Food labelling: cooking adds calories?

JRKWebb
JRKWebb Posts: 27
in Food and Nutrition
Hi guys,

Stupid question but here I go. I bought a beef joint to roast tonight from tesco. The label gives nutritional content per 100g raw and for a120g serving trimmed of fat. However, proportionally gram fir gram,the 120 g nutritional info is MORE calorie dense than the 100g raw serving. How is this possible and which should I add to MFP? I will be preparing it without adding any oils and the cooking instructions say not to add anything. Why then is there difference? I assumed the cooking process would actually reduce the kcals by letting the fat cook..

Replies

  • JRKWebb
    JRKWebb Posts: 27
    BUMP
  • sonytomtp
    sonytomtp Posts: 38 Member
    When you cook food it generally loses (what I imagine must be water) weight, so a 120g cooked serving might come from a 200g raw serving (as an example, I'm not saying it 200g raw always gives a 120g cooked serving).

    Does that answer your question? Hope it helped.
  • laurenpjokl
    laurenpjokl Posts: 118 Member
    When you cook food it generally loses (what I imagine must be water) weight, so a 120g cooked serving might come from a 200g raw serving (as an example, I'm not saying it 200g raw always gives a 120g cooked serving).

    Does that answer your question? Hope it helped.

    This. The joint will lose a lot of water during cooking, so it will contain more calories per gram when cooked.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    When you cook food it generally loses (what I imagine must be water) weight, so a 120g cooked serving might come from a 200g raw serving (as an example, I'm not saying it 200g raw always gives a 120g cooked serving).

    Does that answer your question? Hope it helped.

    This. The joint will lose a lot of water during cooking, so it will contain more calories per gram when cooked.

    These^^. As to which you add to MFP, it doesn't really matter. You can weigh raw, if you're going to eat the whole portion that you're weighing. If you're not going to eat the whole piece that you're cooking, I would think it would be easier to weigh the amount you're going to eat after it's cooked, and use the info for the cooked meat.
  • JRKWebb
    JRKWebb Posts: 27
    Brilliant! Thanks guys and girls!

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