Panera "hidden" menu - 30 calories whole egg?

vwalczak
vwalczak Posts: 62 Member
in Food and Nutrition
According to Panera's nutrition website, their "power breakfast egg bowl with steak" is 230 calories.

It contains two whole eggs, which are supposedly only 60 calories total (30 calories each!) How on earth is a whole egg only 30 calories? Aren't whole eggs normally about 80-100 calories each?

Can someone solve this mystery for me?

Thanks!

Replies

  • Bianca42
    Bianca42 Posts: 310 Member
    Maybe they are using egg beaters?
  • JossFit
    JossFit Posts: 588 Member
    I'm looking at the nutrition site, and it just says "whole egg" but does not say two eggs. Regardless, a large egg is usually 70-80 calories, so unless they use very small eggs this number is a bit off.

    When ordering from Panera I usually give myself a buffer of about 50 calories just to be safe.
  • JossFit
    JossFit Posts: 588 Member
    The turkey option also has 'roasted red peppers' listed as 0 calories... so yeah...

    Just assume each dish has 50 more calories than listed and you should be OK.
  • LauraDotts
    LauraDotts Posts: 732 Member
    A medium sized egg is 60 calories.
  • JossFit
    JossFit Posts: 588 Member
    A medium sized egg is 60 calories.

    ^^ that make sense. I didn't see anywhere that it said it contained two eggs.
  • bellaa_x0
    bellaa_x0 Posts: 1,062 Member
    i haven't tried the steak power bowl, but i have had the turkey, chicken and hummus bowls.. the chicken one had egg in it if i remember correctly and there was no where NEAR two whole eggs in it.
  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
    Also, in regards to the red pepper, nutrition information is allowed to be within a 5% margin of error.
  • vwalczak
    vwalczak Posts: 62 Member
    I thought that too, but two eggs is standard in this dish.

    The description says, "Two all-natural eggs, seared top sirloin, sliced avocado & tomatoes."

    I feel like they are being dishonest about the total calories in their dish if they're counting 1 egg, but a standard serving is 2. Sigh.... :ohwell:
  • seena511
    seena511 Posts: 685 Member
    Also, in regards to the red pepper, nutrition information is allowed to be within a 5% margin of error.
    they probably take advantage of that just to make the calorie counts look that much lower
  • MIM49
    MIM49 Posts: 255 Member
    I thought that too, but two eggs is standard in this dish.

    The description says, "Two all-natural eggs, seared top sirloin, sliced avocado & tomatoes."

    I feel like they are being dishonest about the total calories in their dish if they're counting 1 egg, but a standard serving is 2. Sigh.... :ohwell:

    Wow, you know your calories. Good for you for catching this. I contacted Panera--it will be interesting to receive their response.
  • LauraDotts
    LauraDotts Posts: 732 Member
    It's in their nutrition calculator that shows 60 calories for a whole egg. The calculator breaks it down into calories per item. The calculator doesn't count for 2 eggs. But, the meal, as described, has 2 eggs. So, advertising it as 230 calories is deceptive in my opinion. If you order it with 1 egg, that's what you get. Otherwise, add 60 more calories. Still, 290 calories for that meal is a nice calorie count.
  • vwalczak
    vwalczak Posts: 62 Member
    Let us know what you find out! I might contact them too!
  • freelancejouster
    freelancejouster Posts: 478 Member
    Also, in regards to the red pepper, nutrition information is allowed to be within a 5% margin of error.

    but...5% more than 0 is still 0...

    ALSO, I'm pretty sure it's more than 5%, I've been looking into stuff like this lately, and I watched this one video where they tested actual things sold. Things that were being advertised as "healthy" or "low-cal" usually came in at about 20% higher than listed on the package. The only thing they did test that came in only a few calories off was a Subway sandwich, everything else was upwards of a 100 calories off.

    It could just be bias of what they tested, but it was still quite interesting.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    I thought that too, but two eggs is standard in this dish.

    The description says, "Two all-natural eggs, seared top sirloin, sliced avocado & tomatoes."

    I feel like they are being dishonest about the total calories in their dish if they're counting 1 egg, but a standard serving is 2. Sigh.... :ohwell:

    I can't remember if they served one or two eggs when I ordered this, but it could definitely have been an egg beater. The egg comes out as one of those tasteless hard circle pucks. The "seared top sirloin" was cold roast beef. I was pretty disappointed in this particular meal in general.
  • BaconMD
    BaconMD Posts: 1,165 Member
    Maybe they're sparrow eggs.
  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
    Kick up enough of a fuss on their Facebook page and they'll have to address it. I've seen this tactic with a lot of Facebook pages recently (FTD flowers and 1-800-GOT-JUNK being two I recall, one for not honoring Groupons and the other for advertising with Rush Limbaugh) and it might get some answers!

    I posted on their Facebook page. Let's see what their social media monkey can relay.
  • notyouraveragetalia
    notyouraveragetalia Posts: 223 Member
    Also, in regards to the red pepper, nutrition information is allowed to be within a 5% margin of error.

    but...5% more than 0 is still 0...

    ALSO, I'm pretty sure it's more than 5%, I've been looking into stuff like this lately, and I watched this one video where they tested actual things sold. Things that were being advertised as "healthy" or "low-cal" usually came in at about 20% higher than listed on the package. The only thing they did test that came in only a few calories off was a Subway sandwich, everything else was upwards of a 100 calories off.

    It could just be bias of what they tested, but it was still quite interesting.

    could you provide this source? I would be interested on reading more detail on this...
  • Yellerie
    Yellerie Posts: 221 Member
    Egglands best eggs are 60 calories each so it is possible for one egg. However I always add a 10% differential to take out because they are counting on everyone making the items as they were taught which I know for a fact differs based on who is making the item.
  • vwalczak
    vwalczak Posts: 62 Member
    Kick up enough of a fuss on their Facebook page and they'll have to address it. I've seen this tactic with a lot of Facebook pages recently (FTD flowers and 1-800-GOT-JUNK being two I recall, one for not honoring Groupons and the other for advertising with Rush Limbaugh) and it might get some answers!

    I posted on their Facebook page. Let's see what their social media monkey can relay.

    Nice! They posted one response, so we know they saw it, let's see how if they have more to say!
    https://www.facebook.com/panerabread?fref=ts&filter=2
  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
    And we have an official response!

    'Hi Everybody. We definitely appreciate your keen eyes. We've passed this along to our Nutrition team to be reviewed. The Power Breakfast Egg bowl with Steak is actually 270 calories with 2 eggs. This change is being corrected throughout the system and will be reflected at the next website update.'
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    Wow! MFP Power!!
    Nice call posting this to their FB page.
  • vwalczak
    vwalczak Posts: 62 Member
    Amazing! I still don't understand their math in getting to 270 (wouldn't it be 290?) but I'm still so proud of us for making them change! Brilliant idea reaching out to them on facebook!

    This was the first time I started a thread on here, and the result was far beyond what I expected! Thanks everyone!
  • peacemongernc
    peacemongernc Posts: 253 Member
    Great job following up on that!

    I ate somewhere recently... IHOP maybe?? That said that their egg substitute had 130 calories when it was substitute for 2 eggs. I was thinking that sounded crazy because the eggs would have about 130 calories, so why would the egg substitute have the same?! But in some of their dishes, if you break it down, the egg substitute has closer to 70 for 2 eggs worth.

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