Nutritional Info for Frozen Chicken

emgett89
emgett89 Posts: 4 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone know if the nutritional information on bags of frozen chicken refers to the chicken frozen, or thawed (I'm assuming not cooked)? The brand I use (Pilgrim's) freezes their chicken in an ice glaze, so the weight frozen is often a good bit higher than the weight thawed. I know the water weight isn't going to be terribly significant, but precision is important to me.

(Just to be clear, I know that the essential nutritional value of the chicken doesn't change when thawed-- however, the calorie info is given for a 4 oz. piece, and 4 oz. frozen definitely drops to under 4 oz. when thawed.)

Replies

  • emgett89
    emgett89 Posts: 4 Member
    Bumping just in case somebody knows who missed the topic while it was still visible on the first page.
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
    The only difference between frozen and thawed is water weight, which doesn't impact the nutritional information.

    In other news, I thought this said "emotional info for frozen chicken." I am disappoint.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    I don't understand the question
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Does it matter? I assume you take out the piece of chicken and cook it, right? So it is what it is.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    I don't understand the question
    I think the OP wants to weigh it frozen and not get ripped off for the few grams of water weight difference...I think.
    I's weigh it frozen and call it raw.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    I think that it isn't significant enough to stress about. But that's my opinion. Just go by thawed and enjoy the food :)
  • angelams1019
    angelams1019 Posts: 1,102 Member
    Am I the only one that finds this post funny?? lol

    Just eat the d*mn chicken hun! lol The nutritional values for chicken doesn't change. If you really want to know exactly how much you're getting, weigh it after its cooked...Before you put it on your plate. Simple.
  • joyfulteach
    joyfulteach Posts: 419 Member
    I try to buy the portioned chicken breast by Tyson 5-6 oz depending on bag, but anyway i just use the nutritional info on the bag for one chicken breast since they are all suppose to be the same.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    Instructions say cook the frozen chicken. Weigh the frozen chicken. Then subtract the calories of the water. That's at least how I do it.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    Am I the only one that finds this post funny?? lol

    Just eat the d*mn chicken hun! lol The nutritional values for chicken doesn't change. If you really want to know exactly how much you're getting, weigh it after its cooked...Before you put it on your plate. Simple.
    No.
    The values are for raw apparently. If it's in a big block of ice, half the weight might be water.
    You need to weigh it thawed and enter the value for raw to be accurate.
    That said, I doubt there will be much water weight unless the thing is frost covered and yuck.
    When I weigh meat frozen, I just use the USDA raw value.
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
    There is actually a considerable difference in the weight of frozen and thawed chicken, in the one I buy anyway.
    I personally cook it and then weigh it, as otherwise I'm counting water as chicken breast. :laugh:
  • sunsnstatheart
    sunsnstatheart Posts: 2,544 Member
    The only difference between frozen and thawed is water weight, which doesn't impact the nutritional information.

    In other news, I thought this said "emotional info for frozen chicken." I am disappoint.

    That needs its own thread but I think the issue is worth exploring.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    There is actually a considerable difference in the weight of frozen and thawed chicken, in the one I buy anyway.
    I personally cook it and then weigh it, as otherwise I'm counting water as chicken breast. :laugh:
    You still will be. There is always residual water. How "cooked" is it?
    Raw and USDA raw values I think are more accurate for thawed meat.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Then subtract the calories of the water.

    Uh?
  • angelams1019
    angelams1019 Posts: 1,102 Member
    My point is just to eat the chicken and live you're life.
  • angelams1019
    angelams1019 Posts: 1,102 Member
    I guess its just never been something I ever questioned because I always buy raw chicken, but being THAT picky about calorie counting seems like a really annoying way to live. But hey- maybe thats why I'm still fat! lol
  • trishgrace
    trishgrace Posts: 279 Member
    Get a kitchen scale. Then you can weigh it frozen and re-weigh it thawed or cooked and you'll have your answer. I don't aim for this to come across as smart a$$y,but that is the only logical answer in my opinion. Then you have the scale to weigh other foods you may come across and question.
  • wareagle8706
    wareagle8706 Posts: 1,090 Member
    Cook it then weight it.

    Also, ignore other jerks on this thread making fun of you. It was a legitimate question.
  • Melissa26point2
    Melissa26point2 Posts: 177 Member
    I totally understand the question (it's not hard). I always buy the frozen pre portioned chicken breasts too. I weight it thawed because when thawed, the little bag that the chicken is in has chicken juice and water in it. It's accurate to me to do it this way, and who cares if it is meticulous. So be it. Maybe not doing this is the reason people aren't losing weight. They enter "chicken breast" and use raw weight, when in fact they are eating a greasy piece of KFC fried chicken...or something to that effect.
  • JackKsavestheday
    JackKsavestheday Posts: 182 Member
    The only difference between frozen and thawed is water weight, which doesn't impact the nutritional information.

    In other news, I thought this said "emotional info for frozen chicken." I am disappoint.

    :laugh:
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    I guess its just never been something I ever questioned because I always buy raw chicken, but being THAT picky about calorie counting seems like a really annoying way to live. But hey- maybe thats why I'm still fat! lol
    It's like the difference between cooked pasta and uncooked. Or a raw potato and a baked potato. Or hey - cooked chicken and raw chicken. Assuming a lot of water has been added to freeze the chicken, which will disappear during thawing (I'm not really familiar with the process OP mentioned) then the frozen weight will be different from the raw weight, and the nutritional info for the weight of the raw chicken will be inaccurate for the same weight of frozen chicken.

    Maybe it's too nitpicky for some, but it's not a stupid question.

    OP - I personally would weigh it cooked and go with an entry from the database for cooked chicken. (I'm assuming it's just plain chicken, so it'd be fairly accurate to go with the standard database entry. That obviously wouldn't work if it's chicken + other stuff.)
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
    I totally understand the question (it's not hard). I always buy the frozen pre portioned chicken breasts too. I weight it thawed because when thawed, the little bag that the chicken is in has chicken juice and water in it. It's accurate to me to do it this way, and who cares if it is meticulous. So be it. Maybe not doing this is the reason people aren't losing weight. They enter "chicken breast" and use raw weight, when in fact they are eating a greasy piece of KFC fried chicken...or something to that effect.

    Yeah, this is probably why I haven't hit goal weight. Good thought, thanks.
  • vanguardfitness
    vanguardfitness Posts: 720 Member
    I am curious about this too, not about chicken though. I weighed my frozen shrimp at 199g. Let it defrost, rinsed and pat dried it and it came out to 140g. Pretty significant difference. I'm going by the 140g either way.

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