How to weigh rice properly?

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Splasheh
Splasheh Posts: 30 Member
in Food and Nutrition
The nutrition reads on the wholegrain rice I'm cooking to put 75g of rice in a pot then so and so water. Apparently 75g is 89 calories. When it cooked I thought that was a LOT of rice for 89 calories so I assume this is wrong. When I put into MFP the rice and 75g it came up the same 89 calories.

How can water add calories? How do I work out what the calorie content is if this is incorrect?

Replies

  • monty619
    monty619 Posts: 1,308 Member
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    just look on the back of the box it usually says if its dry or cooked.. usually dry
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
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    How many grams are in a serving? Preparation instructions for rice are not necessarily for a single serving. I don't have any rice in the house, but 50g of dry barley has 180 calories.
  • Splasheh
    Splasheh Posts: 30 Member
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    How many grams are in a serving? Preparation instructions for rice are not necessarily for a single serving. I don't have any rice in the house, but 50g of dry barley has 180 calories.

    It says serving for each person is 75g.
  • douglasmobbs
    douglasmobbs Posts: 563 Member
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    When you cook rice it soaks up water so 75g of dry rice will make about 225g (guess) of cooked rice because it has soaked up water.

    Without looking it up the 89 cals for 75g sounds like it is a cooked weight.
  • htmlgirl
    htmlgirl Posts: 314 Member
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    Water doesn't add any calories, but you have to check whether the serving size is for it cooked or dry and then weigh it at that point.
  • sazzyp1973
    sazzyp1973 Posts: 517 Member
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    I have a pack of Basmati rice here and it says that a 50g dry weight is a per person serving and is 176 calories.

    Hope this helps!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    The nutrition reads on the wholegrain rice I'm cooking to put 75g of rice in a pot then so and so water. Apparently 75g is 89 calories. When it cooked I thought that was a LOT of rice for 89 calories so I assume this is wrong. When I put into MFP the rice and 75g it came up the same 89 calories.

    How can water add calories? How do I work out what the calorie content is if this is incorrect?
    Water doesn't add calories. Rice absorbs water and gains size, doubles, and sometimes triples in size. 75g dry = about 150-200g cooked. Calorie count is the same. Now, if you cook with chicken broth, obviously that would add calories, as the broth has calories in it.
  • Splasheh
    Splasheh Posts: 30 Member
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    It says to weigh 75g for each person and then put it in a pot and add water etc. So I think it means to weigh it uncooked? Does it seem right to be only 89 calories or no? There was so much rice I actually had only a little more than half of it.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Without knowing the exact variety of rice, tough to tell. Different varieties have different calorie counts, just like any other food. Doesn't sound too far off, though. 100g of long grain white rice (dry) is about 129 calories, which would put 75g at about 96 calories. But again, without knowing the exact variety, I couldn't really give a concrete answer.
  • Splasheh
    Splasheh Posts: 30 Member
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    Here is a link: http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/catalog/sectionpagecontainer.jsp?skuId=19416&departmentid=1214921923813&aisleid=1214921925558&startValue=&referrer=cookiesDetecting

    'Hob - From Ambient: Allow 75g rice per person. Add rice to a pan with 400ml water per 75g rice and stir once. Add salt or other seasoning to taste. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 28-30 minutes. Drain in a sieve, rinse with boiling water and serve. Fork through to fluff up.'
  • Flab2fitfi
    Flab2fitfi Posts: 1,349 Member
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    check on here - I always check stuff is raw or uncooked. I use the weight for generic long grain white rice, uncooked.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Well, 75g of brown rice (dry) is roughly 83 calories, so yes, it's accurate.
  • Splasheh
    Splasheh Posts: 30 Member
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    Well, 75g of brown rice (dry) is roughly 83 calories, so yes, it's accurate.

    Really? I had to half it though and pack the other half up because there was so much. It's 7pm and I'm under my intake aswell.
  • firedragon064
    firedragon064 Posts: 1,090 Member
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    I use cup for for measurement.
    1 cup of cooked brown rice is 213 cal.
  • keityn
    keityn Posts: 1 Member
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    I'm also getting confused about the rice lol but I believe that you weigh out 75g of rice and in the nutritional value might state that per 200g serving as consumed would be 246 cals. So I'm guessing that 75g of uncooked rice would weigh 200g cooked, meaning my cals would be 246 for that portion? So in that case enter the cooked weight into my data.
  • NaurielR
    NaurielR Posts: 429 Member
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    Hmmmm...you're right, something seems off about the packaging.

    According to the USDA nutrition database, 75 grams of raw rice will have 270-280 calories, depending on the type. The calorie count the box gives you is way off. Go by what the USDA says. It's just rice, and so there will be negligible (if any) difference in calories between brands.
  • mumreeder
    mumreeder Posts: 222 Member
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    I have the same confusion. I have a box of Uncle Bens white long grain rice - it says 125g rice grain is for two people (that's dry). On the front of the box where the nutritional label is it says one portion of 62.5g is equal to 215 kcal. But I think that is uncooked weight.

    When I compare it to Uncle Bens express white long grain rice (the stuff you just microwave as it's already cooked) - the packet is 250g and the label says each serving of 125g is 191 kcal.

    The way I understand it is that 62.5 grams uncooked must weigh about 125g when cooked (which makes sense as it doubles in size when absorbing water) - so I would think for one serving of rice it must be around 200 kcals (obviously if brown it may be less).

    Not sure if that helps or just confused matters!
  • mumreeder
    mumreeder Posts: 222 Member
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    Just looked at Tesco website and they say that a portion of their brown rice (75g) is equivalent to 265 kcal.
    (Couldn't look at the Asda one as haven't got cookies enabled on laptop - but the brands can't be too far out.)
  • natalieclemson
    natalieclemson Posts: 2 Member
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    The calories someone has entered into MFP are for cooked in this instance.

    75g dry rice will be the equivalent of 225g cooked rice. So you need to enter 225g into MFP not 75g.

    Water does not add calories. Your 75g dry rice will be around 260ish calories which equals 225g cooked weight.

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