Dumb Q on Frozen Foods

courtneycuth

When counting calories on frozen foods, are the weights listed on the package the frozen or cooked weights? For example, the steak fries I enjoyed yesterday say a serving size is 3 oz, but obviously they weigh more frozen than cooked. Do I weigh before or after cooking?

Thanks for humoring me.

adamb83

I would assume frozen, since most people who weigh their foot do so before cooking, not after.

It's a good question, though, and I'm not really sure. I just go by the serving count (so if it says 3oz = 11 fries, I put 11 fries on the pan).

k8lyn_235

i'm not sure either. i usually use the frozen weight just to be cautious. i'd rather underestimate than overestimate!

mochomito

i usually weigh my food after i cook it. I always wondered about this as well.

DannyMussels

It's before cooking.

There's no way to measure how much water/fat/salt etc leaves the food when cooking.

So it's assuming you eat the entire thing, no tricky cooking practices.

pixelish

You could test it - if there are four 11-ounce servings in a 44-ounce container, then it's a pre-cooked measure.

robbiejay1971

I'm sure the weights are from frozen, unless it says otherwise.

still_crafty

It's before cooking.

There's no way to measure how much water/fat/salt etc leaves the food when cooking.

So it's assuming you eat the entire thing, no tricky cooking practices.

^^^ this

hrk253

Sorry to hit this up 6 months later, but I've been wondering the same thing, so searched and found this thread...

We bought a bag of Open Nature crinkle cut fries, for our weekly "night off" dinner. The bag says a serving is 3 oz. (28 pieces) and there are 11 servings in the bag. This is a HUGE discrepancy, because 3 oz. is more like 8-10 pieces. So I thought, maybe it's cooked weight? So I put two servings of 28 pieces on the pan, and it ended up using almost half the fries in the bag--definitely not 11 servings that way. So either the 3 oz./11 servings is wrong, or the 28 pieces is waayyy wrong. I'm presuming it's the latter, but it is SO FRUSTRATING!