh the contents??

OK, about 17 x 33 equals about 561. Divide this by actual number of bags to get approximate net weight per bag. Let's say there are 5 bags. 561/5 equals 112.2 grams. 33 grams is 180 calories - 112.2 divided by 33 is 3.4. 3.4 x 180 equals 612. Or something. Time's running out.

"POP SECRET" - never has a name been more appropriate

levitateme

And this, folks, is why Americans need to stop holding on to the Imperial system and switch to metric. :noway: The imperial system is insane and outdated, and pretty much only the Americans stick to it. If you want to be on the safe side calorie-wise, go with the data for unpopped. 2 tbsp x 3 servings per bag x 180 kcals per serving = 540 kcals in a bag. It will be less than that since some of the kernels don't pop and some oil stays in the bag. But I'd rather be over than under on my calorie estimation.

It's not so much that we need to switch systems, just that people need to weigh solid food. It doesn't matter if you use ounces or grams. Measuring "cups" and "spoons" of items that contain airspace or dense foods is a bad idea.

LadyGrey75

Yeah, companies use tricks like that to make their products seem more calorie friendly. The truth is most people will eat the whole bag. We generally don't pop a bag of popcorn and save 2/3's of the bag for later. Same with a 16 oz soda. Most people drink the whole thing yet you will see the servings per container listed as 2, the 20 oz soda sometimes lists servings as 2.5. Again, most people drink the whole thing. You just have to pay attention to the serving sizes of EVERYTHING you eat.

I am learning this is a big issue for me, I buy a little small something or another for a snack and find I can only have a smidgen of what is already in the snack size portion... I mean there is generall not much there in the beginning and now i read i can't even have all of it...what the heck!!!

kommodevaran

And this, folks, is why Americans need to stop holding on to the Imperial system and switch to metric. :noway: The imperial system is insane and outdated, and pretty much only the Americans stick to it. If you want to be on the safe side calorie-wise, go with the data for unpopped. 2 tbsp x 3 servings per bag x 180 kcals per serving = 540 kcals in a bag. It will be less than that since some of the kernels don't pop and some oil stays in the bag. But I'd rather be over than under on my calorie estimation.

It's not so much that we need to switch systems, just that people need to weigh solid food. It doesn't matter if you use ounces or grams. Measuring "cups" and "spoons" of items that contain airspace or dense foods is a bad idea.

And that's not even the problem in this particular case - one could operate with "flicks of a badger's tail" for all that matter, if only the values added up and reflected the contents of the actual product.

Biologin

Omg. Buy a $20 air Popper, which does a half a cup of unpopped corn at a time, and chow down. The problem with popcorn is more what you put on it. I can put a light sprinkle of salt, no butter or just a light spritz of a spray to hold the salt there, and be perfectly fine fitting it into your count.

Exactly what I do. I use Jolly Time white popcorn kernels. According to the label, the serving size is 2 TBSP kernels (33g) and has 110 calories. The bizarre part is that the bag claims that 2 TBSP kernels will yield 5 cups popped. NO WAY! At most it yields one and one half cups--I measure every time (Actually, I pop 6 TBSP at a time and consistently get 9 cups popped popcorn). The bag goes on to state that 1 cup popped popcorn contains 20 calories. The math does NOT add up! If TBSP unpopped contains 110 calories and produces 1.5 cups popped, then each cup popped contains 73 calories. And I should mention that there a very few unpopped kernels.

There are lies, damned lies, and nutrition labels...