Calorie difference between cooked and uncooked meat?

jessicafunkyy
jessicafunkyy Posts: 20 Member
edited January 23 in Food and Nutrition
Ok, so I bought a package of uncooked chicken breakfast sausage from Trader Joe's. On the package it says there are 130 calories per 3 links. I had three links as part of my breakfast this morning, assuming it was 130 calories. But now that I think about it, cooked meat is usually more calories than uncooked, correct? And the nutritional information was "3 links, uncooked". So should I still count it as 130 calories or assume it was more?

Replies

  • ThinUpGirl
    ThinUpGirl Posts: 397 Member
    I think the weight changes after its been cooked. I ate sausage the other day that was 150g frozen and 115 g cooked. I always go off the package. If it says 100 g is 100 calories i go by cooked weight
  • bill323
    bill323 Posts: 100 Member
    It depends on how you cook it. If you take a steak and grill it then the calories would probably drop since some fat drips off. If you cook a potato in oil then it would be more calories.
  • KAYRRIE
    KAYRRIE Posts: 201 Member
    I too think it depends on how you cook it. Let's say when I do an omelet, I just spray the pan with like a pam spray which is 0 calories so i don't have to worry about adding any calories to my eggs, so I just count the eggs as the box says, 70 each. I would assume your links would be less calories cause of the fat you cook off, unless you do them in oil, or butter for some reason. I would just go with what the box or package tells you unless you add extra stuff to it.
  • Moonbeem11
    Moonbeem11 Posts: 32 Member
    The weight on the package should be the weight of the product raw. When you cook it, you may cook some of the fat off or the weight may change a bit. If you want to be really precise get a food scale. I just go by what it says raw or not, I figure it's not that many calories to make a big difference.
  • Alison12121
    Alison12121 Posts: 198 Member
    Just count it as 130 calories. When you cook the links they lose moisture, so they will weigh less than the raw links. However, the calories in the 3 links doesn't change. You only have to be careful about raw versus cooked when you're weighing food. For example, 4 ounces of cooked ground beef will have more calories than 4 ounces of raw ground beef only because the cooked ground beef has less moisture in it. That means that you're getting more calories in 4 ounces of cooked beef only because it has less water in it than the raw beef, and so there's more beef there.
  • slyrat
    slyrat Posts: 28 Member
    I'm going to assume the calories would be about the same. Foods just lose water when they're cooked which is why they shrink/ weigh less.
  • savoiaS1
    savoiaS1 Posts: 129 Member
    Always weigh everything dry and uncooked.
  • TinaS88
    TinaS88 Posts: 817 Member
    I keep it simple and stick with what's on the package. Unless it's meat. I will weigh it after I cook it because it's always smaller. But now reading some of these, I am wondering if that is the right thing to do... I mean, why would I log a 8oz steak if it's only 5oz when it's done cooking?
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